He’s been seen playing a round with a PGA Tour buddy.
He’s been seen working with his swing coach.
Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer, now a PR gun for hire, has joined his team to deal with damage control and help re-create his public image.
Yes, Tiger Woods is coming back.
The world’s greatest golfer announced that he will return to the game he’s owned by playing in The Masters next month at Augusta, Ga. (One of my favorite writers, Joe Posnanski, wrote this about Tiger’s return.)
All eyes will be on 14-time major champion and XX-time (nobody but Tiger knows how many extra marital affairs he had) cheater. The Masters will be the most watched tournament in the history of golf.
Don’t kid yourself. Love him or loathe him, you’ll be watching. You know you will. Won’t you? (Let me know what you think).
I think a lot of people will be pulling him for him. Before, he seemed almost too perfect. His carefully crafted persona seemed almost robot-like. He was too good. Even when his golf swing wasn’t pure, he somehow figured out ways to make seemingly impossible shots and drain clutch putt after clutch putt.
He was the face of golf with no challengers. As much as you admired his enormous talent, it was, in a way, easy to root against.
Sure, he’s probably lost a lot of his fans, especially females. Now that he’s been exposed, that he isn’t the person everybody thought he was, he’ll be viewed differently.
Do you think Tiger cares how people react to him?
I don’t think so.
Out in the public, I don’t think you’ll notice much difference in Tiger Woods. If anything, he’ll probably protect his privacy more than he did in the past. And that’s OK. I really don’t care what Tiger does when he’s not on the golf course. I don’t need or want to know details about his private life anymore than I want to know private details of Arnold Palmer’s life.
If Woods was cheating on the golf course, or using banned steroids that helped him become the golfer he is, then it would be different. But we’re talking about perhaps the most focused athlete of all time, a guy who has blocked out just about any kind of pressure imaginable to become the greatest golfer of all time.
Even in this day and age of TMZ and tabloid sleeze, I think Tiger Wood will show that he’s still the best golfer on the planet. It won’t surprise me if he wins the Masters.
Tiger’s not a Golf God on a pedestal anymore. Because of all of his issues, he’s now a bit of an underdog, and you know how America likes underdogs.
If I could give him any advice, I’d tell him to lose Ari Fleischer. Get rid of the PR flak, man. Be real this time. Be yourself.
I watched golf on and off through the Tiger era, and found him to be arrogant and childish at the same time. A bit of a McEnroe type of jerk, showing negative emotions as shots went astray. Now that I have a name that I can put to his childish tantrums, there is not even a hint of empathy left. I simply do not care if the man lives or dies, let alone wins another tournament.
The speech Tiger wanted to give, cleaned up for a family newspaper:
To my wife, I’m sorry. I screwed up but I’m not changing so you’ll either need to put up with this stuff or I’ll stroke you the check I agreed to in the pre-nup….sorry.
To my fans, get over it. Where I stick my (ahem!) is none of your business. If you care….sorry. I don’t need any of you in order to make 10 times in one year what you’ll make in a career. I promise to continue to hit 4 irons from 210 yards to within 10′ of the hole and drop puts that you couldn’t read in a million years. If that’s not good enough for you, go watch tennis.
To the media. You (bad people) are the only ones more two-faced than I am. Kissing my (la de da) for all those years and then ripping me every chance you’ve had since Thanksgiving. (Bad on) all ya’ll. I’m glad I don’t have to take the time to sit and answer the same (nasty) questions over and over again.
To the other golfers. Kiss my cablanasian (ahem)! You (bad people) come out ripping me when I’ve put more money in your pockets than you could count. You think anyone’s been paying to see Jesper-(freeking)-Parnavik? Give me a (ahem) break. I’m almost tempted to give up golf just to punish you guys but I think it’s going to be more fun to practice for the next few weeks and get back to making you all my (inferiors).
That’s all I got today folks…..see ya at Augusta !….Oh and Bambi, if you’re listening I’ll meet you at the Ritz in 45 minutes.
Though I believe Tiger cheated on his wife, I also believe that one of those so-called mistresses is lying about her alleged relationship, so she could cash in with a bare faced lie.