The Tiger Voice Mail Released...
/Gawker reports US Weekly paid $150,000 for it. For the amount of damage this will do to Tiger's image, it does make you wonder if he turned down the opportunity to pay for this himself?
From USWeekly.com:
When you come to think of it that is the secret of most of the great holes all over the world. They all have some kind of a twist. C.B. MACDONALD
China Planning "Major Crackdown" On Illegal Course Construction
/Trent Baker reports for the Scotsman:
Construction of new courses has been so rapid, widespread and unregulated that Beijing officials can only estimate how many have been built. One guess, appearing in the China Daily newspaper yesterday, put the number at 2,700 by 2015 – up from none before 1984 and more than 500 today.
Stewart Cink Puts Duct Tape On His Wedges!
/In his weekly notes column, Doug Ferguson leads with Stewart Cink offering compelling evidence that he has too much free time on his hands, putting duct tape on his wedges to see how little fun golf can be to see what it's like to play with no spin.
Read MoreQ-School Storylines Aplenty
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Seems like there more great Q-School finals storylines than normal? John Strege lays out his favorite stories and Sean Martin singles out several to follow.
"10 Tips Obama Can Take From Tiger"
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From Golf Digest:
In the upcoming January issue of Golf Digest, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Jerry Tarde is going straight to the top in the name of improving golf’s image in Washington D.C. That’s why President Obama, along with Tiger Woods, is on the cover:
The message to Congress and the Obama administration? The golf industry accounts for 2 million jobs with a total economic impact of $195 billion annually.
In addition to the cover, the feature article focuses on 10 things Obama could learn from Tiger—and vice versa. Providing the tips is a group of influential writers and players, including Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Tom Brokaw, Mark Whitaker, Don Van Natta Jr. and Steve Rushin. The piece is attached below:
Additional highlights include:
· Golf Digest Survey – “What’s a Reasonable Amount of Golf for President Obama?”: 45.9% of readers said “As much as he can without affecting his work,” compared to only 7.8% who said “Never”
· Fun Fact: Using Golf Digest’s Presidential Rankings, we compared the Dow Jones Industrial Average on both the inauguration and final day in office of our best golfing Presidents. Nine out of the top 10 saw increases in the Dow during their terms.
Chinese Reenactment Of Woods Accident
/Thanks to reader Kyle H for this:
Latest Tiger Clippings, Barkley: "I think he is making a serious mistake."**
/Emily Smith of the New York Post scores an exclusive interview with Rachel Uchitel about the National Equirer story linking her to Tiger Woods in which Uchitel denies the facts as presented in the story. Based on the comments and no mention of Gloria Allred's name, it sounds as if she is not representing Uchitel (I've emailed Allred for comment):
Read MoreFHP Charges Tiger With Careless Driving; Case Closed?
/One thing really leaps out from today's Florida Highway Patrol announcement of Tiger's $164 fine and four point addition to his drivers license record.
Read More"Because of Florida's domestic-violence laws, admitting to the police that Nordegren in any way harmed him would virtually guarantee that the glamorous Elin would be led out of their mansion in handcuffs, even if he protested it."
/Since the first AP alert on Tiger's accident, I've subscribed to the theory that he needs to just say what happened, maybe crack a joke or shed a tear, and move on ala Letterman or Kobe.
However, evidence is mounting that Tiger has been correct in remaining silent, though not for the reason these two more columnists noted today (here and here, thanks reader Tom).
FHP Schedules Press Conference: 3 p.m. EST
/Date: Tuesday, December 1, 2009
Time 3 p.m.
Location Florida Highway Patrol Station, 133 South Semoran Blvd. Orlando, Fl. 32807
SUBJECT: Updated information in the Tiger Woods single vehicle car crash.
Tiger Woods Accident Clippings, Vol. 4
/The good news for Tiger? Most of the written conjecture has shifted from the particulars of the accident to a focus on his handling of the crisis.
The bad news? Most experts and non-experts alike think silence is not the way to go about putting this to rest.
Golf Channel Offering Half Hour Show @ 7 EST
/It was sounding so good until the Curt Schilling part:
Tonight at 7 p.m. ET, Rich Lerner will host a Golf Central Special: Tiger Woods, examining all of the news and providing analysis on the Tiger Woods situation. Contributing to the show will be the network’s team of reporters and analysts including Steve Sands and Jim Gray reporting from California and GOLF CHANNEL contributor John Feinstein and business reporter Adam Barr reporting on Madison Avenue’s reaction to the situation.
KABC, TalkRadioOne Appearances Tonight
/I'll be appearing on KABC 790's John Phillips show tonight at 7 PST and TalkRadioOne.com's Mark Germain Show at 8 PST. Both sites stream online.
And in case you want to clear your calendars, I'll be on with Peter Kessler's XM/Sirius show at 10:40ish a.m. Wednesday. It has been known to stream at PGATour.com.
"We're being given the runaround."
/Nick Allen in the Telegraph offers an update on the possible warrant situation and shares some insight from a "police source" about the tone of the investigation.
Officers from the Florida Highway Patrol want to establish whether Woods' facial injuries were caused by the incident, in which he hit a fire hydrant and a tree outside his mansion at 2am, or a domestic violence incident.
Last night two officers were seen visiting Health Central Hospital in Ocoee, Florida, where Woods was treated following the accident on Friday.
Police also want to see if the moments leading up to the crash was captured by security cameras at Woods' £1.5 million mansion in a gated community in Orlando, Florida.
Woods, 33, the world's number one golfer, and his wife Elin Nordegren, 29, have declined three times to speak to patrol officers about the crash.
They are under no legal obligation to do so but their decision has been described as "unusual" by police and led to a swirl of speculation about the circumstances of the crash.
A Florida police source said: "There is a feeling that the police are being made to look foolish in this matter.
"They have tried to be accommodating but it has been thrown back in their face. Tiger has refused to help on three occasions. We're being given the runaround."
TMZ now has what it claims is an accident eyewitness account.
And Lawrence Donegan files an in depth look at Tiger's backstory and how it plays into the media handling of the accident, with yet another excellent reminder of how best to deal with these things:
If modern media manners have taught us anything, it is that nothing works as well as the swift mea culpa. Woods, an avid sports fan, will know only too well about the case of baseball star Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, who, after repeated denials he had used performance-enhancing drugs, was revealed before the start of the 2009 baseball season to have tested positive for steroids.
Stephanie Wei takes a look at the media coverage and in particular, the golf media's take on the accident:
This is also unfamiliar territory for the media that covers him. Even though many columnists are prodding Tiger to tell the truth, they’re doing it for selfish reasons — they want to stop writing about it, too. It makes their jobs a lot tougher if one of the greatest athletes of any generation with a pristine reputation turns out to be a(n) (allegedly) womanizing jerk who is (literally) above the law. The media is so enamored by Tiger that even if he were to spit in an old lady’s face or slap a child taking a picture of him in the middle of his backswing, many writers would still probably find a way to compliment him on his competitive drive.
