Samuel Johnson, the 18th century English author, critic and moralist, wrote, "A man of genius has been seldom ruined but by himself."

Tiger Woods is a genius when he is thinking and stroking his way over a golf course. But off the course he has tragically proved to be about as foolish as they come.

Up until the early morning hours after Thanksgiving Day of last month, Tiger was on the fast track to becoming "the greatest golfer in history." He was a lock to go down as better than Jack Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Tom Watson, Arnold Palmer, Bobby Jones et al and win more major titles than Nicklaus' record of 18 majors.

But that was before Tiger bounced his Cadillac Escalade off a fire hydrant and into a neighbor's tree at 2:30 a.m., Nov. 27. This mishap was apparently caused by marital discord.

Suddenly, Tiger lost control of his most jealously protected asset -- his privacy. Like water gushing from that hydrant, revelations of his promiscuity spilled forth in the days following the accident in front of his Florida mansion.

One woman after another has claimed to have had an affair with Tiger since he married the Swedish beauty, Elin Nordegren, five years ago. They have two children, a boy and a girl.

Overnight, Tiger Woods morphed from a super heroic athlete who was adored and followed by millions of fans around the world into the butt of jokes from the likes of Jay Leno and Jon Stewart. Once you are fodder for these television comedians, you can kiss your good reputation goodbye.

Never before has such a celebrated and heroic figure fallen so far, so fast, losing much of his charismatic appeal as he plummets to the depths. No longer will he be considered the perfect role model for youngsters, particularly those disadvantaged ones whom he cares for through his Tiger Woods Foundation schools.

Tiger has gone into seclusion since he was carted off to a hospital for repair of the bloody but not too serious injuries. He has decided to take an indefinite hiatus from competitive golf in order to "focus my attention on being a better husband, father and person."

He communicates with the outside world by putting lame statements on his Web site. In this regard, he is making a serious mistake. He should come forward on national television soon and go through the usual mea culpa.

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees was the latest example of such public contrition. A-Rod, who had a lengthy love-hate relationship with Yankee fans, admitted last spring that he used performance enhancing drugs years ago. This ended his longstanding denial of steroid use.

It was as if a load was lifted from A-Rod's shoulders. Suddenly, one of the best Major League Baseball players in history turned his career around and became loved by Yankee fans. Most importantly, after years of poor postseason performances, A-Rod became one of the principal Yankee hitting stars as the Bronx Bombers won their 27th World Series title last month.

Numerous athletes and other celebrities have done the public apology thing and saved their relationships with a forgiving public. Recently married David Letterman admitted to having affairs with female CBS employees, and his late night show seems no worse off because of his indiscretions.

Tiger has been quite aloof, almost to the point of arrogance as he shuns fans, the press and most everyone but his very closest friends and business associates.

He surrounds himself with a protective wall of bodyguards, agents, lawyers and other sycophants. Living in this cocoon and being one of the wealthiest athletes in history, Tiger has been able to pay for the creation of an image that was apparently a false picture.

Although Tiger and Tiger alone is responsible for his behavior on and off the course, there are some folks who could have advised him better than they did.

For instance, his International Management Group agents who are with him day in and day out could not help but have known about his dalliances. Why didn't these handlers caution Tiger that he was playing with fire? After all, they are earning buckets of money for IMG while tending to Tiger's every need, and that income may be in serious jeopardy as Tiger's value declines with each new revelation.

Where were Tiger's true friends, such as Mark O'Meara, and even Tiger's caddie, Steve Williams? They had to be aware of what was going on.

But Tiger may have such an ego that he, like all such men before him, probably thought he would be the first married man in history to commit adultery and not be caught.

I covered most of the big names in sports during the second half of the 20th century, and I can say that Tiger is a mere piker compared to some married athletes who bedded down many more than the 13 women who claim to have been a Tiger mistress. There are PGA Tour members who make Tiger look like a rank amateur as a womanizer.

But unlike those promiscuous men, Tiger could not keep his activities off the front pages and TV screens because his accident became a police matter once the 911 call was made.

With unprecedented success as the world's best golfer, Tiger Woods became an industry himself. He was worth well over 100 million dollars a year in commercial endorsements alone. Millions more came through appearance money and what he earned in competitive golf.

Also, Tiger was the reason hundreds of people and possibly thousands made a very good living. These are folks working in any phase of the golf business that greatly benefited because Tiger attracted millions to the sport.

Most of all, Tiger was vital to the PGA Tour and its players, who profited greatly since Tiger Woods became a pro. The tour's purses, which totaled $70 million in his rookie year of 1996, grew by a multiple of four to a total of nearly $280 million in 2009. He is responsible for that increase as sponsors and television advertisers jumped at chances to pay dearly for a piece of Tiger.

When Tiger's peccadilloes were exposed, causing this shocking fall from grace, he may well have brought this gravy train to a halt. No wonder most of his colleagues on the PGA Tour are saying how much they forgive him and want him back on tour. They may fear diminishing purses. Could those be crocodile tears they are spilling for Tiger?

Surely PGA Tour attendance will drop off drastically while he is absent, and the television ratings may drop by more than half of what they are when Tiger plays in an event. It will be interesting to see how or if these figures repair when Tiger eventually returns to competition.

One sign that he is still highly respected for his superb golf game came last week when Tiger Woods was voted "Athlete of the Decade" by an Associated Press poll of the nation's sports editors.

Now there are reports that Dr. Anthony Galea, a Canadian physician under investigation for dispensing illegal drugs to athletes, treated Tiger Woods as he was recovering from knee surgery in 2008. The drugs in question were not involved in Woods' treatment, according to these stories.

But while Tiger remains in hiding contemplating his misdeeds and tries to put his life and family back together, I hope he also takes time to think about his occasionally poor conduct on golf courses. No other PGA Tour player throws clubs as much as Tiger, who is going to hurt someone in the gallery some day if he keeps it up. Also, knowing he is often within ear shot of TV microphones, he should stop his cursing when he makes what he thinks is a bad shot.

Although his recently exposed affairs are much more serious than throwing clubs or using foul language, he has, in my mind, never been a truly shining example of how to conduct ones self while playing this difficult, individual sport. He has certainly been a poor example for those young people who follow his every move.

When he won the Australian Masters last month for his 97th professional victory, Tiger slammed his driver into the turf after pulling a tee shot into rough. The club bounced into the crowd of fans surrounding the teeing ground. Although those nice people quickly returned the club to Tiger, one or more of them could have been hurt by the flying missile.

Tiger is highly paid to be the spokesman for a number of companies, some of which are rethinking their associations with Woods. Gillette has "temporarily" removed its TV ads that involve Tiger. AT&T and PepsiCo appear willing to wait and see the public's response to Tiger when he returns to golf. Nike claims it is sticking by Tiger.

It has been a sad few weeks for Tiger and his wife and family as this man atop Mount Olympus fell off the highest of pedestals. I hope Tiger can save his marriage.

I look forward to his return, because I miss watching near perfection in one of the hardest games ever devised by man. Tiger's future may well depend upon millions and millions of people also hoping to see him return soon.

Gordon White served 43 years as a sports reporter for The New York Times. His e-mail is sports@thepilot.com.