by Jana » Mon Dec 14, 2009 7:55 am
Times article:
Road to Redemption Stretches Out in Front of Tiger Woods -- John Hopkins, Golf Correspondent
Never did Tiger Woods need a refuge in the shape of a yacht called Privacy more than now. As he begins the difficult task of trying to repair a marriage that must have been fractured when he chose not to attend the christening of his older child, he does so in the knowledge that while some in golf are thinking privately “come back soon, Tiger”, there are many thinking “cheerio cheetah. Don’t hurry back”.
Those in the second group held Woods up to be a role model to their children and now do not know how to explain things to their progeny. Others feel hoodwinked by him. Woods had an annual income close to $100 million (about £62 million) and was recently named by Forbes magazine as the world’s first athlete to be worth $1 billion. Such largesse came in return for appearing to be that very rare combination of an exceptional player and an impeccable person. Yet all the time he was not.
These voices are calling not for an indefinite leave of absence so much as a public show of penitence by Woods, one that not only has to be done but has to be seen to be done. To recognise the extent of this feeling against him, Woods has to make a correlation between the extent of what he described as his infidelities, which have constituted the biggest story in the history of golf, and the length of his self-imposed exile. His absence should be rather like one of his drives, long rather than short, measured in months and not weeks.
The Masters in four months? Hardly. Returning to a golf club that is men-only and racially selective is not going to attract the support of those who have criticised Augusta National for its stance on those two issues. Why add controversy to controversy?
The US Open at Pebble Beach in June? No. Much as he might want to return to the course where he triumphed by 15 strokes in this event in 2000, that is too soon. Think what a statement of intent he would be making by staying away from the national Open of his country at one of his favourite courses. Likewise, the Open at St Andrews one month later, although there might be some benefit in making his reappearance outside the US rather than in it.
Whenever he makes his return, Woods will not be regarded in the same way as he has been. “He is more normal now,” Colin Montgomerie said. Woods will have to endure some public humiliation. “He will be a figure of fun to comedians for years to come,” Peter Alliss said.
When should his absence end? “That word ‘indefinite’ gives him all the leeway in the world,” Frank Hannigan, a former director of the United States Golf Association, said. “If indefinite means February, then maybe there won’t be much impact on history. If it means the week after the Masters, then that is different.”
“He should stay away for a year,” Ewen Murray, BSkyB’s golf commentator, said. “It will be a sad loss to the game, but I think he should write off 2010 and start again in 2011. I was as shocked as anyone when I heard what had been going on. Like everyone else I put him up there on a pedestal. I thought he was immaculate in shape and form. But he didn’t have a childhood.”
Woods’s life resembles a play of three acts. In the first act, Woods, our hero, is a saint who can do no wrong.
In act two, the saint is caught sinning — and how. Shock and surprise reverberate around the world to be followed by a couple of statements and then a mea culpa during which he announces his intention of taking an indefinite break from professional golf.
As the curtain falls, the sinner is on his knees making a desperate plea for privacy as he goes off to devote himself to “being a better husband, father and person”. When the curtains open for act three, The Redemption of our Hero, the mood has imperceptibly changed. People who are never normally short of a word or two are silent for fear of offending Woods. Players comment favourably on what it was like when Tiger was around. “Indefinite is a scary word,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “If Tiger indefinitely doesn’t play golf, that’s not good for us.”
Paul McGinley said: “I enjoy playing in any tournament where he is competing. He brings it all: the atmosphere, the sell-out crowds and the buzz. He is the game’s biggest draw by a long way.” John Daly added: “I hope we get him back soon. They always say there is no one bigger in golf than the game itself. But Tiger is.” Then, just like a Nike whoosh, there is Max Clifford saying Woods’s decision to take a period of absence is the best thing he could have done.
An executive of CBS, one of the television channels in the United States that broadcasts golf, warns of the consequences of a game without Woods. “We’ve obviously done golf tournaments without Tiger before,” Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports and News, said. “But we all know how much better they do when Tiger is playing well on the weekend.”
So you see what is happening here. Less than 72 hours after Woods’s statement, the full extent of what he has done, for which he has put himself into exile, is being reduced because of the financial consequences. It’s Mammon versus morals, and it’s no contest. Mammon wins hands down. How immoral this is, yet how typical of modern life. “He would be more vilified if he had cheated at golf,” Maureen Madill, the BBC TV golf commentator, said.
Meanwhile, historians note some of the relevant reference points: that the great amateur Bobby Jones retired at 28, five years younger than Woods is; that Ben Hogan had a car crash that kept him out of the game for nearly one year — and won six of his nine major championships after the crash; that Daly was suspended by the PGA Tour for six months in January for conduct unbecoming. What is Woods’s conduct, pray, if not unbecoming?
At this stage, it is uncertain how this will play out. Jack Nicklaus, the man whose 18 major championships Woods desperately wants to pass, says that the public is forgiving. “Time usually heals all wounds,” Nicklaus said, and Sir Ian Botham and David Beckham, who have had their own experiences in this area, would endorse that sentiment.
Woods has a marriage to repair (or perhaps to end), children to bring up and an image to improve. He should be given time to try to address his life without worrying about the status of his career. “The entirety of someone’s life is more important than his career,” Mark Steinberg, Woods’s agent, has written.
To show humility, Woods should time his return to occur after the last of the year’s major championships, in August. Stay away, Tiger. Stay away. It may be the thing you least want to do, but it is the thing you most need to do
