PART II…

A little over a week since my last post, and so much has happened that there needed to be a part two. Allegedly, Tiger now has more mistresses than Majors, and the drama continues to unfold.

I miss the days when I would only hear news about Tiger that was preceded by “ESPN is reporting” or “The Golf Channel is reporting” no, the stories I hear about Tiger these days come from the tabloids.

It’s become pretty apparent that he has had some problems at home, and it appears as though Tiger and Elin are headed for divorce.

Nope, he’s not out of the woods yet.

They’ve all had their input. Rick Reilly from ESPN, arguably the best sports scribe of my time, has outlined a multi-step plan for Tiger’s return. The usually satirical Reilly seems to be onto something here though, and Tiger looks to be on that path so far. I doubt that he’ll be appearing on Oprah any time soon, it’s just not Tiger’s style.

Although, has anything since the end of November been “Tiger’s style?” He gets in a car accident, the media storms his once quiet and personal lifestyle, and he’s on the cover of magazines he never thought he would be.

When Tiger announced that he would take an indefinite leave from golf, all those covering the game looked at each other wondering, “Well… now what?” no one really knows when he is going to return, no one knows what he is going to get up to in the next three or four months, but what they all know, even though they might not admit it, is that Tiger will return with a vengeance to the game he loves.

Not only is it the game he loves, but it’s the game he dominates. The recently named “Athlete of the Decade” will not be coming back to the game of golf unless he feels he can compete at the highest level. His one misstep came at the 2006 U.S. Open, where he missed the cut after coming back soon after his Father’s death.

We all know what happened after that though, he came into the next major, the Open Championship, and won with a -18 score.

There’s no doubt that when Tiger returns it will be a circus. Media from all over the world, not only sports outlets, but entertainment outlets too, will be there. Like I wrote before, in no way do I condone his actions. But hasn’t he suffered enough?

He’s acknowledged his wrong-doings and he’s attempting to make the best for his family. With a divorce allegedly in the works, and an announcement for taking an “indefinite leave” from golf, these may be the first steps.

Hero worship for Tiger Woods will never be the same. He’ll come back from all this as more than just a brand, he’ll finally be a real person who makes real mistakes and has to recover from them.

In a recent call, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said “We’re in a down economy and not having the No. 1 player in our sport playing is not a positive […] it won’t be at the same level without our No. 1 player; no sport would be the same. But I think the doom and gloom needs to go away and I think it’s misleading to our fans.”

Finchem spoke for the first time since the incident on November 27 at this call, and it’s a positive thing to see that the Tour is ready to move on without Tiger. It was never going to stop, though. It is a business just like any other sports league.

When Tom Brady went down in Game 1 of last year’s NFL Season, the league went on. The Patriots even racked up an 11-5 record and almost made the playoffs! This could be another opportunity for some of the “shoulda-beens” to step up (Padraig Harrington could win another two majors, it’ll probably be his only other chance to) but I’d argue that Tiger will come back with a renewed sense of purpose. I’d argue that this is the first time that Tiger has to come back and prove something to the world.

The other times that Tiger has come back, the media has taken it easy on him. His father dies; he misses the cut because he came back too early. His knee gets ripped up (wins the U.S. Open); and no one expects him to do much… except he goes out and wins six times on the year.

The cover of Maclean’s this month shows a picture of Tiger with the headline “the fall of the world’s greatest athlete.” I disagree with this whole-heartedly. We haven’t seen the fall of anything athletic from Tiger and we never will. If he gets on the course and drops faster than David Duval, then I’ll be the first to eat a whole bunch of humble pie.

What we have seen instead, is the inside of a once-gated personal life, a marriage gone wrong, and a man trying to rebuild his place in society.

But until he steps on to a golf course, his escape from it all, no one has seen the “fall” of Tiger Woods – the world’s greatest athlete.

MY TWO CENTS…

Last week, Tiger Woods crashed his car. He crashed his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a tree in the yard of his $2.4 million home, was fined $164 and got four demerit points. He committed a driving offence that he could repeat over 64,000 times if he desired, because the man is worth over $1 billion, and there’s no other athlete on the planet who makes as much money as he does.

Oh, then there was a whole bunch of other stuff that happened too.

The online news world exploded with stories, accusations, tweets, and pictures. Some of the stories might be true, some might not be so true, and some sound just flat out erroneous – we’ve heard it all.

Apparently, Tiger got attacked by Elin with a golf club. Apparently, Tiger is a sex addict who thrives on ambien. Apparently, Tiger has had six mistresses and that number is set to climb in the coming weeks.

These rumours are being started and followed up on by media outlets such as TMZ and the National Enquirer who, with all do respect to their “investigations” (not sure if I would call it journalism) make a living off of making people look bad.

This whole situation was probably not helped by the state of the media today, with social networking websites allowing stories to be told as-they-happen. All you need to do is check the stats from Twitter: Tiger Woods was a “trending topic”, one of the most popular items that people were talking about on the site, for more than 170 straight hours. That’s almost seven straight days.

Does anyone know what else happened in those seven days? I do. President Barack Obama escalated the war in Afghanistan, committing to send 30,000 more troops and extend the campaign until 2011. The leader of the biggest country in the free world just escalated a war and all the media talked about was Tiger Woods.

Unfortunately, media outlets that I would of course call “real” journalism are lowering themselves to tabloid standards.

For example, a recent article from the Toronto Star quoted another paper, who quoted a tabloid, who quoted “unnamed sources”, and that got past an editor? I’m all for giving the people what they want, but what about respect and privacy for the greatest athlete of our time.

In 1997, Tiger’s father Earl Woods said about his then 21-year-old son that, he “will do more than any other man in history to change the course of humanity.” Twelve years later, Tiger has won 14 majors, has earned over $1 billion through sponsorships and on-course successes, and has helped out over 10 million youth through his various charitable efforts not only through the game of golf, but through education as well.

He has influenced millions of people to play golf and has done more for the game than any man has done, and ever will. He brought the game into the 21st century, injecting it with a fiery passion that has allowed it to connect to a whole new generation. All of his peers have him to thank for the multi-million dollar tournament purses, and arguably, him to thank for the Olympics wanting to include golf as a sport in 2016.

Thanks to a bizarre 48 hours though, some of the world has forgotten all that. Some in the media are convinced that Tiger owes the world an apology for his personal life. Society should not believe that an explanation is owed, just because he is in the public eye.

This media scrutiny is an unknown world for Team Tiger; paparazzi are following their every move. Some say that his chase to win more majors than Jack Nicklaus will now be on the same level as the Aaron versus Ruth home run chase, because of the racial undertones of this whole story.

For allegedly cheating on his blonde-haired, blue-eyed, Swedish super model wife, Tiger is no doubt in the dog house (a very expensive one) and this is turning uglier as the weeks go on. This situation has launched the once-reclusive Tiger into the world of rumours and gossip, and it is up to him and him alone for how much he wants to share.

But really, does he have too?

Some argue that he deserves the distain from the public for refusing to comment. I don’t condone what he may or may not have done, but the worst part of the whole story, is the way that the media has treated it.

If the media wants to exploit the lives of celebrities to make money, then that’s their prerogative, but take a long hard look at what the man has done in the past, rather than what might be done in the future.

We most likely will not hear from Tiger until late January 2010, when he makes his tournament debut and he gets back to doing what he does best, playing golf.

SOME PRESIDENTIAL THOUGHTS

Right before I left for a Thanksgiving feast, I was able to watch the Sunday singles match-ups at the Presidents Cup and thankfully, I got to see Tiger Woods close out his newest arch-nemesis Y.E. Yang 6 & 5 to clinch the President’s Cup for the Americans.

After a weekend of cold weather – it reminded me more of a weekend of October golf in Ottawa, and not San Francisco – the Americans came out on top, as they always do on home soil, with a convincing 19 ½ to 14 ½ victory.

The closing ceremonies of the President’s Cup usually mean the closing of another official golf season, as most pros will take lengthy breaks to be with family after a grueling 10 months of travel and mental strain.

Or, if you’re Adam Scott, it’s back to the tour grind for another couple weeks to try to sort out what the heck has gone wrong with your game. Seeing yourself dip from #3 in the world all the way down to #69 has got to be brutal on your mental attitude, and it was put on display for all to see this week, posting a 1-4 record. Had it not been for Ernie Els in his opening match, he would have put up an 0-fer, almost unbelievably, just as Camilo Villegas did in his debut President’s Cup.

The excitement of my friends regarding the President’s Cup, and more than anything, the performance of Tiger Woods, reached whole new levels on Saturday night. Meeting up with people I have been friends with since elementary school for the first time since school started, our conversations usually reach loud, argumentative levels about hockey, football, our schools, or anything else a group of 21-year-old guys like to talk about.

This weekend though, our conversation switched to golf, and after a thorough discussion about the President’s Cup, a friend of mine proclaimed “I have never heard golf being argued this loudly before in my life.” Definitely put a smile on my face.

Some food for thought, as the week at Harding Park comes to a close:

The Kids Are Alright

Besides the mental gaffe by Greg Norman to use one of his captain’s picks on Adam Scott (maybe he was too upset at his separation from tennis legend Chris Evert?) Norman made a great pick by choosing 18-year-old Japanese phenom Ryo Ishikawa. Ishikawa was only three-years-old when the first edition of the President’s Cup was played, but has already won four times on the Japan Tour this year, looks like a grizzled veteran out there. With a record of only 2-2-1, let that not speak to the way he competed this past weekend. The ‘Asian Sensation’ duo of himself and Y.E. Yang laid a beat down on the duo of Kenny Perry and Sean O’Hair 4 & 3 on Friday, then again to Perry and Zach Johnson on Saturday 3 & 2. They ran into the buzz-saw of a partnership Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker on Saturday afternoon, but you live and you learn.

At 18, he may have channeled his inner David Duval, with the sunglasses constantly being down over his eyes, despite the overcast conditions in San Francisco. Could have been the nerves? But how could you blame him. Sunday singles saw another chance to take down Perry, who, at 49, was the oldest person in the competition. He took full advantage of the opportunity, as Ishikawa won 2 & 1 and prompted Perry to say “he sent me right into retirement, that kid.”

Not be out done by a high school student, the American contingent of 20-somethings also performed very well. Sean O’Hair (27) finished up for a record of 2-2-1, including a convincing singles win over Ernie Els. He did, however, lose a bunch of money to assistant captain Michael Jordan in a practice round. Anthony Kim (24) also had a good week finishing with a 3-1 record, also including a big singles win. He was helped along by some of his veteran teammates during the team portion of the event, but his singles win proved that he could turn it on if needs to.

This is all very good news for the game of golf, as when the Olympics rolls around in 2016, we may see some of these younger guys rolling just into their prime. As Johnny Miller stated during Sunday’s broadcast “…wouldn’t be surprised to see Ishikawa as the #1 ranked player in the world 10-15 years from now” and although TW might have something to say about that, Ishikawa has all the tools to do it.

Little People, Big World

I can’t say enough of the performances by Tim Clark and Canada’s own Mike Weir this past week. By the end of the broadcast, I was pretty sick of hearing jabs at Clark’s 5-foot-7 frame by Miller and Dan Hicks, even as he poured in eight birdies on Sunday for a 4 & 3 victory. The little man with the big putter (the only man in the even to use a “broomstick” for a putter), finished the week with a 2-2-1 record, and played true to the steady style which saw him knock off Tiger Woods in the Accenture World Match Play event earlier in the year. Captain Norman called him his “bulldog” and it’s looking as though this success may transfer into 2010 and his first win on North American soil.

Weir (standing 5-foot-9) also performed well this week, finishing with an identical record to Clark at 2-2-1. He was primed to take a win from Justin Leonard on Sunday, but after finding out that the Cup had already been clinched by the Americans in the Woods/Yang match before theirs, they decided on a Halve. Although nothing could compare to his dominance at Royal Montreal in 2007, where he was a captain’s pick, finished 3-1-1, and took out Tiger Woods in a singles match up, he will continue to be Canada’s main representative for the next couple of years at least.

The Man

It wasn’t like I was going to go through a whole column without mentioning Tiger Woods. What he did this week can go down in the books as one of the greatest performances in a team competition in history. He joins Mark O’Meara and Shigeki Maruyama as the only men to finish 5-0 at a President’s Cup, but neither of those guys did it in such dominating fashion. His pairing with Steve Stricker was a match made in heaven, and arguably he got carried in two of the matches, but when Woods needed to show up, he did in a big way.

We saw some flashes of Tiger’s swagger circa-2000 with huge fist pumps and also the now infamous club twirl/walk towards hole on 18 on Saturday. We also saw him extract his revenge on Y.E. Yang after the PGA Championship loss – beating him not only with partner Stricker, but also on Sunday in singles, Woods’ point clinching the cup for the Americans.

This week, he played up to his world no. 1 standing, and after going 1-1-2-2-11-1-2 in his last seven stroke-play events since August, and going undefeated at Harding Park, he’s looking forward to a bit of a break. Coming back from knee surgery last year, Woods won six times on tour this year, and this week could have merely been a coronation for a Player of the Year award. Funny enough, he’s not out of the running for a Comeback Player of the Year award, too.

Even though Tiger didn’t take any Majors this year (his best chance was dashed by the aforementioned Yang at the PGA) 2010 sees a return to some of Tiger’s favourite major championship venues: Augusta National, Pebble Beach for the US Open, and St. Andrews for the British. We could be on the edge of another fantastic season from The Man.

CONGRATULATIONS, GOLF WORLD

After sending out all the big guns: Tiger Woods, Ernie Els, Michelle Wie, and Padraig Harrington amongst others, the International Olympic Committee has decided that yes, golf will be included in the 2016 Olympics in Rio De Janeiro.

This is the first time that golf has been included in the Olympics since 1904, when a Canadian by the name of George Lyon took home the Gold.

But, the IOC has a long way to go before they’re ready to have to golf in the Olympics once again.

For one, the Olympic schedule (Aug 5-21) interferes with the scheduling of the PGA Championship and start of the Fed-Ex Cup playoffs, so something will have to be done there by the PGA Tour, assumingly, first and foremost.

At a press conference at Harding Park Golf Course in San Francisco, site of this week’s President’s Cup, PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem said, “we know there are going to be some scheduling challenges […] and we know that going in and we have all agreed to fix it.”

As of now, the current format calls for an individual 72-hole stroke play event for both men and women. There will be 60 players competing in each event, with the top 15 players in the Official World Golf Ranking at the to-be-determined date will be eligible, regardless of which country said players are from.

Beyond the top 15 though, players would be eligible based on the world rankings, with a maximum of two players from each country that does not already have two or more players among the top 15.

Confused? Don’t be. The only thing that remains to be seen is who will be ranked at the top of that list seven years from now.

Tiger will be 40 years old by then and, for all intents and purposes, will still be chasing after major championships, if only to pad his lead over Jack Nicklaus as having won the most majors ever.

Arguably the greatest Canadian golfer of all time Mike Weir will be 46, and most likely on the cusp of retirement, rather than ready to challenge for an Olympic medal. Our chance for, well, a “repeat” gold medal will rest firmly on the young shoulders of Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. and Matt Hill who, coincidently enough, is from Weir’s hometown of Bright’s Grove, Ontario.

The problem with the format is that it sounds like a normal PGA or LPGA tournament, so where is the excitement that usually accompanies an Olympic event? The perspective of the North Americans or Europeans may be that an Olympic medal will fall short of their desired golf accomplishments behind winning any of the four majors, but two of the PGA Tour’s most active members on Twitter seem to disagree.

Stewart Cink said, “I'll be 43. What's the record for oldest gold medal winner?” and Ian Poulter said, “Give me a chance to play for a gold medal for my country & I will sweat blood & tears to win it, I will a ripe age of 40 and ready for it.”

Clearly the elite players of today are excited to be a part of the Olympics, but they may not even be in top form come 2016. There is no doubt that it will do wonders with regards to the globalization of the game, and for the development of more world-class golfers.

In an interview with Bob Harig from ESPN, John Strawn, president of the design firm Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest and Associates and former CEO Robert Trent Jones II design said “the real impact here is that governments in China and India will now spend significant funds on the development of golfers, just as they spend on the development of gymnasts and field hockey players.”

Over time this globalization will for sure increase the number of top golfers in places that never had these opportunities before. When being only short-sited, the proposed event sounds like nothing more than a glorified World Golf Championship.

But, the scheduling and the format and not to mention the venue (currently only one “good” golf course in Rio) are all things that can get sorted out in the next seven years. For now, congratulations Golf World, you did it.