I did not know this.
I am not a huge golf fan. Not even a semi-big one. But I’ve covered a bit of it, and I watch the majors, or at least parts of them.
But somehow, I managed not to know this:
Tiger Woods can’t control his temper (or his mouth) at golf tournaments.
At least, that is what Rick Reilly of espn.com claims in a recent column. And he is a big golf guy … who says he has been there when Tiger has thrown clubs or detonated F bombs after a bad shot … and that this bad behavior happens all the time. Reilly suggests it’s time for Tiger to control himself.
And I agree. I was a bad actor, during my brief dalliance with golf. I threw clubs (I once wrapped my father’s 4-wood around a tree limb) and I shouted … but I gave up the game because I believed my behavior wasn’t what golf is supposed to be about. I decided I didn’t have the right temperament for it.
Tiger apparently can play at an otherworldly level, even as he abuses clubs and the English language.
What strikes me about this story?
I bet a lot of generic sports fans didn’t know this. Tiger Woods, bad actor. Which strikes me as odd.
Tiger throws clubs and screams obscenities — sometimes directed at fans — yet a lot of us had never heard about it until Reilly wrote it?
How is that possible?
–I am far less informed about golf than I ever imagined.
Or …
–There has been a sort of media conspiracy — self-imposed, by the media — to Just Not Mention the bad behavior by golf’s golden boy.
Why would the media do that? For fear of being cut off by Tiger. Frozen out. And given his status in golf, No. 1 with nobody occupying the next 10 spots, the idea of Tiger cutting you off out of pique — and apparently he has spasms of severe pique –Â would be extremely damaging to you as a network or news gathering organization or even the PGA itself.
So fear. That’s why Tiger’s behavior is not a national golf debate.
Anyway, I’m glad that was brought to light. Now I know. Now I can watch for it. And now maybe some pressure can be applied to Tiger to get with the program and bring the same gentility to a golf course that nearly all the greats before him managed to display.
4 responses so far ↓
1 tk // Jul 29, 2009 at 8:30 PM
While the idea that the media doesn’t want to get on his bad side is likely, I feel like it’s pretty well known that he snipes at fans more often than most others, specifically people taking pictures. I’m not a big golf guy either, but just in tournaments I’ve watched with him over the years, it seems like there’s always a tee shot or two of his where he basically stares a fan down from the tee box after his swing and it’s talked about by the commentators. His caddie is always stirring something up with fans, too.
2 Jacob Pomrenke // Jul 30, 2009 at 3:08 AM
Hate to break it to you, but Tiger’s temper has been pretty common knowledge in the sports world since about 1997. It’s been written about many times before, although never by Reilly (which makes you wonder what took him so long.)
Speaking of which, if you haven’t read Charlie Pierce’s fascinating profile of Tiger from that year, you can finally do so online: http://www.esquire.com/features/the-game/tiger-woods-life-story-1997.
3 Ian // Jul 30, 2009 at 8:01 AM
I think I’ve mentioned to you before that my cousin played with him at Stanford, and he was like that even then. Often, other teams would pair him with their worst golfer and actually TRY to make him angry because he wasn’t as good at channeling it as he is now.
Honestly, he had calmed down a lot until this year. I think the resurgence in the potty mouth is because he hasn’t been in control of his game as much as he demands.
I don’t think there is a conspiracy. I think it’s just such common knowledge that it doesn’t get played up. Reilly must have been hard up for a golf column to bring this out again. Oh well, it’s the truth.
4 soccer goals // Jul 31, 2009 at 11:55 AM
Great points.
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