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How I Can Still Love Tiger (Even Though He Wouldn’t Sleep With Me)
Chase McGee I’m not an avid golfer. That is to say, I haven’t been on a course, or even a driving range, since my Freshman year of college. I was looking forward to my comeback this year until I found out that my dad decided to take a heavy cleaning to the attic. My clubs did not survive. So, no, the only green I’ve seen the past few years is on the traffic lights on my way to Blockbuster to rent the latest edition of Tiger Woods PGA Tour Golf for my Xbox.
To say that I idolized the guy wouldn’t be a stretch. I’m always taken aback by virtuosos of any kind. Tim Tebow in his junior year, Eric Johnson playing the solos during “Cliffs of Dover,” or those kids that can stack cups faster than I can make a Jack-and-Coke. I’m constantly fascinated by feats of the impossible and the people that can possible-ize them. Tiger Woods is primary among these.
I do not admire, nor condone, Tiger’s recent indiscretions that have come to light. I do not forgive him because he is the greatest golfer of all time, nor do I expect his family to. However, I do still respect Tiger for his great strides in a game where, until Tiger appeared, you found most of the African-Americans serving martini’s back at the clubhouse. I respect Tiger for his life-long dedication to the game. I respect Tiger for walking 72 holes on a bum knee to sink a 12 foot putt on the last hole of the playoff to win the PGA Tour Championship.
What we see now is a broken man. We had only, to this point, seen Tiger as a frustrated golfer. When we saw him grimace on camera because it was all-to-evident that his short game is suffering in the back-9, we knew that Tiger would be on the driving range at five in the morning with his pitching wedge in hand and a bucket of balls that would make Colonel Sanders blush. Now, however, we are lost as to what Tiger can do to fix his personal life because, unfortunately, life’s only got one course. Rarely do you get a mulligan.
I’m not going to give Tiger a mulligan, or even a gimme. What I am going to give Tiger, and what I imagine everyone else should give him, is the courtesy of staying out of his personal life and maintain my admiration for his adroit performances on the golf course. I can’t say that I’m happy with what Tiger did, and I don’t expect people to forget what he did, but whether or not Tiger is a rampant philanderer or a vigilant drunk, on the course he is a class of player never before seen. When I see Tiger Woods come back from his hiatus and line up that first shot from the tee, I’m going to be inspired to Google a set of new clubs.
12/15/09
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