by Jeff Skinner
Here’s how to get Tiger Woods to sit down and talk for twenty five minutes: sponsor his tournament, pay him a hefty fee and donate a bunch of cash to his foundation. That’s what Chevron is doing this week at The Chevron World Challenge.
As tournament host Tiger sat himself down and answered questions from the assembled media. As usual there was nothing earth shattering but he said he is trying to build on the success he had in Australia and is excited about playing golf again.
Tiger talked of swing thoughts, mechanics, his schedule, and foundation and so on. It’s not that interesting really, but Tiger always draws the crowd and everyone has an opinion on him.
What is interesting is John Feinstein’s piece on Tiger written before his press conference on Wednesday. Feinstein doesn’t buy Tiger’s act. Never has, never will. He takes Tiger to task for not living up to his word. After Woods came back from his “hiatus” he promised to be more open to the press and fans and be a better person. Nothing has changed about Woods says Feinstein. He’s the same old Tiger.
Tiger was asked about not playing Torrey Pines this year and he said he likes to change it up and that’s why he opted to play Abu Dhabi. Here is Feinstein’s take on it, “Why did he choose Abu Dhabi over San Diego and Dubai? His website says it is because he likes to travel to different places. If you believe that, you will be trying to stay awake waiting for Santa Claus to arrive on Christmas Eve. The change was simple: Dubai is sponsored by Omega. Woods just signed a new deal with Rolex. Woods may not be loyal to many people but he is loyal to those who pay him.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with making a business decision. Even for Woods, $3 million is a lot of money and, as he continues his rehab in the corporate world, it is understandable that he’d want to keep a new corporate sponsor happy.”
I’ll take a Feinstein article over a Woods press conference any day of the week. He’s right: Tiger is the same old Tiger.
Link to The Golf Channel and John Feinstein’s article.
Link to Tiger’s press conference.
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