1

Tiger Only Cares About Tiger

by Jeff Skinner

With many in the golf world still on Tiger Watch there is speculation that Tiger may return at The Masters, Bay Hill or even the made for television money grab, The Tavistock Cup.  Regardless of when Woods decides to tee it up one fact is clear: only Tiger will decide when he comes back.  That has been the way Tiger lives his life, he does what he wants, whenever he wants and doesn’t care about anything other than what he wants.  John Feinstein has given his assessment of how and why Woods has found himself in this situation.  Feinstein accurately points out that Tiger has been a control freak from day one and he intimidates or removes anyone who tries to prevent him from getting his way.

Woods and his team were able to build a wall around Tiger, a very solid wall.  Feinstein points out that at least one of Tiger’s affairs was going on for over 31 months.  How can something like that have been kept secret when he is the most famous athlete alive? It may have almost leaked, there might have been some whispers in the locker room – and that’s all they ever were because almost everyone in golf lives in fear of The Wrath of Tiger – but it stayed secret.”

Tiger has been the 600 pound gorilla for years.  The PGA Tour caters to his wishes.  The corporate world threw gazillions of dollars at him.  The mainstream media handles him with kid gloves, always careful not to cross Tiger for fear of losing their biggest headline and prime meal ticket.  Feinstein couldn’t have said it better when he says,“All of which leads to the most oft-asked question in this entire tangled web: how could one of the great control freaks of history allow himself to completely lose control of his life this way? Anyone who claims it was an unhappy marriage or an over-developed sex drive entirely misses the point. Tiger Woods went on these binges for one simple reason: hubris.”

Hubris is defined as excessive pride or arrogance. Is there anyone who portrays those traits more than Woods?   I can’t think of anyone. He did it because he believed he could do it and no one would catch him and, if someone did somehow catch him, they wouldn’t dare out him.”

When the scandal first broke it seemed so unbelievable that Woods could be involved in something as base and deviant as this.  It ran contrary to the image that was so delicately crafted by Woods and his team.  Now, with his “family man” image shattered beyond repair he is left with the task of restoring his image.

It will be impossible for Tiger to ever regain the status that he once held. He’ll probably come back to golf and win enough majors to pass Jack Nicklaus.  But, he’ll never be the man that his old image had purported him to be.  As long as he can play golf and make some more money off his image he’ll be content.  As far as everything else, he just won’t care.  After all he’s Tiger Woods, to him that’s all that matters.

John Feinstein in The Guardian

Share

One Comment

  1. Who really cares about Tiger! Im so sick of hearing about him, I will not watch anymore of golf on TV!!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.