Start of the New Golf Season and a new Tiger Woods
Welcome back to the start of the new golf season. Time to dust off those clubs and start hitting the range for the first time out. A lot has happened since the fall of 2009. Tiger woods won the 2009 Fed Ex Cup and then out of nowhere his world came crashing down during Thanksgiving, November 2009. His scandal ripped through the media and all of a sudden Tiger was on the front of newspapers everywhere, not for his golf skill or winning a big tournament, but for an adulterous lifestyle with numerous mistresses. He was living two worlds: the Tiger Woods persona and his own secret life that few knew about. When his wife Elin found out, things got crazy and in two hot minutes, Tigger was fodder for all the late night shows, TMZ.com and radaronline.com. He was the next huge celebrity to come crashing down for all of the world to see. The great thing about Tiger up until now, has been his ability to mold his persona and stay out of the limelight for everything except his golf playing ability. Even his yacht is named “Privacy”. It shows that he wants nothing more than to be left a lone and only come out to play with media only for golf purposes. However, Tiger makes his living off pushing and endorsing products to his fans. And when that’s the case, he often sits in our living room with his whole world exposed. Given that the truth has come out, he will now be hounded by paparzzi and tmz for the rest of his life. Such a large mistake has caused him to lose the privilege of staying out of the limelight except when on the golf course.
Tiger Woods has recently announced his comeback to golf after a 4 month hiatus. He will start at the Masters in a tightly controlled media event. Was there ever any doubt that he would be back for the Masters? He was always going to play at the Masters. His so called break was a publicity stunt. If you think about it, his normal schedule would have been to start playing at Bay Hill. So in reality he has only missed 1 or 2 tournaments from his normal schedule had the scandal not been released. Tiger is still a legend in the making, what he does in his private life is his business. What I think really hurts his fans and his relationship with the media is his arrogance and standoffish attitude where he thinks he can control everything. From dictating what questions to answer to allowing only a 5 min interview on his terms. What he really needs to do is open up to everyone admit his faults in an honest fashion that his fans can relate to and show his human side. Not stage a reading of a fake insincere letter. No one will believe it. He must give a sincere apology, speak the truth and move on. But if he continues to put up a shield and lie to everyone, no one will respect him and give him the privacy that he wants and seeks. Having said all that, this will all blow over. Soon enough Tiger will be back winning majors and this will be a faint memory. No one will care about his scandal in year or so. He will continue to achieve great things and break all the golfing records that are out there.
What Tiger should learn from this experience is that he is not invincible. He is human. He will make mistakes. Tiger must learn that the media and his fans will no longer trust his words. He is going to have to re-earn his reputation and regain his fans. And when they do, which is going to happen, it will appear as nothing ever happened. It may seem like his world ended late 2009. But for him it will have been just a small bump in the road in an otherwise illustrious golfing career. As for his wife, Elin, it’s up to her whether she can forgive him. And for what its worth, I don’t think she will be able to overcome her hatred for his actions over the span of their marriage. Good Luck Tiger. Here’s to hoping you play well at the Masters.