Tiger Woods has a bagful of connections.
The icon’s paired with Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo and House Minority leader John Boehner in Wednesday’s Pro-Am for the AT&T National. President Obama couldn’t come despite Woods’ request. Too bad — it would have been interesting to see who was the bigger attraction: Woods or Obama?
Woods talked of his friends Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan and Roger Federer on Tuesday, a wide grin enveloping an often serious face. Woods chats with Jordan at odd hours, swaps texts with Federer daily and mourns the King of Pop’s death like many of his generation.
This sounds like the old question — what historical figure would you want to have as a dinner partner?
Golf was only half the questions during a Woods news conference as he hosts his third annual tournament at Congressional Country Club on Thursday. Woods pontificated on coming changes in golf clubs. He recalled days when putters so badly abandoned him that they were literally thrown in the pond or dragged behind the cart.
But Woods is no more limited to golf than Madonna stays within music. He’s everywhere.
NFL legend Jim Brown recently said Woods has a “terrible” record for social change. Woods countered his youth programs have helped about 10 million children. Woods’ second learning center opens around the District in coming years.
“I think I do a pretty good job as it is,” he said. “I want to do it right and not just do it. You just don’t jump into something.”
Woods is deliberate. You don’t win 14 majors and 91 events overall by simply slamming the ball. That calculated demeanor as a youth has softened at age 33, though. He now sprinkles personal ancedotes about his two children. He mentioned the pain of knee rehab that caused him to miss last year’s tournament with a grimace. Woods detailed how Jackson’s music makes him smile.
“It was always happy,” Woods said. “You wanted to listen to his songs. His influence on all the artists following him É look at Usher, look at Justin Timberlake. Their moves are Michael’s moves.”
Ironically, Woods’ moves are being copied by his rivals. Last year’s AT&T National winner Anthony Kim was drawn to the game by Woods.
“He made golf cool,” Kim said.
After all, if you want to hang with Tiger, you better be cool.
Rick Snider has covered local sports since 1978. Read more at TheRickSniderReport.com or e-mail [email protected].
