Tiger Woods Joins The Tiger Woods Book Race, But When?

With the announcement of a new autobiography on the heels of his 1997 Masters retrospective, Tiger Woods is pounding the keys in an apparent effort to close in on two other upcoming books. But without a publication date mentioned, it’s not clear when Back will be on shelves.

What is clear: Tiger seems determined to counteract what he sees as a lot of misinformation either existing or forthcoming. From the press release:

Woods said, “I’ve been in the spotlight for a long time, and because of that, there have been books and articles and TV shows about me, most filled with errors, speculative and wrong. This book is my definitive story. It’s in my words and expresses my thoughts. It describes how I feel and what’s happened in my life. I’ve been working at it steadily, and I’m looking forward to continuing the process and creating a book that people will want to read.”

Besides the recent Armen Keteyian and Jeff Benedict biography, a pair of books appear to be in the can, or appearing soon.

Noted author Curt Sampson’s Roaring Back is set for an October 29, 2019 release from Diversion Books.

The write-up sounds like a warts-and-all work similar to past Sampson books, so we won’t hold this write up from the publisher against him:

Sampson also places Woods’s defeats and triumphs in the context of historic comebacks by other notable golfers like Ben Hogan, Skip Alexander, Aaron Silton, and Charlie Beljan, finding the forty-three-year-old alone on the green for his trajectory of victory against all odds. As this enthralling book reveals, Tiger never doubted the perseverance of the winner in the mirror.

Skip Alexander? Aaron Silton? Charlie Beljan? I know I have a bad memory, but boy do I have some research to do on those historic comebacks.

Then there is Michael Bamberger’s book, slated for a late March, 2020 release date. From the publisher’s teaser:

Michael Bamberger has covered Tiger Woods since the golfer was a teenager and an amateur, and in The Second Life of Tiger Woods he draws upon his deep network of sources inside locker rooms, caddie yards, clubhouses, fitness trailers, and back offices to tell the true and inspiring story of the legend’s return. Packed with new information and graced by insight, Bamberger reveals how this iconic athlete clawed his way back to the top. The Second Life of Tiger Woods is the saga of an exceptional man, but it’s also a celebration of second chances. Being rich and famous had nothing to do with Woods’s return. Instead, readers will see the application of his intelligence, pride, dedication—and his enormous capacity for work—to the problems at hand. Bamberger’s bracingly honest book is about what Tiger Woods did, and about what any of us can do, when we face our demons head-on.

Heavy! I mean, it’s no Charlie Beljan comeback story, but what is.

Ultimately, it’s fantastic that Woods is working on a book and likely to share his story and views as he did with the 1997 book. It is curious that he has chosen to follow up his ‘97 Masters book already and, in theory, with a lot of great days ahead of him. But we’ll take what we can get.