Woods’ quest for privacy meets its great challenge
November 30, 2009
JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP)—All anyone needs to know about Tiger Woods off thegolf course is what he named his yacht.
Privacy.
Woods gave up a big piece of that when he left Stanford University after twoyears, turned pro with a “Hello, World” ad campaign and a $40 millionendorsement deal, then quickly became one of the most recognizable athletes onearth.
He will invite some people into that world, but only so far.
Earlier this month in Shanghai, while playing a pro-am round at SheshanInternational in a World Golf Championship, Woods allowed that he was staying ina cluster of mansions located on an island in the middle of the golf course.Some of the estates were valued at $14.5 million, and Woods could not believethe extravagance of these homes.
Approaching the island, he was asked which one he was staying in for theweek.
“Oh, one of those over there,” he said dismissively.
It was a clear example of the world’s No. 1 player giving a morsel ofinsight, but not much more.
Once asked why he enjoyed scuba diving so much, Woods replied: “The fishdon’t know who I am.”
He is friends with many, close to only a few. Among his best friends areBryon Bell, whom he has known since junior high school, and Jerry Chang, ateammate at Stanford.
When he made history in 2001 as the only golfer to hold all fourprofessional majors at the same time, Golf Digest put him on the magazine coverposing with the four trophies, along with his U.S. Amateur trophy.
Did he keep them on the mantel? A special trophy case? His bedroom?
That remains a mystery.
Even for a magazine with whom he has had a longtime relationship, thetrophies were moved out of his house for the photo shoot. That $2.4 million homenear the driving range at Isleworth is off limits to anyone not part of hiscircle.
It’s amazing that Woods has managed to keep such a thick wall around hispersonal life in the 14 years he’s commanded the spotlight. The last time hisname might have been on any police report was when he was mugged going back tohis dorm at Stanford in 1994.
In response to a query on his Facebook account in October, Woods said he andhis wife, Elin, had managed to stay out of gossip magazines and tabloids. “Ithink we’ve avoided a lot of media attention because we’re kind of boring,” wasthe reply.
That changed Friday with a press release from the Florida Highway Patrolthat Eldrick Tiger Woods, 33, of Windermere, struck a fire hydrant and a treeshortly after pulling out of his driveway. The patrol described the injuries as“serious,” making the news important enough to be the lead item on newschannels and for networks to interrupt coverage of college football games.
Then came word of a small photo of Woods on the cover of the NationalEnquirer, alleging an affair with a New York night club hostess. The womandenied the story and flew to Los Angeles on Sunday to meet with high-profileattorney Gloria Allred.
Woods has had a general distrust of the media since a 1997 interview with GQmagazine in which he was quoted as telling racy jokes in the back seat of a car.He rarely spends much time in an interview, his answers always guarded. If he’snot the defending champion, he often will not go to the media center, makingreporters come outside to see him.
The only criticism Woods has faced was not taking a stronger stand on socialissues, such as the all-male membership at Augusta National, not playing moretournaments, or for cursing and throwing a club during competition.
But in all those cases, it was short-lived.
Questions about his car crash, however, will linger as long as Woods keepsit a mystery. He has dealt with a sporting media most of his life. Now he stepsinto the realm of celebrity media, which is far more relentless.
Speculation on what really happened that night outside—or inside—hishome grows each day. Woods went 13 hours before confirming he was in a “minoraccident,” then two more days before giving his side of the story Sunday.
He said it was his fault, an embarrassing accident, that he’s not perfect,and that any innuendoes were false and malicious. That hardly will be enough tokeep the media satisfied.
Woods turned down a request by state troopers to talk three days in a row.Because it is only a traffic accident, he is not required by law to give astatement.
“Although Tiger realizes that there is a great deal of public curiosity, ithas been conveyed to FHP that he simply has nothing more to add and wishes toprotect the privacy of his family,” Mark Steinberg, his agent at IMG, said inan e-mail.
But that small camp of TV trucks parked outside the gates at Isleworth mightnot be leaving any time soon. Woods still is scheduled to compete in his ChevronWorld Challenge this week in Thousand Oaks, California. As of Sunday night, noone had withdrawn.
Would it not be wise to face the media, no matter how embarrassing, and moveon?
That’s simply not his style. Woods can be self-deprecating, but only in thebest of times. If he chooses not to show this week in California, he couldeasily go into hiding for the next two months. Hardly anyone saw him in publicfor four months after his knee surgery last year.
That won’t make the story go away. For all the records he is chasing insidethe ropes, this might prove to be his greatest challenge.
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