LOS ANGELES - Now that Tiger Woods has officially ended his six-year marriage, the golfing superstar is hoping the settlement will help him snap the downward spiral which has engulfed his life and golf game.

Woods, who earned an estimated 118 million dollars last year in prize money and endorsements, and Swedish model Elin Nordegren announced Monday they have divorced following his November sex scandal.

The divorce comes as the father of two tries to get some sense of normality back into his personal life and rekindle his once mighty golf game.

His golf is in disarray after a disappointing tie for 28th at the PGA Championship in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin result came just one week after the worst performance of his career when he finished second to last at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. Woods is without a win so far in 2010 and without a grand slam victory in the past two years.

His last victory was in Australia in November, two weeks before he smashed his car into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his luxury Florida home, sparking a series of scandalous revelations that doomed his marriage and put his game in freefall.

Woods and Nordegren said Monday they would share parenting of the couple's two young children, Sam Alexis, born in 2007, and Charlie Axel, born earlier this year.

Woods spoke between rounds at the PGA Championship of how is life has changed since the crash nine months ago and how he plans to move forward without some of the people that have been part of his close circle.

"I have (learned) more so as a person than as a golfer," he said. "I learned an awful lot about my true friends in life and people that I know will be in my life forever."

Woods also commented on how the sex scandal sparked a media frenzy -- the price of his power and fame.

"I don't have paparazzi camped out in front of the house, hotel, helicopters flying over the range," he said. "At the time, that was happening every day. They were following my kids everywhere they went. Taking photographs of everything they were doing. That was very tough. But that hasn't been the case of late. As I said, to me that's a sign that it's headed towards normalizing."

Long seen as an ambassador to a new generation of golfers, Woods's previous clean-cut image had earned him record sponsorship deals and a place in the select pantheon of globally-known sports stars.

That image has been decimated in recent months, as a string of women, including a porn star, a cocktail waitress and a Las Vegas club manager were romantically linked to Woods.

Rumors quickly surfaced that the crash had followed an argument with his wife over an affair with New York club hostess Rachel Uchitel, which had earlier been reported in the American press.

Before that, his career had looked on course to break some of the most coveted records in sport and golfing history.

According to Forbes business magazine, he was the first athlete to have broken through the billion dollars earnings mark.

Aged just 25, he became the first man to win the US Open, the British Open, the USPGA and the Masters on a roll to make him the first simultaneous holder of all four major championship titles at the same time.

Born in Cypress, California on December 30, 1975, Tiger Woods is the son of Earl Woods, a lieutenant-colonel in the US Army, and a Thailand mother Kultida.

His parents christened him Eldrick, but his deceased father nicknamed him Tiger in honor of a Vietnamese soldier who had been a good friend.

As a 71-time US PGA winner with 14 major titles and now in his 15th PGA season, Woods does not have to worry about keeping his tour status as he chases the record 18 major titles of Jack Nicklaus and 82 US PGA titles of Sam Snead.

Woods says he has re-embraced Buddhism to help his rehabilitation, having been taught the faith by his mother.

Woods now wears a Buddhist wristband at every golf tournament.

"Life in general, the last nine months has been very difficult," Woods said at the PGA Championship. "But my dad always said 'just keep living.' There were quite a few times I have had to say that to myself."