The world of professional sports is filled with superstition.

Athletes, managers and even owners have their distinct rituals that they repeat for fear that their success will be fleeting.  Even the most talented, iconic superstars hold fast to the smallest details that they feel will affect their athletic performance.

Major league baseball Hall of Fame third baseman Wade Boggs only ate chicken before his ball games.

NBA icon and six-time champion Michael Jordan always wore his University of North Carolina basketball shorts underneath his Chicago Bulls uniform.

NBA point guard Mike Bibby’s fingernail obsession ended with a team member providing him with clippers during timeouts.

The fortunate part about superstitions in professionals sports is that fans rarely get to witness the effect of broken ones.  What would a broken superstition resemble?  How about Tiger Woods’ recent struggles?

In seven tournaments since Tiger’s return to the tour, the golfing phenom has resembled a mere mortal.  Woods best finish in these events was a fourth-place spot at the Masters, which was his first event back from his hiatus.  Immediately following this, Woods missed the cut at the Quail Championships and then withdrew from the Players Championship – citing a mysterious injury - after posting a subpar 212 after three rounds.

Tiger has stumbled upon some difficulties with his mechanics.

Tiger’s funk continued in three of his next four tourneys.  He managed another fourth-place finish – this time in the U.S. Open – but in the other three stops on the tour his highest position was 19th.  His other finishes?  How about 23rd place at the recently completed British Open, 46th at the AT&T National and the aforementioned 19th place at the Morgan Stanley Memorial Tournament…

Woods’ technique has been erratic, at best.  His putting has been off since his return, indicating either an inability to properly read the green or an inability to execute his putting stroke according to what he’s reading.  In both cases, Tiger would be showing us something that we haven’t seen in him in about a decade – and that would be an actual vulnerability in his overall game.

Or perhaps there’s something missing from Tiger’s routine…something that he was accustomed to doing that he’s not anymore…maybe something has changed since his return…

I think we all know what that could be.  For the sake of the PGA Tour, just don’t tell Erin about it.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author