Tiger Woods is back this week doing what he does best — playing golf. He’s competing at the Masters Tournament in Augusta, Ga., after a 4 1/2 month hiatus following news of his extramarital affairs and resulting fall from grace.

According to news reports over the past few months, Woods has apparently received outpatient psychotherapy as well as treatment for sex addiction at an inpatient clinic. As a result of his therapy, Woods hopefully has a better understanding of what led him to his tragic crash and burn.

I hope Woods continues to seek therapy to explore his psychological wounds, such as his father’s death and having to grow up in the public spotlight.

But just as important as Woods’ therapy will be who Woods decides to surround himself with, and what those people tell him.

In a news report several weeks ago a Woods insider said that he often arranged the locations and dates of Woods’ trysts. The message seems clear: Whatever Tiger wanted, Tiger got, regardless of any moral or ethical consequences.

As long as everyone benefitted from Tiger’s success on the golf course (read: make a lot of money), then those close to Tiger chose to indulge his every desire. And since Woods’ many affairs have reportedly been going on for years, it appears that Woods began to believe he could get away with anything.

Woods’ fall reminds me of the story of two top high school football players from Dallas, Tex., documented in H.G. Bissinger’s great book ‘Friday Night Lights’ in 1991.

Derrick Evans and Gary Edwards, heavily recruited players on a state championship team, received so much preferential treatment (one teacher handed them the answers to the final exam; other teachers told them they didn’t have to take exams or do homework at all) they, too, thought they could get away with anything.

During college recruiting trips, in which the players were driven around in limousines, they said they were often asked by the coaches what kind of girl (black, white, Mexican) they wanted for sex.

“We were on top of the world. We had all these recruiters and a state championship and we thought there ain’t nothin’ that can happen to us,” said Edwards.

Evans and Edwards began to feel not only untouchable but above the law. So, they decided, along with several teammates, to push the envelope and commit armed robbery. In 1989 they held up a total of seven banks in the Dallas area in a span of one month until they were arrested by police.

Evans and Edwards, young princes in their town, presumably thought they’d get off easy. They were wrong. Evans received 20 years in prison and Edwards 16.

In the end, the hero worshipping that surrounded Evans and Edwards helped do them in. Let’s hope that those in Woods’ camp stop the star gazing and learn how to say ‘no’ to him.