Absence and silence don’t make the heart grow fonder. Tiger Woods has suffered an unprecedented drop in popularity, and the great golfer’s silence has only made his image worse. A CNN poll found Woods had a 34 percent favorable rating and 49 percent unfavorable mark last week. That’s a staggering fall from the 60-to-25 favorable-to-unfavorable margin Woods enjoyed in the same poll on Dec. 2-3, when his sex-scandal story was at its frenzied peak. It’s time to talk, Tiger.

GET THE LATEST ON THE GOLFER WITH OUR TIGER BLOG