Tiger Woods is like this little kid who nobody wants to play with because he has goo all over his hands. A little like Pigpen in Peanuts who has a swirl of dirt and dust constantly around him but who bats .714 for the season. So now Tiger spreads his goo on the Masters, and I, for one, am pissed off. There is no need to taint the greatest tournament of them all. All he needs/needed to do is/was to sit down with the press and answer any questions that come his way. No holds barred. No time limit. Everything answered. Personal. Public. Everything. And do this before the Masters. What’s he trying to do–win the thing before it starts by psyching out all his competitors? Tiger Woods got himself into this mess. Now he’s trying to drag everyone else in and make the Masters into a mess, having his personal enforcer on his bag.
Playing the Masters requires the height of concentration for all competitors. Any unnecessary distractions rob them of the ability to focus on their golf challenges. Tiger shows again how self centered and insensitive he is when it comes to golf and his colleagues. This is not what Buddhism, his mother’s religion and what he was brought up with, is all about. It’s about consideration and compassion and personal responsibility.
Very simply, I appeal to Tiger Woods to spare making the Masters into a media circus, with reporters busting at the seams to get some questions answered. Have a full disclosure, question/answer press conference before the Masters at a neutral location, open to all bona fide press members. Only then can we put this sorry episode behind us and get on with the greatest golf tournament in the world.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Stephen – One thing to consider, which I’m sure his PR people have done; is that at the Masters their are only a limited number of media credentials issued. If one of the media people or a a spectator asks the wrong question or shouts out something like “I see you are playing around again, Tiger”, they will be thrown out on their ear and never be allowed to enter again. Like Gary McCord.
That’s my point, Richard. I’m suggesting that press conference happen before the Masters, off the grounds of Augusta National, at a neutral venue. Keep it separate from the Masters to spare the tournament this side show, and spare the press the frustration of dealing with the members in fighting for their stories. So once the tournament starts, all the questions have been answered and it’s just the golf that remains. The Masters brass can still muzzle the crowds and limit the press as usual. That avoids a Gary McCord situation.