Can This Tiger Re-earn His Stripes?
Written by Adam Shorey, Friday May 14 2010
So apparently cats don’t always land on their feet. I’ve grown accustomed to prominent politicians, entertainers, and athletes
breezing through scandals unscathed – reinventing themselves overnight. I had assumed, by now, that this particular scandal would already be well in the rearview mirror and that we would be marveling at one more layer of this man’s invincibility. I realized, this week, that the consequences of the Tiger Woods saga – for Tiger Woods – are far more real and stubborn than I had supposed.
From my perspective, the low-point of Tiger’s PR nightmare didn’t happen on Thanksgiving night – snoring in the breakdown lane, with a 3-iron impaled in the rear window. Nor did it come when scintillating text messages were released, or when mistress number ten came forward – or fourteen or fifteen. It didn’t come at his scripted, android-like press conference, or when he reverted at Augusta to the curt, cursing, club-slamming Tiger we’ve always known. It didn’t even come when he missed the cut at Quail Hollow, calling his previously irreproachable game into question.
No, to me Tiger’s lowest point (so far, at least) came this week at the Tour’s “fifth major” – The Players Championship. The Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass hosts one of the most spectacular and flavorful challenges on the PGA Tour schedule. The nerve-fraying 17th island green was where Tiger thrilled the gallery by holing a winding 60 footer on his way to winning in 2001. Last week, however, Sawgrass became the arena for what – one must charitably hope – is the low point in the career of the greatest golfer ever to lace up a pair of funny looking shoes.
After three pedestrian rounds, Mr. Woods was well out of contention. He then did something completely unexpected on the 7th hole on Sunday. He pulled out of the tournament, citing a previously unmentioned neck injury. That’s a big deal under any circumstances. Tiger Woods doesn’t make a habit of quitting tournaments. Yet what struck me differently was not the withdrawal, but rather the unfamiliar media reaction.
They were skeptical. Some overtly called the injury fake – a possible ploy to take the attention off of his slipping golf game. An effort to squeeze sympathy out of the fans and media – to reframe the storyline of his recent struggles with the revelation of hidden pain and suffering.
Lest we forget, for more than a decade – prior to Thanksgiving evening – Tiger Woods was a god in the sports world. Tiger singlehandedly revitalized the image and popularity of golf. I myself first picked up a club after watching Tiger annihilate the Master’s field in 1997. He is rumored to be the first billionaire athlete, mostly acquired through his enormous, now-dwindling endorsement deals. Along with Michael Jordan and, more recently, LeBron James, Tiger was one of the athletes who evoked worshipful tones from sports anchors across the country – tones that are commonly reserved for Presidents, Oprah, or, you know…God.
Tiger hit the peak of his deity status at the 2008 U.S. Open where he continued his seemingly inevitable march towards surpassing Jack Nicklaus’s record for most majors won in a career, by winning this highlight tournament on one healthy leg. After winning, he missed most of the next year recovering from knee surgery.
From there, it was all down hill.
This precipitous, painful freefall has been covered ad nauseum in the last six months, but became permanently significant (for me at least) when, this weekend, the media rolled their eyes and criticized the man they once revered.
Tiger has done inconceivable things on the golf course. That’s his world. He has never been particularly pleasant in the way he did it. Aloof and self-indulgent – his personability has never been as good as his short game. Tiger is about to discover just how long the trek back up the mountain really is.
Will Tiger return to glory on the golf course? Maybe. Probably. Given his driven nature when it comes to golf it seems likely that he will recover enough to get the five majors he needs to pass Nicklaus. Much will be made of this, and (from a golf perspective) deservedly so. He really is the greatest to ever play the game. Can he ever recover his image or personal stature?
In happier days the sportscasters would have told you to never doubt Tiger Woods. Yet – honestly – I don’t think he can do it.
For more from Adam Shorey please visit his blog at BasementAthlete.com.
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