What happens when your mind tells your body one thing, but your body produces the opposite results? What about when your body is pushing hard, like it always has, but your mind can't maintain the focus needed to generate results?

It's the old mind over matter, matter over mind concept. For Tiger Woods, neither mind nor body are healthy enough to produce what once was the most dominant golf game we had ever seen.

The body can heal with proper rest and therapy, as can the mind, but Woods has failed to make either function to the point where winning a golf tournament can be a reality. Everything is falling apart and has been for a year and a half. Woods withdrawing after a front nine 42 at The Players Championship may be the culmination of all that has ailed him over that time.

The peaks were always mountainous for Woods, putting him on a pedestal the height of Mount Everest. The valleys were mere speed bumps that he drove over at 60 MPH with the only damage being his golf bag clanging against the top of the cars trunk.

Now, his pedestal is non-existent and the valleys have become as deep as the Grand Canyon (and maybe deeper). Blame has been placed on personal issues, injuries and a rebuilding of his swing that has produce nothing but unmagnificent results.

Four knee operations, neck and Achilles issues, and a broken bone in his left leg are slowing down the most powerful force on the PGA Tour. Injuries have reduced him to a common man - an existence we never thought he'd fall to, for this was a golf god amongst disciples for over a decade.

What may be hurting Woods more than he would ever realize is a lack of love for the game after his life has fallen apart. There's no question he has regret over the adultery that ruined his personal life. He's acknowledged as much, made public apologies, and has stated that spending less time with his kids has affected his playing and practice schedule.

Woods took time away from the game last winter to pull himself together. He came back to finish fourth at the Masters and that's as good as it has been. Every time Woods has stepped off the golf course since returning he has been met with a wave of disappointment from himself, fans, and the media. When he tees off on the first hole, hope is in the air. When he pulls his last made putt out of the hole on 18, it's been disappointment and another round of "What's wrong with Tiger?" conversation.

If your life became an endless cycle of disappointment, you'd find it hard - nearly impossible - to feel like a winner, let alone be one. And, that's no excuse or pouting for Tiger, either... it's just the truth. Tiger's reconstruction project (life and golf) is still very much in progress and there is no indication that he will return to his old ways. Maybe he needed to live a secret life with the comfort of a stable family at home to focus his mind enough to dominate on the golf course. Maybe having so much on his mind outside the game was a good thing that didn't allow him to overthink every shot because there was no extra room for it.

Or, maybe Woods took performance enhancing drugs that gave him an advantage over the rest of the field. His connection to Dr. Anthony Galea,  a doctor under investigation for providing athletes with PEDs, is well known. The Galea relationship is the key to any argument for or against Woods using PEDs. He developed a blood-spinning technique to help speed post-surgery recovery.

Wood's injury history is par for the course when you look at a list of side effects for human growth hormone and other steroids. His body changed drastically right before our eyes as well. I have no idea whether or not Woods did or didn't take PEDs, nor am I going to outright say it happened, but in 2011 all athletes are subject to being questioned about PED use. No exceptions.

Tiger's world is more complex than a Rubik's Cube right now. It can be twisted and manipulated in various ways, but finding the right path to make everything cohesive is a daunting task. Not even Woods knows which way to turn to make everything line up.

Woods probably shouldn't focus so much energy specifically on winning right now. Fans and media probably should't say that Woods can only "be back" once he wins again. It's more complicated than that. If anything has been proven over the past year and a half it's that a sole focus on winning, on returning to the top of the golf world, simply isn't working.

Winning isn't the proper cure for what is diseasing Woods' life and career. He (and we) are misdiagnosing the problem. Time away from the game didn't put Woods in the place he wanted to be a year ago, but with the proper plan, direction and focus, it could be exactly what he needs right now.

What he does with the time and mental break will determine where his career (and life) goes once he returns. Woods spoke a lot about change last year after he was caught cheating and disgracing his family, but the only thing that actually changed was that he doesn't win golf tournaments any more.