It's not hopelessness, just not hope. As in, reading this article does not elicit feelings of Hope in the reader.

Isn't it a huge comeback story, Wood who has not won any major in 12 years?

I would assume most people do not place themselves in Tiger Woods' shoes

Yup. In fact, I venture a lot of stories like this border on eliciting emotions of despair or reduced self-worth for a subset of the readers, something along the lines of "so and so did x/y/z and they're n years (younger|older) than me, what have I done that's worth anything in my life?"