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The real golf world also offers a sharp contrast to Woods. Golf's new wunderkind, Rory McIlroy, has tweeted shots of himself chugging Jägermeister — straight from the bottle. After his collapse at this year's Masters, he delighted fans by tweeting a picture of himself and winner Charl Schwartzel on a plane. "Glad one of us has a green jacket on!!!" McIlroy wrote. Imagine Woods ever doing that, ever being so self-deprecating? Heck, try to imagine Woods flying on a plane with another player.
McIlroy, who went on to crush the field at the U.S. Open, is golf's darling. "Tiger talked about doing things differently," says Shipnuck. "But if anything, the moat around him has only gotten bigger."
This week, Woods cut ties with his longtime caddie, Steve Williams, whose surly on-course demeanor — he once snatched a camera from a spectator for snapping a picture of Tiger during his backswing and chucked it in a pond — won him few fans. (Williams said he was "extremely disappointed" by the timing of the decision and wasn't shy about sharing his grievances. "Obviously, working through a scandal, he's had a new coach, a swing change — the last 18 months have been very difficult, and I've stuck by him through thick and thin," Williams told Television New Zealand. "I've been incredibly loyal. And then to have this happen — basically you could say I've wasted two years of my life, the last two years."
Some observers might sympathize with Williams (who was Woods' caddy for 13 of his 14 major championships) and view his firing (as he clearly does) as another example of Woods' questionable postscandal behavior. But it's possible that this change is a signal that Woods has turned a corner. "I think it's an important move," Shipnuck says. "The people around Tiger may not be culpable for his misdeeds, but they certainly didn't help keep him out of trouble. A new caddie will offer a fresh voice and perspective between the ropes. Maybe he can be the friend and confidant Tiger apparently didn't have before."
We don't know if Woods' current struggles are more related to his health (he has missed the U.S. and British opens with a bum knee and has not indicated when he will return), fading skills or his fragile psyche. So even if he were to loosen up, there's no guaranteeing he'd start playing like Tree. But what does Woods have to lose? "What people crave from Tiger is intimacy, is authenticity," says Shipnuck, who in his years covering the tour has seen glimpses of Woods' humorous, more human side. It's there, he swears. "People want to cheer for him, but he hasn't given them a reason to, both on and off the course."
So if you're Woods, why not grab this chance at reinvention? "Ultimately, we'd all benefit," says Shipnuck. "And he'd benefit too."
Just ask Tree.
Sean Gregory is a staff writer at TIME. Keeping Score, his sports column for TIME.com,appears every Friday. Follow him on Twitter at @seanmgregory. You can also continue the discussion on TIME's Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME