Does anybody else out there find it surprising that many people actually seem to be upset that Tiger Woods gets so much attention from the media? Every time I write about him I get e-mails from readers who say enough already. Sorry about that, but it’s impossible not to write about him, or to want to follow his exploits.
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“He’s the best player who ever played the game. How can you not be impressed by that?” These words come courtesy of Stewart Cink, Woods’s latest victim. He made these comments to NBC’s Jimmy Roberts.
It’s Cink’s opinion that Woods is better than Nicklaus. More and more people share that view, and why shouldn’t they? Woods is on track to pass Nicklaus’s record of 18 professional majors, and probably sooner than later. Nicklaus himself has said he did what he did and Woods will do what he will do. It doesn’t diminish what Nicklaus accomplished to believe Woods is the best golfer ever.
But whether he is or he isn’t doesn’t matter. It’s impossible to compare golfers from different eras. That’s been said over and over, and it’s true. The simple fact is that it’s just great fun and even a privilege to be around in the Woods era, as it was when Nicklaus was playing his best golf.
I’m old enough to have seen Nicklaus since the mid-sixties. I caddied on the PGA Tour off and on for a dozen years and was lucky enough to see him up close when he was in the same group as the players for whom I was working. I was at the 1986 Masters that Nicklaus won when he was 46 years old. He was able to do what he needed to do when he needed to do it. I feel fortunate to have seen him play to such a high level.
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So Woods is simply extraordinary. Faldo said he’s a master of staying in the present and forgetting the past. He called this “a real art.” Woods is an artist.
How about that pitch shot he made from just short of the green on the par-five 17th hole in the morning round against Cink? Cink had won the previous hole and was three-down. Woods had 60’ to the hole, which was cut past a ridge and on higher ground. Woods took a few practice swings to get the feel and hit the most gorgeous, firm pitch shot. It landed short of the hole, rolled a few feet and snapped to a stop a couple of feet from the hole. The shot was nothing less than a work of art.
But I’m sure some folks decided to turn off the telecast, notwithstanding that they were watching a master at work. They couldn’t have been turned off the coverage, not this time, because, after all, this was match and not medal play. It wasn’t as if there were other golfers to follow, except for Cink and the consolation match between Henrik Stenson and Justin Leonard to which NBC paid a bit of attention.
Anybody who didn’t want to watch the match until the inevitable end must not like watching virtuosos at work. That’s what I always think when I hear from readers who are annoyed at all the coverage Woods gets in medal-play tournaments. Here are some examples.
“It was fine for a while,” one fellow wrote of all Tiger all the time coverage, “but I for one am tired of it.”
Somebody else, arguing Woods doesn’t smile “with the gallery in jubilation” when he holes a big putt, as, this reader wrote, Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer did: “Tiger is in his own little ultra serious world with his caddy as he marches to the 20 majors as if they were the Holy Grail. He is greatly admired but he will never be loved like his predecessors.”
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No, what takes away excitement from a tournament is when an announcer does the weekly interview with a representative of a tournament sponsor. NBC’s Dan Hicks did the mandatory interview during the afternoon match with William Green, Accenture’s CEO and chairman. Green did say that Woods “defines what high-performance is all about.” True enough.
Now, it does take away some excitement when players aren’t challenging Woods. A tournament provides more excitement when there’s tension. Woods is so gifted that he often drains away tension.
“The problem is he rarely has any competition,” somebody wrote. “Without competition, there is no drama. If the shots don’t matter, if there’s no pressure, who cares what happens?
On these many occasions why not just enjoy his performance? Golf’s an individual game. Why not watch to see what Woods can do?
That’s not enough for some people, even those who appreciate Woods.
“There is no doubt that we are watching a phenomenal golfer of the ages,” one fellow writes. “However, the TV commentators need to be instructed that Tiger Woods is not ‘the Second Coming’ but just a very good golfer.”
Very good indeed.
Then there are those who don’t like to watch Woods because they feel he gets angry from time to time. Hey, he shows his emotions. What’s wrong with that?
“Maybe I’m just used to the composure and class, at all times, of Palmer, Nicklaus or even [Phil] Mickelson,” writes one observer. “None of the other golfers slam their driver and putter on the ground after a bad shot.”
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“Obviously he knows the camera is always on him,” a fellow writes. “Stop doing it.”
So let’s enjoy Woods. Onne reader who thinks there’s too much Tiger coverage says that, nonetheless, “I will continue to watch in amazement as Tiger laps fields of other professionals because I think as we all know, we will never see an athlete this dominant again.”
Woods flashed some anger when his greenside bunker shot on the 18th in the morning match came up well short of the hole. He whacked the sand with his club. Why do some people take issue with such behavior? He didn’t like the shot, so he reacted. And then he forgot about it. But Woods plays to a super-high standard, and many people demand that he respond in the game to a super-high standard.
Maybe we will or maybe we won’t. It’s impossible to know. It’s also impossible, at least for me, not to watch Woods. Is he not a golfing genius?
