Dear Jack Nicklaus,
Your record for most Major Championships won by a human being on the PGA tour is safe.
You can go on about your business; no need to tune in every Easter or Father's Day Sunday to check the leaderboard. Go ahead and mow the yard or play with the grandkids or build another golf course. Whatever you were doing with your spare time 15 years ago... go ahead and perfect that activity.
Sincerely,
TMZ
This is where the legend that was Tiger Woods comes to a halt. I don't believe that he'll win another Major. The Tiger is without teeth.
He has blood and he bleeds. He has emotions and they un-check. He has temptations and they groove. He makes mistakes; and instead of costing him a paycheck or a trophy, they might now cost him his marriage, idyllic status worldwide and the facade of respect he has been paid for the last 15 years. He's just like you and me, even though we never thought it possible.
I feel sorry for Tiger. Not because he got caught, and not because he did whatever he did and now the world wants into his ultra-private inner sanctum. I feel sorry for him because I warned him in 1998 about how this would go down if he didn't loosen up and he didn't listen.
Until now, the mention of his name would elicit one of the following thoughts in your head:
1) Amazing
2) Greatness
3) Rich
4)Powerful
5) Tenacious
6) The G.O.AT. (greatest of all time)
7) Unbelievable
8) Winner
9) And on and on and on and on and on
There were few amongst us-even the harshest media critics-who could find a flaw with El Tigre. He had a million dollar smile and physique, a billion dollar bank account and a trillion dollar inertia for greatness in the golf and post-golf world. His yacht is bigger and better than any Ward Parkway mansion. He can beat your club champion with a range ball, a 4-iron and a Jaegermeister hangover. If he doesn't play in a tournament, the unlucky network's ratings suck worse than a Browns-Chiefs Monday Night matchup.
I wrote a column for Kansas City Golf Magazine in 1998 that warned Tiger to chill out and take some time to normalize.I asked him to stick a frog in his pocket to remind himself he was still young; and for God's sake to stop throwing clubs lest he get a reputation as a spoiled rotten brat. "Be human", I said, "vulnerability is a strength." He didn't listen to me (though more often than not, he's been just peachy not to. After all, I've spent my time as a billboard for neurosis and epic failures.)
I feel sorry for Tiger the same way I do for Todd Marinovich, Ryan Leaf, Brian Bosworth and Tony Mandarich. Way too good to be true as advertised. Sid Finch was a hoax, but we bought it until April 2nd and then felt silly for taping the pictures of him on our wall.
I will not judge him for what he's done...but rather for what he didn't do. I always felt that the armor he put up to keep the image alive was too thick. I wish he would have read my column, because it was damn good and he might have just gone and screwed up a few times and had to apologize and learn from it. He should have roomed with John Daly for a season on the road just to feel what it was like to paint or drink yourself into a corner...only to realize that people get second (and third through fiftieth) chances to change, admit failures and move on. He should have taken a year off to travel to Prague and smoke fatties. He should have crashed that car 10 years ago.
I think this will be the end of Tiger's magnificent run. He is the G.O.A.T. and I will always believe that his talent would have been suficient for him to achieve all that he had sights to achieve. But the crowds are going to be ugly, the endorsements and adorers will begin to crumble; the failures on and off the course will be so much more vivid than his past achievements (if that is even possible) that I don't see a human being-with blood to bleed-having the emotional strength to endure what he has coming to him. I'm not saying he deserves it....but you make your bed and then you lie in it. To date, it seems he's made his bed from perfectly fluffy hundred dollar bills and Green Jackets. Now, it just looks like anybody else's Sealy. (Actually, he's probably got himself a nice spot on the couch...but I digress.)
Who will be cheering for him against Phil next year? Who won't be cracking infidelity jokes on late night about him for the next three years? Who will drop their endorsement first?
I forgive him already. He bled blood. I didn't think he could. He came clean. I didn't think he would. He screwed up and around and I believe he's in the same pool as most professional athletes and movie stars on that count. He will pay his pennance with Elin and his kids and family. He will bleed more in the next six months than in the 31 years he's been here. But you know, humans deal with this kind of shit everyday and they find a way through grace and character to manage their way through it.
I hope he has some of both stashed in his trophy case.
