Okay, I had to finally work up the courage to write this post. It is a big thing for me.
I have been a golfer all my adult life. I have enjoyed golf both playing and spectating. I was a fan of Jack back in the 70's. But I was pretty much fanless up until Tiger came on the scene playing amateur golf.
All golfing "dynasties" (is there such a thing in a non-team sport?) were all mainly before my time except for Jack and Arnie. And Arnie was winding down when I really got into playing. For over 20 years I had no one to really rally around in the sport of golf.
But then in the mid-90's here comes this phenom golfer that learned the game from his dad almost before he could walk. The story started and kept growing...the name, "Tiger", mixed-race, focused on Jack's Major record...he is all over the sports news. Golf has a saviour and his name is Tiger Woods.
Golf is a hard game. If you play you know that, if you don't play, go try it sometime. It is a really hard game to do consistently. It is the only major sport where if you do not make the cut each week, you make no real money. If you do not make the top 125 on the money list (no matter how long you have been a pro) you have to go back to qualifying school just to be able to play the next year. In basketball or football you have the potential of getting paid millions of dollars for not even playing (injured, benched, second string)...not in golf. If you don't play, you don't eat...so to speak...and I mean play well.
So here comes Tiger to save the entire sport of golf. The pressure has crushed many a golfer before him. It crushed David Duval (who I am a fan of). I watched him play some brilliant golf and then I watched him play some horrid golf and he was literally out of the game for several years. Tiger after winning two Amateur titles was being hailed as the second coming of golfing Jesus.
While so many before him had, Tiger did not disappoint. He had an aura about him from the minute he turned pro and stepped on the course. I can say I played the TPC course in Las Vegas a couple weeks before Tiger's first tournament at the Las Vegas Invitational. (I also saw Joe Peschi on the driving range).
Without making a 40-mile long post regaling all of Tiger's accomplishments, I will now fast-forward to the apocalypse sign that is Tiger Woods.
His life could not have been more perfect. Gorgeous trophy wife, 2 kids, literally a billion dollars in net worth, Jack's record within 3 or 4 years of breaking, over 70 tournament victories on the PGA, tons of lucrative endorsments...and I fear, a deep sense of invincibility. How the mighty fall.
It had started to amaze me the last 3 or 4 years. Every tournament he played in I wanted to watch. No matter where he started the weekend there was this sense that he could win...no other golfer put off that vibe. His playing in a tournament made it electric. The galleries were crushing. Players who had the misfortune to be partnered with him faded in the background. If it was the final round of a tournament, NO ONE wanted to be partnered with him because they knew they had no chance. This mystique has gone on for years.
Some may identify with having major reconstructive knee surgery. Tiger comes back 8 months after that and ends the year winning 7 tournaments...and a second $10 million dollar FedEx Cup! Are you kidding me?? Up until Thanksgiving it was an unbelieveable fantasy year. Then the bitches got the best of him!
I know it's easy for us regular people to sit back and say, "How the hell did that happen?" He had everything and threw it all alway for some booty calls. Ironically I actually feel better now that there may be something to this sex addiction thing. Seriously, his wife is still really smokin' hot after two kids and who wouldn't be satisfied with that, coupled with all his money and fame?
Now who knows when or if he will ever play again. The Majors without Tiger (and most tournaments in general) are just not that fun to watch if he is not playing. Do not for a minute think that all other golfers are glad his future is uncertain...he was the game, he saved the game (read: sponsors) in the tough economic times. TV ratings when he was playing were always spiked which means advertising (read: sponsors) rates went up. Everybody won...mostly Tiger.
I am not even looking forward to the Masters all that much. Chasing Jack's record was a huge draw for golf fans. Really, is anybody lining up to see if Kenny Perry, Angel Cabrera, or Lee Westwood might win this year. Their chance of missing the cut is just as good. Without Tiger, golf is just up for grabs. And that my friends is what makes it hard to get up for (no series of puns intended).
I wanted Tiger to be the golfing Messiah to the end of his career, sadly that may have already come true...on both counts.
Damn it Tiger...I am so disappointed! You double-bogeyed your life my friend.
Fore Right!
