As Tiger Woods wraps up the 2010 season without one single tournament victory, he has appeared to have one of those desperation moments. You could make the case his entire life has been desperation ever since last year’s car crash on Thanksgiving night raised questions and subsequently revealed details about his sordid lifestyle and harem of women that led to the break up of his family.
But he was still Tiger Woods, right? There was all the off-the-course embarrassment that has turned off Madison Avenue and the millions he received in endorsements. And there was his status in popular culture that changed from icon to punch line over his various affairs. There were the sex addiction claims and the reported stay in rehab.
Yet, despite losing all that, golf fans — and the fawning sports media — still saw him as the great Tiger Woods. He was the favorite among many when he returned to the golf course to play in the 2010 Masters, but he went winless, not just in all the majors, but in every tournament he played in.
If that continues, he is no longer Tiger Woods, the golfer. He has nothing left if he is just another hacker on the tour who occasionally wins the Scranton Open. Then not even golf fans will care about him anymore, and the media will simply forget about him until he does eventually win some kind of tournament, and then they will revisit the Tiger redemption story for a spell — you know, like they have done with John Daly over the years.
So guess what? Tiger Woods has come begging for attention — at least his version of begging.
He’s on Twitter. An op-ed piece under Tiger Woods name was posted on Newsweek on Wednesday. Thursday morning, Woods appeared as a guest for two segments on ESPN 980 on “Mike & Mike in the Morning.”
“Tiger wants to do some things a little differently moving forward,” Mark Steinberg, his agent, told the Associated Press. “He wants to be a little more connected to the fans, and this is just one new addition.”
He wants to be a little more connected because, unless he begins to win again, he won’t be able to find those fans. Let’s face it, Woods is hardly the most likeable golfer in the world.
Woods will find, like he did on ESPN Radio, a friendly media waiting to embrace him though.
Many of my colleagues in this business play golf and are avid golf fans. There is no other sports figure, particularly close to the level of Tiger Woods, where the reporters were also avid and active participants in the same game. Trust me, most reporters do not play basketball or baseball on a regular basis. But many play golf, and they are passionate about it. And if you play golf and are passionate about it, you look at Tiger Woods far differently than any other sports figure you have covered.
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