Two years since golfer Tiger Woods and Olympic skater Lindsey Vonn announced their relationship in social media, the couple decided to break up. The split, although mutual, has affected Woods and rendered him sleepless in one of the most important weeks of his life.
The break up between the 39-year old golfer and 30-year old skier came as a surprise as it was less than a week ago when they were photographed being sweet with each other, reported Golf Digest.
Vonn first broke the news on her social media account in Facebook.
"After nearly three years together, Tiger and I have mutually decided to end our relationship. I will always cherish the memories that we've created together," wrote the skier.
Woods followed suit with another announcement on his personal website, TigerWoods.com, to confirm their split. Both he and Vonn placed their busy schedule as the reason for their separation.
While a mutual decision, it seems that Woods is heavily affected with the timing of the break up, noted BBC Sport. Aside from the news of his split last Sunday, the golfer was also celebrating the ninth death anniversary of his dad, Earl.
"These three days have been brutal on me. It's tough," admitted the PGA golfer.
Woods continues to struggle with the loss of his father, noted New York Times. Earl Woods was more than a dad to his son. He was also his confidant, teacher, and best friend. It was also Earl who introduced golf to his son.
He added, "It's tough. Obviously it does affect me. On top of that, this three-day window from 3-5 May is always really hard. I haven't slept."
Woods is scheduled to play at the prestigious Players' Championship event in Sawgrass this week, which added to the stress and sadness his father's death anniversary and break up caused him.
The Players' Championship is his next competition after getting 17th place in the Masters last April, said Yahoo. Woods admitted that he was rusty during his practice round and he knew that he must do something about it if he wishes to do better in the Players.
"When you're on, this golf course doesn't seem that hard. You feel like every round you should shoot 67 or lower. Then you have days where you're like, 'God, I don't think I can break 75 here,'" said the 14-time major winner.
However, Woods promised to continue playing. "It feels good to be out there. I will play more tournaments from here on," he said.
