Last week, I wrote about Tiger Woods’ latest car accident and his arrest. I have had some time to think about that situation and want to expand my remarks here. Let me begin by saying a few basic tenets for what is to follow:
- I bear no animosity for Tiger Woods as a person. I do think that he has behaved in ways that has created a public persona for himself that is less than admirable.
- I do not play golf; I cannot pretend to understand how he did what he did on a golf course.
- Tiger Woods’ prodigious physical and mental skills on golf courses allowed him to create a buffer between him and “everyday life” to a greater extent than for athletes in other sports.
For more than a decade, the sportswriters of America lavished nothing but paeans of praise on Tiger Woods and allowed Woods and his entourage to intimidate the coverage by threatening to withhold access to “Tiger Information” should someone step out of line. And to protect said access, much of the coverage was fawning. Hiding from the press except on “game days” on the tour, allowed Woods to acclimate to a life of seclusion with the absence of scrutiny. By the way, I am not exonerating the TV coverage here; like the print media, the TV folks used Home on the Range as the backdrop song for most of their coverage too:
- Where seldom is heard a discouraging word …
And here we are in 2026 with what was formerly an outstanding athlete who has been involved in multiple car crashes, myriad examples of infidelity and signs of drug addiction. All those people who did nothing but pump sunshine up his ass for all those years have not done him any favors.
What might it take for someone or some ones who have access to Tiger Woods to try at least to have him get real help? Does he have to kill a person or two in his next car accident for that to be the impetus? What is it in his behavior pattern(s) over the last 5-10 years that would lead anyone with access to him beyond the public persona to conclude that he is in a stable and safe place in his life?
Oh yeah; he got “treatment” for things in the past and emerged from those episodes “changed for the better”. Going off to a private retreat where the only prerequisite for emerging as a certified recovered person is to pay the bill and lay low for a decent interval is not real and actual “recovery”. I read that Woods’ attorney sought and received from the judge in this case that Woods be allowed to leave the country to get treatment abroad. Question:
- If you or I had been arrested allegedly with prescription pain pills loose in our pockets in our third or fourth car accident, what are the chances we would have been granted that privilege?
And there lies the nugget of the problem. Once again, Tiger Woods is going to be allowed to behave in a way that no one else would be allowed to behave even though his behavior(s) have been antisocial at the least and dangerous to others to be sure. How is he supposed to learn that his behavior(s) need to change if there are no consequences for his malfeasance?
In an obviously prepared for him statement, Tiger Woods said:
“I know and understand the seriousness of the situation I find myself in.”
And therein lies the heart of the problem; I doubt he knows and understands it at all. Basically, Tiger Woods is a superannuated spoiled brat, and it was the golf media and a ton of fanboys that created that spoiled brat. And none of them are stepping forward to try and make a change in his life – – a change that might save his life and perhaps another life or two down the line. The “story” here is not that Woods will not be at Augusta this year for the Masters or that he has given up is role as Captain of the US Ryder Cup team. The “story” here is that this man needs to fight with his inner demons and so far, the demons are well in command of the struggle.
Dan Jenkins said that when Woods was a young golfer dominating the Pro Tour, he asked for access to Woods for a long-form story in Sports Illustrated. Woods’ “people” turned down the request saying to the effect that they did not need any Sports Illustrated coverage at the time. Later after Woods’ first car crash – – the one where his then wife “rescued him” by wielding a nine-iron to the windshield of the car – – someone contacted Jennings and suggested he could meet with Tiger and do a story on their meeting. Jenkins declined; at that point, he did not need Woods’ coverage just as Woods did not need Sports Illustrated coverage years before.
The current arrest/charges will dry up and blow away; Tiger Woods will be clean as a whistle the next time he sets foot in that judge’s courtroom; he will have a “diploma” from wherever his treatment facility is located outside the continental US. And when he leaves that courtroom with some required public service time, I fear the clock will start ticking down to the next traffic incident where he might be found dead on the scene. Sure, he is the master of his own fate – – but lots of others will be parties to that event should it occur. I fear this will not end well.
Finally, this from Robert Downey Jr.:
“Remember that just because you hit bottom doesn’t mean you have to stay there.”
But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………