Tiger Woods is back in the rough. How a dependence on painkillers took down a golf great

Tiger Woods watches his tee shot during the final round of the PNC Championship tournament in Orlando, Fla. , on Dec. 20, 2020.

(Phelan M. Ebenhack / Associated Press) Reaction to Tiger Woods' car crash and driving under the influence arrest last month ranged from sadness to dismay to exasperation. Few observers, however, expressed surprise.

Although widely recognized as perhaps the greatest golfer of all time, Woods, 50, has been in a downward spiral personally and professionally for years. His struggles with prescription drugs became public in 2017 when police found him asleep at the wheel of his car with the engine running near his Jupiter, Fla. , home.

Multiple painkillers, sleep aids and THC were detected in his system. Woods checked into rehab shortly after that incident, saying his efforts to manage insomnia and pain from his staggering number of surgeries on his own was a mistake. Now, though, he's again in rehab, likely in Switzerland after his private jet landed in Zurich on Friday, according to reports.