Tiger Woods is on the right path to recovery says Craig Gross, a minister with a special focus. He helps many in the porn industry and athletes who suffer from addictions to porn and other forms of sex addiction.Gross made it plain in a interview this afternoon that he wouldn’t have thought Woods was serious if he announced a time table for a return to golf.

Speaking from his base in Las Vegas, Gross said that phase one of Woods’ treatment consisted of breaking down the barriers to admitting he had a problem and taking full responsibility for the collateral damage. That had to be done all by himself.

Phase two will take Woods and his wife Elin through the grueling work of discovering if their marriage will survive and must be done with the couple spending time together but not necessarily living in one place.

“If he is really serious he’ll ignore golf for as long as it takes”, Gross told me. “If we hear about a quick return to the Tour it will coincide with the announcement that his marriage is over.”

This seems to parallel what the world heard from Tiger during his first public appearance. It also flies in the face of all the public relations pros and crisis managers who have droned on about why Woods was taking the wrong approach.

Even if the golfer is as diligent as he can be, he and his wife may be unable to stay together. “There is no more than a 50-50 chance of success for couples despite their good intentions”, Gross said.

The odds aren’t helped by the fact that Woods’ decision to seek treatment only came after he was publicly humiliated. “Forced recovery after being caught”, said Gross, “is not the best way to begin the process.”

Perhaps those who are judging Tiger Woods by standards best left for Toyota’s attempts to publicly rehabilitate itself or ball players who used performance enhancers should learn about how someone reconstructs a shattered life when he wants to fix himself, not just his image.

Gross explained that part of Woods’ recovery is to focus on the most important task at hand and live with the consequences of being judged on facts that might not be accurate. For a controlling personality that can be the most difficult part.

Paula Duffy is a national sports columnist for Examiner.com and the Huffington Post and regularly comments on sports/legal matters for radio affiliates of ESPN and Fox Sports. She founded the sports information site, Incidental Contact, is the author of a line of audio books designed for sports novices and in her spare time practices law in Los Angeles.