I want to precede what I say in this article by saying I am a fan of Tiger Woods. I always have been and always will be. I was one of the few rooting for him following his return from the infamous cheating scandal of 2009. I have always considered him as the best golfer to ever live and still currently root for him to break Jack Nicklaus’ major record and become statistically immortal.
That being said, I’m simply fed up with the amount of media attention Woods gets for anything and everything. The media DROOLS over everything the guy does no matter what, regardless of if he finishes 1st or 50th. It is impossible to seek out news on any week’s event without turning up a plethora of headlines like: “Is this Tiger’s week to return to the winner’s circle?” or “Master’s Tune-up for Woods” or “What’s going on with Tiger?”. Personally, I’m just tired of hearing about it. I get it: Tiger’s struggling, he hasn't won a major in a while and his numbers recently can’t hold a flame to what they once were. Any fan of golf or Tiger Woods understands damn well that he is not performing to the level that he, or the fans, want him to be.
An upset Woods at the Honda Classic before he withdrew in the 4th round. Not quite the famous fist pumps of the past.
As a fan of the game of golf as well as Tiger Woods, I would much rather hear about the young faces of golf who are moving up through the ranks who ARE hitting the ball well, putting up red numbers and winning tournaments. I would rather hear about guys like Keegan Bradley, Rory McIlroy, Russell Henley, Bubba Watson, Rickie Fowler etc. who are playing well at the beginning of their careers (or anyone who may be in contention on any given weekend). Instead I get a shot- by- shot break down of how Tiger shot +2 and what he’s going to have to do on Friday to make the cut.
Look at this past weekend’s Honda Classic for example. Am I alone in thinking there are probably more golf fans in the world that know Tiger withdrew from the 4th round because of back spasms compared to golf fans that know 24 year old Russell Henley won the tournament in a 1 hole, 4 man sudden death playoff? To me, that’s a little bit twisted. Henley worked his butt off and grinded until the end to earn that trophy. But no, Tiger will make bigger news no matter what he does because he is Tiger Woods.
24 year old Henley hoisting the trophy at the Honda Classic.
Now, I understand Tiger is the face of golf, the PGA Tour and is arguably the best golfer ever. No matter what, this guy will be talked about. I’m just fed up with the amount of attention he gets for not performing. Give the younger guys who are performing and putting up winning numbers the headlines they deserve. Tiger has had his turn and has every right to make headlines again, if he earns them.
After writing this (and making up the fake headlines about Tiger above) I went on Yahoo! Sports and clicked into their Golf section and turned up these EXACT headlines, click the links for the stories if you don’t believe me:
- Tiger begins Road to Augusta with a limp
- Tiger Woods withdraws from Honda; bad back could hinder Masters prep
The saying usually goes “you can’t script this stuff” well in this case; you can…
