Tiger Woods was not who we thought he was
If you are a regular reader of The Golf Blog, you know that we have admired his golfing genius since he was an amateur. We have praised and defended Tiger Woods so many times in the past, some people have accused us of being on Tiger Woods’ payroll.
Well, we’re not on his payroll. And we’ve stopped defending Tiger Woods’ after our partial defense last week. No more. There’s no defending what Tiger Woods did to his wife Elin.
And there’s no defending what he did in deceiving the public and all those kids out there who wanted to grow up to be like Tiger Woods. Tiger Woods projected a family man image in order to build a $1 billion empire fueled by corporate sponsors. Tiger projected that family man image, while leading apparently a double life with connections to multiple women, including porn stars, and with allegations now of indiscriminate use of Ambien. That deception allowed Tiger to fool us all into believing that he was a good role model for kids across the world. He’s obviously not.
Meanwhile, it is somewhat ironic that the often troubled golfer John Daly (who is the only golfer who has defended Tiger Woods publicly) has shed over 100 pounds and is contemplating a book and a movie. He seems to be getting his act together (again), after many missteps. Daly is beloved by many fans, who always seem to be able to look past his transgressions. So why is Daly given a pass when Tiger Woods is now being excoriated in the press?
We think the answer is simple. John Daly has been open and honest about his battles with alcohol, four ex-wives, and carousing with women. More generally, JD has been just open and accessible to people, signing nearly every autograph requested at tournaments.
Tiger Woods has been a different story. The man has been so guarded–even stand-offish–about his life. It was hard to know Tiger Woods as a person, he barely said anything except politically correct answers. That detachment was thought necessary by many as a way to maintain some sort of privacy and normalcy for his family, despite being the most famous athlete in the world. Now, we know, however, that Tiger’s guardedness was a way to keep his sexual shenanigans going. Tiger projected the image of the dutiful family man when he was the exact opposite. The image that Tiger Woods and his people projected only made it even more disappointing when we learned none of it was true. And it gets even worse now when Tiger’s people apparently are offering millions in “hush money” to keep all of his women quiet. Tiger Woods was not who we thought he was–nor who Tiger’s people made us believe he was. That deception may be the biggest disappointment of all.
We’re not here to pile on Tiger Woods when he is really down. And we look forward to the day when he gets back on the golf course. But our admiration for Tiger Woods, the golfer, will be chastened with our feeling of disappointment over the entire affair.
–The Golf Blog
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