To add to his recent win as Athlete of the Decade, the PGA Tour announced Saturday that Tiger Woods is again the Player of the Year on the PGA circuit. This is the 10th time in 13 years that Woods has won the award. To make things simple, Woods was simply as dominant this year as he is in every year. He won six times on the tour this season, while no one else won more than three tournaments. He won the Fed Ex Cup, the money title and had the lowest scoring average for the 9th time.

The recent scandal has bruised Tiger's legacy quite a bit, but his dominance on the course is simply unparalleled. I remember keeping up with Tiger's score on the World golf rankings years ago. At one point, Tiger had a score on the index of over 30, while the other 99 players in the top 100 were crunched between 1 - 11 points.

The fact that Woods was given the Player of the Year and Player of the Decade awards in spite of his recent transgressions makes a favorable statement about the objectivity of sports writers and other players on the PGA Tour. Although there is a great deal of jealousy toward Woods' dominance and some racism inherent in the media coverage, the fact that others still acknowledge Tiger's greatness in the midst of so much turmoil says that they are capable of rising above the drama and giving a black athlete his due respect (yes, Tiger is a black man to much of America, not "caublinasian." If he didn't know that before this scandal, he certainly knows it now. Otherwise, Glenn Beck would never have compared him to OJ Simpson).

The recent awards also say something good about Woods and his situation. It is a reminder to us all that there is a reason that we love and respect Tiger Woods so much. It tells us that whether we like it or not, Woods is the greatest athlete of his generation and will be remembered for the next 100 years. Hate it or love it, Tiger is the greatest....well, other than the person who really was the greatest, Muhammad Ali. Ali transcended his sport, and that is something I am waiting for Tiger Woods to do. Tiger's young, so there's still time for him to do it.

Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Faculty Affiliate at the College Sport Research Institute at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.