"He's either living testimony to the wonders of rehab or, alternatively, just the same old Tiger"
Lawrence Donegan is amazed at Tiger's miraculous rehab recovery.
Amazing, isn't it, that just over two weeks ago Woods appeared in public as a husk of a man, riven with guilt and digging in for the long haul ("I do plan to return to golf one day, I just don't know when that day will be. I don't rule out this year.") and now here we are two and a half weeks later looking on, gob-smacked, as he apparently revs up for the big comeback.
He's either living testimony to the wonders of rehab or, alternatively, just the same old Tiger, which is to say he is determined to live by his own rules and to hell with what anyone else thinks. There is nothing wrong with that of course - Woods hasn't broken any laws - but acknowledging this fact does not preclude taking note of the the cynicism under-pinning the staged rehabilitation of Woods' public image (not least his gruesome "apology" of 18 February).
Actually, under Florida law, living in an "open state" of adultery is apparently a misdemeanor. I'm no lawyer, but this sure appears to be a form of an open state, no?
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 at 07:51 PM
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Reader Comments (40)
1. Tiger won't play again this year.
2. Tiger has to completely disband his team
3. Elin has to cut Tiger loose
4. Tiger doesn't have the "power" over his opponents anymore
5. Tiger will never win another major
Keep it coming Mr. Shackelford. The man with no class deserves the fullest and most searching examination wherever it comes from, if only as payback for putting his wife and unborn children at risk of a deadly desease. After all, other than his penchant for blondes, he wasn't too fussy about his 'sourcing' was he?
My guess is that you don't make your living as a member of the media. Your "earn a good living.." comment applies to a very small percentage of sports media folks. Most make a modest income if that.
JC
Cand C-agree with you too!
2. No changes - it will be interesting though to see the Williams / spectators interaction. I would love to be a fly on the wall as Woods/Williams/IMG figure out how Williams will handle that.
3. Elin...my wife would have been long gone. I'm thinking she doesn't make it to Jan. 2011. The kids will have one last Christmas.
4. Tiger will continue to kick ass and take numbers
5. If you bet the house on that one you'll be homeless in the next two years.
I'd argue that the verdict on Tiger's "integrity" was delivered with certainty months ago...
...when he returns has no impact on it whatsoever.
i think that donegan sets up a false dichotomy here. woods played the best golf anyone has ever seen while at the same time leading a double life. i don't see why tiger's progress, vel non, toward whatever nirvana rehab ultimately leads to has anything to do with whether he can play golf at the same level when he comes back (which will be within the next few weeks, i predict).
and dr. phil, you are on record about the comeback, the wins, etc., etc., etc, ad nauseum. can you at least wait until your predictions are vindicated before all the "i told you so" crowing? your comments are usually pretty interesting, but this "wanna bet?" trope is getting tired.
In other words, I might play again this year and I might not.
Tiger's willpower and mental game is so strong, he breezes through rehab way faster than the average human. Like I said on an earlier post, he probably wore Sunday red all through his rehab and just simply intimidated his problems into submission. If only we could make a Sunday Red manzier for Phil and Monty...
Ernest H - that made me laugh the first, second and third time I read it.
As for paragraph 3, in fact Tiger hasn't accomplished any of items 1 through 5, yet. But some of the people were just so damn vociferous and now poof, nothing....just testing their mettle a little, that's all!
(well, I guess there is some evidence that 2, 3 and 4 are validated;-)
Living in an "open state" of adultery is a crime? Miss Demeanor? Was that her name?
I tune into your sight for the insightful comments on the state of the game, your thoughts on golf architecture and sustainability and at times, your ability to get the inside scoop on what's going on in the golf world. But this post is why so many people outside of the golf world find golfers repugnant. Because, somehow in a world in which 50% of people get divorced, an estimated 30-60% of men and women have cheated on their spouses, an estimated 30-40% cheat on their taxes, large numbers of Catholic priests have been discovered to be molesting their kids and our President has been discovered to have received oral relief in the oval office, yet somehow golfers, individually and collectively still hold on to the belief that they are the vanguards of moral purity.
Tiger Woods is an a** for cheating on his spouse. I also agree that he would serve the game better by being more open with the fans and sponsors as well. But unless evidence of cheating is uncovered on the most photographed, video and therefore recognizable golf in the history of this planet, all of this talk about integrity is absurd. We are golfers but we are people first and foremost which means that in your Sunday foursome, somebody is cheating on their wife, someone is cheating on their taxes and somebody is cheating on the course.
I don't know whether Tiger is a changed person, and to be honest, I don't much care. I don't pretend to know his motives for the way things are being handled, but I don't try and play armchair psychiatrist and pretend that I can. The sole nugget of truth in this whole ordeal is that if he would let people ask him about some of this then a lot of the prurient interest that is driving theridiculous level of coverage on this matter would probably stop. So far he obviously has his internal reasons for not doing so, and far be it from me to tell someone how to handle their personal business. But selfishly, I just like watching the guy play golf. It's the equivalent of watching Pele or Maradonna is soccer, or Jordan, Bird or Magic in basketball, or Ali in boxing. You just have to stop and appreciate the greatness, even if it is sometimes given to us in a not-so-pretty package.
Gotta Ask Why? I gotta ask you whether you know what a "point misser" is?
The living saints among you need not reply.
It's time to forgive and get back to golf.
If Elin can do it, we should be able to as well....after all, SHE is the offended party.
I know what a "point misser" is and I don't think I've missed it at all. The author of the article claims that Tiger is the same old Tiger who lives by his own rules and doesn't care at all what anyone thinks and he uses as his evidence....NOTHING! Is there any evidence of Tiger having additional affairs since Thanksgiving? How about any evidence that Tiger's therapist, wife, family, et al is telling him not to play golf but he's doing it anyway? Is there anything other than conjecture that refutes the statement by Accenture Executives that they were aware and supportive of Tiger's statement a few weeks back? And as far as I know, I don't recall Tiger saying he wouldn't play in the Tavistock Cup, or Bay Hill or the Masters. I remember him saying he doesn't know when he was going to return to play and since we now have shots of him practicing, if one were to ask him now, I suspect one might get a different answer.
What it seems is that based upon his news conference, a lot of people assumed that meant an extended absence but, in reality, had little to support or refute those claims. In fact the only evidence to support Tiger doing "whatever he wants", as the author stated, are the rants of media journalists and bloggers complaining about Tiger Woods not doing what THEY think he should do. Mind you the advice from said media runs the gamut from Tiger Woods should have played golf right away to "he should retire," so I don't know how one could actually follow everyone's advice.
So with regards to "point missers" have I clarified my point? If not, I'll say it succinctly. We should stick to impugning someones actions based on facts, not suppositions about their motives.
(b) his game, which wasn't that great before he disappeared off the face of the earth, needs a lot of work."
Funny when last seen on the course last November TW won his last event played. No?
In a slightly larger window only TW won 2 of his last 4 starts along with finishing 2nd and 6th place as well. Looking back just a little further to The Open championship in his last 8 events TiW only had 4 wins, 2 2nds, 6th and 11th place finishes. Totally horrible golf while leading a double life. Amazing what 15 seconds of research can turn up when one wants facts.
While Donegans article raises some fair/good points the above listed statement is just bad/poor writing. Unless somebody else wrote it and Donegan simply attached his name to itt. And as I say it's just a theory and it's mostly likely wrong. But if not, remember. You read it here first.
Absolutely perfectly clear! Thank you very much. I expected a response from you; it is a good one.
But I wasn't talking about Tiger; I meant you:
"Because, somehow in a world in which 50% of people get divorced, an estimated 30-60% of men and women have cheated on their spouses, an estimated 30-40% cheat on their taxes, large numbers of Catholic priests have been discovered to be molesting their kids and our President has been discovered to have received oral relief in the oval office, yet somehow golfers, individually and collectively still hold on to the belief that they are the vanguards of moral purity."
Sounds pretty much like projection on your part. Because no one here seems to be to think he or she (Hey, Miss Priss!) is in the "vanguard of moral purity." Say what? We are just a bunch of golfers who take the Game, in all its facets, more or less seriously. Ourselves, not so much. And even those of us inclined to support Tiger are fairly pissed off with his behavior. As any normal human being should be. As for any real evidence one way or the other on the new, improved real Tiger or the same old self-centered, entitled, manchild, who knows? But the onus is on Tiger his own self. As for me, I have seen nothing to indicate he has changed. His televised "apology" from the Blue Velvet VIP Room at PGA TOUR Headquarters? If it was that part of his rehabilitation (I forget which step this is) where he is required to make amends to those he has hurt, then he certainly left out a number of individuals he should have apologized to, even is several of them seem to have gotten what they wanted out of the affairs, included hush money. And by the way, didn't your mother ever impress upon you that just because 30, 50, or 70 percent of everyone else does something wrong, that doesn't make it right?
P.S. That wasn't "oral relief" in the White House. It was a, well...since this is a family site, let's just say it rhymes with "toe job". And I mean the golf kind of toe job, which usually results in a weak shot to the right, depending on the club and degree of "toeness."
Ky some fair points. I should clarify. My statement is more a reaction to the comments that I often find here that when taken as a whole seem to be overly judgmental at best and at worst sink to a form of petty shot taking. The truth is probably that a small number of commenters simply don't like the guy, never liked the guy and find this a convenient forum to vent those attitudes. I was trying to making the point that while the opinions of the commenters are not Geoff's fault, Geoff's snark at the end of this point is not the type of statement that helps and in my opinion doesn't reflect Geoff's typical insightful level of commentary. What does he mean by his statements at the end of this post? Should Tiger be charged with the midemeanor crime of living in an open adulterous state? If he doesn't think so then what's the point of making that statement other than taking a childish shot which encourages the the type of commenter that bother me in the first place. I should have stated more clearly to what I was referring.
As for your points about me, thankfully, I don't have anyone close to me that has had to go through a rehab process, so I won't speak to it. Maybe he missed apologizing to some folks, maybe there are some steps he missed, but those all seem to be points for people to take shots despite not having access to the full spectrum of information. Even if the lack of information is entirely due to Tiger's reclusive nature.
And talk about point misser, why are you asking about what my mother impressed upon me? I have not EVER made any statement that could be deemed supportive of the man's actions relative to his wife and family. I simply refuse to condemn him or anyone else for making a mistake that a lot of very good people of all persuasions, vocations and income levels seem to have made. If it was sarcasm (which often doesn't translate in writing) then I apologize for misunderstanding your point.
To reiterate my opinion, Woods is all kinds of wrong, but whether he changed is something, that can only be judged by evaluating his actions over time. Nothing he has done so far has given me any indication of him changing, but neither has he done anything to give me the impression that he is continuing the destructive behavior that has brought this controversy to the fore. So I choose to withhold my judgment until there is actually something to judge.