Holy cow, Superman himself has decided to grace us with his presence again. Or -- as some golf fans have no doubt noted -- Eldrick Woods has opted to once again come out of seclusion to play another tournament.
You see, Tiger gets to pick and choose which tournaments he'll play. He's not like the other pros that are out there entertaining the fans every week, and BTW, trying to make enough bucks to support their families. No, Tiger's way past that now. Despite his gross marital infidelity, which was widely reported a while back, and also despite his on-going penchant to curse and otherwise act like a spoiled brat on a golf course when things don't go his way -- while all around him are behaving like the gentlemen golfers have historically been -- Eldrick has no worries. He's still got enough money flowing in from endorsements to buy your entire neighborhood and turn it into a giant practice putting green whenever he feels like it, and an army of groupies that the Beatles and the Stones combined would have been envious of back in the day. Personally, I think of those that worship Tiger as somewhat akin to the "dead-heads" that followed the late Jerry Garcia's band around. If that's what yanks their crank, then by all means go for it -- but I didn't understand the fascination with the Grateful Dead then, and I surely don't understand it now with Tiger. Then again, I guess every cult following has their own reasons.
At any rate, Tiger is now playing the Memorial (Jack Nicklaus' tourney in Ohio). This is one of his favorite stops because he's had so much success there in the past. You won't see Eldrick participating in other "non-major" tournaments where the course doesn't suit his game. Quite the contrary. If a particular golf course has given him fits in the past, don't look for Woods to show up at that tournament anymore. Various reasons will come from various "spokespeople" on his behalf, but in the end, Tiger's not going to tee it up unless he thinks he has decent chance of winning. Further, while the other guys are out there travelling to and from, and playing vastly different course set-ups on the PGA tour leading up to it, Tiger has the luxury of routinely take a couple weeks off before a "major" to hone his game to that particular course. Guys like Jack and Arnie used to play them all. Tiger gets to pick and choose with a couple weeks of practice under his belt. Is it any wonder he seems to play well at the majors?
Somehow, over the course of time, any event Woods is entered in ceases to be a PGA tournament, and turns into the Tiger show. How else to explain what we see on TV?
Watching the highlights on ESPN, yours truly saw it happen yet again. See Tiger hit a 5 wood 260 yards into a green. Impressive. See Tiger hit a wild shot over another green into the rough somewhere. Any duffer can do that. See Tiger roll in a 10 foot putt. Hey, this is a PGA tournament. These guys are all good or they wouldn't be there. Ten foot putts are getting holed every couple minutes. This is a big deal because it's Tiger? See Tiger chump a chip shot on the fringe of a green. I can do that. So can you. This is a highlight?
And, of course, there's always the mandatory Tiger TV interview after his round has been completed, with the cameras, microphones, and awe-struck reporters asking him questions like Eldrick is the second-coming of Nostradamus, or maybe Charles Barkley.
See Tiger 6 shots behind and tied for 27th place after only one round of play.
A question.....
Instead of force feeding the public TV highlights and lowlights of some dude that played decidedly mediocre -- how come we don't get to see the really good shots and performances of those that were so much better than him on this particular occasion? Obviously, there was a slew of them, but they get ignored to once again bring us the Tiger show.
Some other guy on the course can make an 80 foot putt at the same time Eldrick decides to eat a banana -- and guess which one the TV cameras will zoom in on?
Nothing against the dude. He's a great golfer at times.
But c'mon. Enough is enough with the hype.
There's a reason they call it the "leaderboard". How about showing the guys that are on it?
John, I see you still have your hate on for Tiger. That is fine. But when you want to compare him with greats from the past, at least get your facts straight. Guys like Jack and Arnie did NOT play them all. In fact, Tiger's scheduling is patterned after Nicklaus.
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