JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - It's hard enough for Tiger Woods to live up to the standards he set with a golf club in his hand.

It's proving even tougher to live up to his own words.

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of his speech at Sawgrass, his first public comments since Woods was exposed for cheating on his wife. What seems to be getting a lot of attention now are 15 words from that 13½-minute statement.

"When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game."

His behavior was lacking in Dubai.

A British television commentator certainly thought so when he saw Woods, who was making a mess of the 12th hole in the final round, squat to read a putt and then turn his head to the side and spit on the green.

"You look at his work ethic and he's a credit to the game, an inspiration to all of those who are trying to become professional golfers," said Ewen Murray of Sky Sports. "But some parts of him are just arrogant and petulant. Somebody now has to come onto this green behind him and maybe putt over his spit. It doesn't get much lower than that."

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Actually, it does get slightly lower when it comes to expectorations.

Imagine being in the group behind Sergio Garcia when he bent over and dropped a loogie into the cup after missing a short putt on the 13th hole at Doral in 2007.

Video of Woods spitting already was going viral on the internet Monday when the European Tour said he will be fined an undisclosed sum for breaching the tour code of conduct.

This was not his first fine.

This was not the first time he's spit.

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And this was not the first time, certainly not lately, that Woods had a chance to win a tournament only to blow up in the final round.

From the time Woods returned to golf last year at the Masters, there was a feeling in some quarters that when — or if — he got back to winning tournaments, all would be forgotten, if not forgiven.

That remains to be seen.

Woods now has gone 15 months and 17 tournaments without winning. He doesn't appear to be particularly close, either. In his last three tournaments — two of them with a chance to win — Woods has closed with rounds of 73, 73 and 75. It's the first time since 1997 that he was over par in the final round of three straight tournaments.

With his game in disarray, that puts even more scrutiny on his behavior.

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Woods has been spitting as long as he has been wearing a red shirt on Sunday, usually after a bad shot or a missed putt. And while it's true that Steve Marino was spitting at Pebble Beach in the final round, Steve Marino is not Tiger Woods. It might be a double standard, but such is the cost of celebrity.

Woods is known to slam his clubs after a poor shot, and one time his driver bounced into the gallery in Australia. Swearing is second nature. There have been times when he yelled out "Fore!" to keep him from shouting another word that starts with the same letter.

That probably will never change.

And that's the problem. Because he said it would.

"When I do return, I need to make my behavior more respectful of the game."