Woods shamed himself but not game of golf
March 31, 2010
The azaleas will be in bloom as usual, because there are people who makesure of it at Augusta National. As a bonus this year, Jack and Arnie willreunite on the first tee.
Golf will be played as usual, and by early evening next Sunday, someone willbe wearing a green jacket.
The Masters will survive the sideshow born of the sordid tales of TigerWoods, and that’s only fitting.
Because while Woods has shamed himself plenty, he has done nothing to shamethe game of golf.
Remember that when the circus begins at Augusta National on Monday, andWoods steps into the cross hairs of the once tepid golf media. Remember it, too,when he steps onto the first tee on Thursday to hit a drive that will formallyannounce his return to golf.
Yes, he flaunted society’s rules of engagement with his bevy of mistresses.He did a terrible thing to his wife and, because of that, a lot of people willnever again regard him the same way.
But as the golf season begins anew in the year’s first major, life alsobegins anew for Woods. He’ll be back on familiar ground, with a familiar goalreplacing some new ones he may have learned in therapy.
And, after four long months spent judging Woods for what he did away fromthe golf course, maybe it’s time to start judging him again for what he does onit.
The game deserves it. So, in a way, does Woods, whose remarkable run overthe last 14 years changed the very way the game is played.
I’ve been among those who have taken Woods to task—and quite regularly—for the way he has handled this whole mess. I find it irritating that he stilltries to control the message and portrays himself as a noble figure who somehowwent astray around the same time he stopped meditating.
The details of some of his escapades—if true—are even more disturbing. Idon’t know how anyone can look at the infamous Woods glare now without eitherlaughing or feeling queasy.
But this isn’t about morality, or his startling lack of it. We’ve had plentyof time to digest and debate what Woods did and why.
This is about golf. And, really, that’s how it should be as the game returnsto one of its most revered places with a story line the late Bobby Jones couldnever have imagined when he built it.
Expect some commotion, at least outside the gates. The paparazzi will be intown, and so will every kook attempting to latch onto the moment for his or her15 minutes of fame.
Expect a golf tournament inside, and, hopefully, nothing else.
That’s what happened in 2003 when Martha Burk crusaded to enroll a woman atAugusta National. And that’s what golf desperately needs now.
I’m among the minority that doesn’t think Woods will do well in his firsttournament since going into hiding and then into therapy. I think thecombination of nerves and rust will not only prevent him from adding anothergreen jacket to his collection, but may send him home before the weekend.
Still, he’s got every right to try, no matter what anyone thinks about hispersonal life.
Yes, he could have been a better golf citizen by stopping occasionally tosign autographs or say hi to a spectator. And, long ago, he should have toneddown his penchant for using expletives whenever something went awry on thecourse.
Woods himself seemed to acknowledge that when he vowed in his first publicappearance since his accident to respect the game more.
But he never kicked his ball out from behind a tree when no one was looking,never coughed in his opponent’s backswing. As far as we know he’s never put downa 4 when he really made a 5.
Though some might argue that his transgressions did, indeed, hurt golf, whatthey really did was hurt Woods. The game survived without its greatest playerbecause the game has always been about more than just one person.
Someday Woods will be replaced by the next phenom, just as Jones and Palmerand Nicklaus were before him. When that day comes, it will be time to take stockof his career and measure him against the greats of the past.
Those measurements, though, should be based solely on what he did on thegolf course. There’s no grading curve where Woods loses greatness points becausehe couldn’t stop chasing women.
So go ahead and applaud Woods for the golfer he is. Or go ahead and turnaway in disgust.
But remember this:
There’s Tiger Woods the golfer and Tiger Woods the person.
One still has some redeeming qualities.
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press.
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