Category: Golf (Page 13 of 38)

      Bill Simmons on Tiger’s statement

      February 19, 2010 /

      I have to hand it to Simmons. He turned this around pretty quickly. It’s a good read…

      Say this much about Tiger: People give a crap. I don’t know anyone who didn’t watch this morning’s speech. There isn’t another athlete — not one — who could have made the world stop from 11 to 11:15 like Tiger Woods did.

      And with that, we’re done with the positives. I thought it was a borderline train wreck. It amazes me that Tiger learned little to nothing from the past two months. The control freak whose life slipped out of control dipped right back into control-freak mode, reading a prepared speech in front of a hand-selected audience of people, taking no questions, talking in clichés and only occasionally seeming human. Everything about it seemed staged. Everything. When the main camera broke down at the nine-minute mark and Tiger had to be shown from the side, I half-expected to see that he was plugged in to the wall.

      Whatever. I was going to leave it alone. After all, that had to have been a humiliating experience for the guy. But listening to talking heads praise that ludicrous speech pushed me over the edge. Someone actually said, “It came from the heart.” It did? Was it C3PO’s heart? I thought it seemed like an automated response from Microsoft’s new “Cheater’s Confession” program.

      Let’s look at the facts. Tiger cheats on his wife relentlessly and brazenly. She find out somehow. This leads to him crashing his car in the wee hours of Thanksgiving night. Scandal. Cover-up. More women come out. And more. And more. Tiger disappears like Jimmy Hoffa. Elin stops wearing her ring. Tiger stays hidden. Rumors swirl. By hiding, by not saying anything, Tiger enables every rumor and negative story to gain steam. When he sneaks away to a sex rehab clinic for 45 days, neither Tiger or his representatives acknowledges rumors that he’s there. He emerges with a staged jogging photo op; one day later, three other photos of Tiger hitting golf balls, even seeming jovial in one of them, hit the wires. And then, today’s prepared remarks. That came from the heart. Just as long as you didn’t ask a follow-up question.

      Read the rest here.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Golf, Humor

      GWAA boycotts Tiger’s public appearance

      February 19, 2010 /

      Seeing as how it was going to be on his terms, the Golf Writers Association of America decided to boycott Tiger Woods’ public appearance on Friday.

      From Golf.com:

      The reasons for the boycott were two-fold. First, the insistence by Woods and his handlers to limit media access to a pool of reporters. Second, Woods’s decision not to field any questions. But there were also deeper feelings in play, and complicated ones, too. This is an association filled with members who had covered Woods, by almost all counts, fairly and with respect, chronicling his golfing feats even as he bristled at times at his media obligations.

      The Woods story has gone everywhere and nowhere in the last three months, and it is impossible to know how the story will end. Eventually, the GWAA will be back behind the scenes, where it has been for much of its 64 years of existence, as an organization whose original goals included “an improvement in press facilities” and “interviews with players.”

      That’s all the GWAA wanted Friday, an interview with Tiger Woods. He won’t give it. So the GWAA won’t be there.

      I’ve never been to a golf event as a media member, so I don’t know what it’s like to try and track Tiger down to do an interview. But I can only imagine how much of a pain he could be when it comes to being accessible to the media so I’m all for the boycott. If he was crass and cold to a group that helped make him one of the most popular athletes in the U.S., then he deserves to be shunned when he embarrasses himself and then wants to establish the rules for making a public appearance.

      Don’t get me wrong – I’ve stated several times on this site that Tiger doesn’t owe the media or us anything. But I see the GWAA’s point here. They’ve played by his rules for a long time and even when he’s entrenched in an embarrassing scandal, he still wants everything to be on his terms. I don’t blame the GWAA for thinking, “You don’t control the situation any more, Tiger.”

      Of course, as soon as he takes his first steps back into golf, the media will be there just as they always have. He’s arguably the most recognizable athlete in America and this little boycott by the GWAA won’t go any further than today. But I like the fact that at least a small media contingent told him to shove it, much like I’m sure he’s done to them over the years.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Golf

      Tiger Woods deeply sorry, unsure of when he’ll return to golf

      February 19, 2010 /

      Tiger Woods is deeply sorry for the “selfish behavior” he engaged in that brought upon a shocking sex scandal that has consumed his life since Thanksgiving. He also has no idea when he’ll return to golf, although he’s not ruling out that it’ll be sometime this year.

      In his first public appearance in nearly three months, Woods addressed a small media contingent on Friday in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida and said he was deeply sorry for his behavior. He spoke for nearly 15 minutes and admitted that, “I thought I could get away with whatever I wanted to” and how, “I felt entitled.” He also said that he was going back to rehab next week and therefore there was no timetable for his return to golf.

      You could tell that Woods was genuine in his apology and he wasn’t just skating through a forced statement. I give him credit for speaking publicly because quite frankly, he doesn’t owe us anything even though some people feel otherwise. This is a private matter and just because he sells himself through endorsements, doesn’t mean we’re entitled to what he does behind closed doors. Did he screw up? Yeah, he did. But he’s obviously paying for it and he’s trying to take the steps necessary to ensure that he doesn’t make these mistakes again.

      I also think it’s smart that he didn’t announce when he’d return to the links. He’s heading back to rehab next week and who knows how long that will take. It doesn’t make sense for him to rush through rehab and return to golf before he’s received help for dealing with the issues that got him into this situation in the first place. He should return when it’s the right time, whenever that may be.

      There were no new or shocking revelations today. Anyone who thought that he would stand in front of a podium and either admit to or refute the allegations that have been made public is delusional. True, many people thought he would announce his return to golf but he didn’t, so let’s move on for the time being.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Golf

      Ernie Els calls out Tiger for being selfish

      February 18, 2010 /

      Tiger Woods is set to speak publicly for the first time in more than three months on Friday and at least one of his golfing competitors isn’t pleased with the appearance’s timing.

      From ESPN.com:

      “It’s selfish,” former U.S. Open and British Open champion Ernie Els told Golfweek magazine. “You can write that. I feel sorry for the sponsor. Mondays are a good day to make statements, not Friday. This takes a lot away from the golf tournament.”

      The timing is peculiar at best. Woods’ appearance will take place during the third round of the Arizona tournament, sure to steal attention away from the first big event of the year. The tournament is sponsored by Accenture — coincidentally, the first sponsor to drop Woods when the scandal broke.

      Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, said there was no intention to upstage Accenture’s sponsorship of the Match Play tournament. In fact, Steinberg said that Accenture “couldn’t have been more supportive.”

      You can draw your own conclusions about whether or not Tiger is trying to stick it to Accenture, but at this point, why would he want to rock the boat? He’s still very much entrenched in a sex scandal that has flipped his life upside down and the last thing he would want to do is draw more negative attention to himself or the world of golf. The timing of his appearance is bad, but that doesn’t mean he wants to upstage Accenture.

      That said, I don’t blame golfers like Els for being pissed. Tiger has obviously had the spotlight on him for a long time and even when he’s not playing, the spotlight is still on him and I’m sure that guys like Els is sick of it.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Golf

      Tiger Woods set to speak publicly on Friday

      February 17, 2010 /

      According to ESPN.com, Tiger Woods will end his three-month silence and speak to the media on Friday, although he’s not expected to answer any questions. It will be his first public appearance since November 27 when he crashed his SUV into a tree outside his Florida home.

      A unique twist to the appearance is that it will come during the Accenture Match Play Championship in Arizona, which is the PGA’s first big event of the year. Accenture was the first sponsor to drop Woods when details started to emerge about his sexual exploits

      “It was a matter of timing,” Steinberg said.

      When asked if Woods’ appearance could have waited until after Accenture’s tournament, he replied, “No.”

      It wouldn’t be right to assume that Woods has ulterior motives behind making a statement this week, but it is interesting that Accenture’s tournament coincidences with Tiger’s public appearance. If he did want to stick it to Accenture for dropping him, stealing some attention away from the tournament would be a good way to go about it.

      It’s highly unlikely that we’ll get more than an apology from Woods on Friday, although it’ll be interesting to hear what his intentions are for returning to the links.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Golf

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