Tiger Woods media backlash

Here's an article I found by Peter Stone, who writes for The Sydney Morning Herald. It is titled "Why I am disgusted with Tiger Woods." It details the disgust Peter has for Tiger Woods after everything that has happened surrounding Tiger's sex scandal, public statement, and his return to golf at the Masters in early April.

Though I'm sure the majority are elated by Tiger's return, we are equally still disappointed by his actions.

Mr. Stone is very candid in the article. I found it to be quite a good read.

Cheers,

How long ago was it that Tiger Woods, in a speech he must have rehearsed so many times in company with a Hollywood director (pause for dramatic effect, a choking of the voice and, most of all, look sincere) said: ''I do plan to return to golf one day. I just don't know when that day will be.''

It was February 20, to be exact. So, just over three weeks later, he announces the Masters as his return to golf, which just about sums up the insincerity of his statement in front of the chosen few at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida.

No questions were allowed on his sexual exploits, which must have had legendary Tasmanian pants man Errol Flynn turning in his grave in admiration.

Shortly after news broke in November that Woods had a trophy cabinet full of cocktail waitresses, porn stars, etc, I wrote a column not so much defending Woods as observing that golfing history was full of philanderers who hadn't been exposed because the media were far less intrusive than in these times of the internet and a rabid tabloid press. It was also before every blonde Jungers, Grubbs and Jolie stepped forward.

Now I am as disgusted with Woods and his secret life as I have always been about his on-course behaviour, which runs the gamut of foul language, ugly fist pumps, the throwing of clubs (nearly decapitating a spectator at our Masters at Kingston Heath last November) and spitting. He was untouched by a fawning media that has since become increasingly feral.

About the only comments we should believe from his statement are that he has been ''selfish and foolish''. And, more tellingly, ''I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to. I felt that I had worked hard my entire life and deserved to enjoy all the temptations around me. I felt I was entitled.''

How very true that is: ''I felt I was entitled.'' ''Selfish.'' It sums up everything about Woods. He feels he is not only bigger than the game he has dominated but also beyond the bounds of all moral and social behaviour.

His colleagues, good unionists that they are, have all said they welcome him back. Of course they do. When Woods turned professional in 1996, the total prize-money for the PGA Tour was $US70 million. This year it is around $US270 million ($295 million). In 1997, Woods's first full year as a professional, 18 players won more than $US1 million. Last year, 87 players earned $US1 million-plus. They've filled their pockets on the back of Woods.

Give me Ernie Els any time. He is everything that is great about the game of golf and the most engaging bloke to have a chat with over a cold one. He was world No.1 for a week in 1997 and for eight weeks, in brackets of four weeks, in 1998 but then Woods began his mesmerizing march into the history books with very little left to achieve, save Jack Nicklaus's mark of 18 majors.

Yet the specter of Woods surely haunts Els. He admitted it once, back around the turn of the century, when he sought help from a Dutch shrink, Josh Vanstiphout, to give him the mental fiber to tackle Woods.

Els has just three majors to his credit but six runner-up finishes. In 2000, he was second in the Masters to Vijay Singh and second to Woods in both the US and British Opens.

The timing of Woods's statement, with the compliance of PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, on the Friday of the WGC World Matchplay Championship (sponsored by Accenture, one of the companies which dropped Woods from its books), really riled the man who is known as The Big Easy for all the best of reasons. ''It's selfish,'' he said. ''It takes a lot away from the tournament.''

Then, just last weekend, Els won the WGC-CA Championship at Doral to break a PGA Tour drought dating back to March 1998, when he won the Honda Classic.

His victory should have had the world of golf pondering his chances of winning at Augusta for a first time but the ink on the newsprint heralding his win was barely dry when Woods announced his return to golf at the Masters. Fade to the background Ernie Els.

The positive for Els is that he is back to the winner's circle in style. In 2007 he said it was the start of a three-year plan in which he would totally rededicate himself to the game. His three years was up and he'd delivered.

It would be great for Els to win among the magnolias and pine trees but, if he does, regrettably the headlines would be that Woods failed because he still has other issues on his mind.