Today begins the 76th annual Masters Golf Tournament where professionals vie for the coveted green jacket, one of golf’s highest honors. However, the center stage for this year will not be putting prowess or a Cinderella story. Instead it will focus on Tiger Woods and something he did completely unrelated to the sport.
The media, numbered in the hundreds, have descended on Augusta, Ga., like vicious hyenas with microphones and cameras all talking about Tiger. The common line of questioning has been “What’s Tiger doing?”, “How is he handling the pressure?”, “Has he done anything yet?”
It’s obvious these reporters expect him to whip it out and start doing it right on the driving range. Why don’t they just cut to the chase and ask “Has he banged anyone yet?”
Before I proceed, know that I in no way condone Tiger’s infidelity, and, in fact, I think his sexual behavior is deplorable. He hurt his wife and his family, and his relatively good public image was seriously tarnished, resulting in most of his sponsors dropping him entirely, costing him millions.
But, Tiger is not well known in the world because he has a beautiful wife and child and he is incredibly happy and faithful. He is well known because he has been one of the most dominant athletes in his respective sport for more than a decade, and he started it at the age of 21 when he won his first Masters. He has won 14 major championships, is on pace to win the most championships ever, is the youngest to achieve the Grand Slam and on top of all that, he did it as a person of mixed ethnicity in a historically white man’s sport.
I remember being young and interested in golf right around the time Tiger hit the scene. He was huge and a major inspiration to children, such as myself. Many complain Tiger’s infidelity has left a hole for many children who would look up to him as a golfer. Well, why can’t they still admire his skills on the links? If not for the media’s over exposure of the situation, many children probably wouldn’t even know about Tiger and his lust for many ladies until they were older. Even if they were aware of it, they probably wouldn’t think much of it and still look up to him as an athlete, as they should.
This media storm surrounding Tiger is not good for Tiger’s performance nor is it good for the tournament itself. Sure the golfers are used to crowds watching them and cameras all over, but I’m sure this sort of attention will be a major distraction for many and will more than likely undermine the entire event.
The saddest thing will be if some unknown golfer comes out of nowhere to spectacularly win the Masters this year and no one cares because they are so damn concerned about how Tiger did in his first tournament back after his domestic problems.
Tiger made some big mistakes, and they cost him dearly in many ways, but he is not a complete moron. The media does not need to be watching him, waiting for him to fall into someone and catch him in the act, because it’s not going to happen and, ultimately, it will do harm to one of golf’s most cherished events.
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