A few days ago, a highly placed industry executive and I were chatting when he asked, “What are you going to do with the Tiger story?” After I stopped laughing at the flattering implication that either I or Golf Inc. could “do” anything with the Tiger Woods story, which was changing faster than a stock ticker, I did ponder whether it was humanly possible to come up with a take that might be even remotely fresh or insightful.
Without rehashing any of the sordid details, or joining the feeding frenzy of quasi “journalists” eager to publicize anything new on the saga, true or untrue, I was reminded of comments made by Tiger’s dad Earl early in Tiger’s career. Earl neatly bisected a banquet audience – half of them reduced to tears by the heartfelt pride in his son’s talent and early accomplishments and half stunned by the magnitude of Earl’s claim that son Tiger would “transcend golf” and indeed elevate mankind with his talent, unstoppable pursuit of perfection and charisma. Left unstated was that those qualities and achievements would be all the more remarkable and universally significant because of Tiger’s mixed racial DNA on a formerly lily white playground with largely country club roots.
Many of us laughed when Earl Woods’ comments were publicized at the time. “Oh, please, Earl,” we said, as it became obvious that Earl was forecasting Tiger’s future elevation to pope, Leader of the Free World or even Christ-like status. On all of those levels, obviously Earl over-clubbed just a bit.
On the other hand, maybe Earl’s speechmaking caddie only slightly overestimated the distance to the pin. From the moment Tiger plowed his Escalade into that hydrant over the Thanksgiving holiday, has there been one scan of not just the sports wire, but any news service wire, that hasn’t included a Tiger Woods update? From senators to governors to presidents to talk show superstars, their peccadilloes flashed across our consciousness in the wink of an eye compared to Tiger’s extramarital adventures. Every tournament he skips will be a fresh chapter in the fallout. Every sponsor questioning either Tiger’s further enrichment or naming rights on a PGA Tour event will remind us that Tiger strayed from more than the fairway.
And now, as this is being written, a new brush is casting its stain on the crouching Tiger. A Canadian physician nabbed crossing into the U.S. with the dreaded PEDs – yes, those Performance Enhancing Drugs formerly tied to virtually every branch of “amateur” and professional sport EXCEPT golf, has been linked with Tiger, among other athletes. A-ha, the cynics say, we KNEW he didn’t get that buffed with early morning trips to the gym. I may be proved wrong – after all, I didn’t think he would be stupid enough to play dial-a-tramp on his own cell phone – but I don’t think Eldrick sports those form-fitting Nike mock turtles just to dare people to prove he cheated for that physique.
What is undeniably true, regardless of when Tiger re-emerges on the Tour, is that professional golf needed this development like an outbreak of dollar spot on the Augusta National greens. Here in San Diego, with the organizing Century Club clinging desperately to its Tiger-in-the-hole in the high stakes poker game to find a sponsor to replace Buick in January’s Tour stop at Torrey Pines, their ace has suddenly turned into a knave. If Tiger’s absence lingers, other sponsors may develop a sudden case of “fiscal responsibility” and find other, less controversial ways to promote their brand. Tim Finchem and his other TV contract negotiators will find themselves in a gunfight armed only with a knife.
Personally, I remain, as I have been, a huge fan of Tiger Woods’ unparalleled abilities on the golf course. Fortunately for me, age, inherent cynicism and some experience in the company of professional athletes protected me from assuming that Tiger’s pursuit of perfection on the golf course extended to every aspect of his personal life.
What is apparent, however, is that his father Earl may not have overplayed the parental (and self) pride card quite so much as we thought those 13 years ago. If measured in column inches, talking heads, sound bites, news station crawls and impact on an entire industry, son Tiger has indeed transcended golf.