By now you have all seen Tiger’s public statement and you have likely read and heard most of main-stream media’s comments and predictions about what is next and ”best” for Tiger. If you are an ESPN fan, you may have witnessed Woody Paige’s (panelist on Around The Horn) idiotic claim that Tiger must and will return for the Masters, that Tiger “owes” it to the PGA Tour to return to golf. Fellow pro golfer Ernie Els stated that Tiger was “selfish” to make his public statement during the Accenture Match Play event (although I think he later retracted his selfish statement). In short, those who really care about Tiger getting his personal life in order know that it will likely take an extended period of time.
If you have been following us here at Golf is Hard TV, you know that we are among the biggest Tiger fans. Nothing would be better than to see Tiger come back and play again, because quite frankly, my interest in watching golf has greatly diminished. I tune in occasionally to check the leaderboard, hoping maybe there is an interesting dual happening (like Casey and Poulter….ugh!), or maybe trying to catch local (Worcester, MA) golf hero Fran Quinn on the leaderboard (talk about a great golf story, a future blog topic). I have more interest in watching Freddy dominate the Champions Tour and would rather see Michele Wie play (prediction, she wins three times this year). There is just no spark on the Tour these days! I was, however, impressed by Camilo’s maturity and confidence during his post 3rd-round interview at this week’s Honda. Would love to see him win a few.
Back to Tiger, yes we want and need him back playing golf. I agree that he has a finite number of Majors left and that he has an excellent shot to notch a couple more this year given the venues. However, he has to focus on getting his life in order first, and based on his public statement he is planning on trying to do so. It will be a task more monumental that winning a major, more difficult than anything he has ever accomplished on the golf course. It would be easy for him to come out and hide inside the ropes but it likely wouldn’t help his personal life. He needs to prove to Elin that he messed up and is truly sorry. Will she ever forgive him? Will she stay? You will have to pick up a People to find that answer. Tiger is dedicated to trying and if you heard what he said, it will take time…and lots of it. It wouldn’t be shocking if he took the entire year off. If he really wants to try and get things right at home, he may need to.
In the meantime, Tiger misses a few majors, PGA Tour ratings tank and his sponsors drop him (most already have). With hundreds-of-millions banked, he doesn’t care and he does not need the money. Tiger will take his time and we fans will get a lot more done around the house since we won’t be watching much golf. When he comes back, it will be with a whole new set of sponsors and ratings will be the highest ever. Another year of golf without Tiger…hard to imagine.
Go Freddy, Michele and Fran!
Tags: Champions Tour, ESPN, Fred Couples, golf commentary, LPGA, Michele Wie, PGA Tour, Tiger Woods, Woody Paige//
Category LPGA, PGA, Tiger Woods //
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