Tiger #%$^&!*@ Woods!
As you may have heard by now, there have been some developments in the latest Tiger Woods injury status update, along with more intriguing revelations via The New York Times book review of Hank Haney’s upcoming tell-all The Big Miss.
Tiger, who withdrew in the final round of the WGC-Cadillac Championship last Sunday due to a strained left Achilles, is already back to grinding at the range. He hit golf balls on Friday, according to TigerWoods.com:
He said the ankle felt good and he plans to play in the Tavistock Cup on Monday and Tuesday, followed by the Arnold Palmer Invitational on Thursday through Sunday.
“Looking forward to competing,” Woods said.
At the advice of his doctors, Tiger took a few days off earlier this week to rest and receive treatment on his ankle, which became tight and painful while warming up on the driving range last Sunday. When the pain increased, he withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the 12th hole.
“I decided to be smart about it and not risk further injury,” said Woods, who was sidelined for almost four months last year with Achilles and knee problems.
Woods said he is excited about his game and is already looking forward to the Masters Tournament, April 5-8.
Well, I’m certainly not surprised he’s playing the Masters — he’d be there if he had to walk on crutches, pop painkillers, etc. — but I’m a little shocked he’s going through with a freaking ostentatious exhibition match and making the extra start at Bay Hill. Now, that’s a lot of golf for someone who was forced to pull out of Doral because he was in so much pain.
That’s SEVEN straight days of golf, putting him in a lot of risk to potentially re-injure himself.
My guess has been that he’ll go along with the song and dance that he’s playing both events and then withdraw at the last minute, saying he’s not healthy enough, which would be completely understandable. I actually supported that plan. You know, he does everything he can to make it, but if he’s still hurting, then it’s forgivable for him to skip out next week. It’s not the end of the world and the Masters is vastly more important. Duh.
If he ends up playing the Tavistock Cup and shows up at Bay Hill for the Pro-Am on Wednesday only to somehow restrain his left Achilles, forcing him to pull out of Arnie’s tournament, then that will raise a lot of eyebrows. (Tiger has a vested interest in the Tavistock Cup because he has an ownership interest in Albany, one of the four golf clubs that take part in the exhibition. The other three are Lake Nona, Isleworth and Queenwood. All the members of Team Albany are also members of Nona or Isleworth…)
Well, the Tavistock Cup is so confident that Tiger is healthy and ready to go that they’ve even released the pairings for the matches, according to the Orlando Sentinel:
Monday pairings (best ball):
• 10:50 a.m. – Tiger Woods/Justin Rose (Albany), Charles Howell/Bubba Watson (Isleworth).
• 11:05 a.m. – Ben Curtis/Peter Hanson (Lake Nona), Soren Kjeldsen/Paul McGinley (Queenwood).
• 11:20 a.m. – Ernie Els/Tim Clark (Albany), Thomas Bjorn/Adam Scott (Queenwood).
• 11:35 a.m. – Sean O’Hair/Bo Van Pelt (Isleworth), Retief Goosen/Ross Fisher (Lake Nona).
• 11:50 a.m. – Robert Allenby/Daniel Chopra (Isleworth), David Howell/Tom Lewis (Queenwood).
• 12:05 p.m. – Trevor Immelman/Ian Poulter (Albany), Graeme McDowell/Gary Woodland (Lake Nona).
Tuesday pairings (singles):
• 10:50 a.m. – Tim Clark (A), Robert Allenby (I), Paul McGinley (Q), Ben Curtis (LN).
• 11:05 a.m. – Ernie Els (A), Charles Howell (I), Soren Kjeldsen (Q), Retief Goosen (LN).
• 11:20 a.m. – Trevor Immelman (A), Daniel Chopra (I), David Howell (Q), Ross Fisher (LN).
• 11:35 a.m. – Justin Rose (A), Bo Van Pelt (I), Adam Scott (Q), Peter Hanson (LN).
• 11:50 a.m. – Ian Poulter (A), Bubba Watson (I), Tom Lewis (Q), Gary Woodland (LN).
• 12:05 p.m. – Tiger Woods (A), Sean O’Hair (I), Thomas Bjorn (Q), Graeme McDowell (LN).
Meanwhile, the NYT got its hands on a copy of Haney’s upcoming book and divulged some rather juicy revelations. Haney analyzes Tiger’s relationship with rival/frenemy Phil Mickelson.
Most of it is that Mickelson possesses the kind of talent that has made him a legitimate threat to Tiger’s supremacy. Phil’s popularity with fans and gentle treatment from the media add to Tiger’s annoyance. For years, Tiger reveled in the idea that Mickelson had trouble playing in his presence. But Phil adjusted, and in recent years he’s outplayed Tiger down the stretch in several tournaments. His increased confidence against Tiger, along with the positive energy of the gallery, has flipped the psychological advantage in their matchup in his favor.
Well, we kind of knew or at least assumed that.
Now, here’s the part that Tiger must be really, really pissed about. A few weeks ago, GolfDigest.com revealed five excerpts, including Tiger’s intense military training workouts and his interest in possibly quitting golf to join the Navy SEALs during the time he was mourning he father’s death. However, the most damning damaging detail wasn’t included in those excerpts, which the NYT divulges:
Haney says he was told Woods tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee in an exercise with the SEALs, not while running at home.
Haney grew concerned about Woods’s workouts and his focus on weight lifting. Haney thought Woods was “inordinately interested in muscle-building,” which Haney believed did not help Woods’s game and led to injuries. He says that Woods injured his right Achilles’ tendon doing Olympic-style lifts, not while running during testing for new Nike shoes, as he publicly stated.
(AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)
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As I said when news of the book came out, regardless of content, I find this sort of thing extremely tasteless. Regardless, of what you think of Tiger, my mother always taught me two wrongs don’t make a right.
And to me if someone trusts you and invites you into his house, taking advantage and violating that trust to write a book, is wrong. If I was in Tiger’s shoes, I’d feel enormously hurt, just a human reaction.
To the extent Hank expounds on issues that impact TW’s ability to play golf I’m interested. Other than that, not so much.
Haney is very cheap. To disclose this kind of information just for a couple of dollars? If Haney had any dignity and was a true professional he would have kept this information confidential. I know Tiger has and will take the high road. Haney can learn from Tiger.
Tiger is a lying sack of shit. I can’t wait to read the book. I hope Haney makes a gazillion dollars.
Hank is no prince in doing this, but this furthers my distrust of anything Tiger says.
But, Hank has actually sunk below Tiger in my book. Tiger paid his bills and hired him and now Hank is acting like a disgruntled 4 year old. He needs to go to time-out for a couple of years.
I have zero interest in buying this book or watching Hank’s shows anymore.
Oh my God. Someone wrote a book. How horrendous that someone’s trust was violated. A very simple solution for the Tiger worshippers that are so bent out of shape on this: Don’t read it.
I think it’s ridiculous that for so long everyone wanted to know what was going on inside Eldrick’s “ropes”. Now someone outside of TMZ relays the slightest inkling of what happened behind the scenes and he’s the asshole? Seriously, take a step back, wait to comment until the full book is released, and in the meantime, please keep enjoying the information Stephanie continues to divulge.
No one but Tiger knows how badly he was hurt @ Doral. It’s possible he wasn’t that hurt but withdrew for precautionary reasons. Just because he ended up committing to the Tavistock Cup and the Arnold Palmer Invitational doesn’t necessarily mean withdrawing from Doral was unmerited.
All you indignant people – go to a bookstore (if you can find one) or a library, you will see entire sections devoted to “biography”. Open those books, and what you will see are quotes, anecdotes, and other first hand information from friends, associates, lovers, and other confidants of famous people. That’s how history is documented. Why is this different ? Because Tiger is alive or still active ? Welcome to the 2000′s, we don’t wait till someone is 20 yrs in the grave before we publish their life story. Tiger will probably go down as one of the most significant American athletes in the first half of this century, and most likely, there will be many more books written about him either by, or with the cooperation/contributions, of people he spent his time with. I can’t wait to read the whole thing.
“Ostentatious”? Does that mean no press pass for WUP?
Whether one is an evangelical Christian, radical Islamist, or Tiger worshipper, there is always some book they are protesting or some author they are vilifying.
If you don’t like the First Amendment, move to Iran.
BrianS: What you say is probably true but how do we know what is written is the real truth. The authors may not like or have some kind of grudge against the subject and thus not being completely honest.
I wonder if the PGA Tour got in a room and decided to form a tourny that would make people who hate golf hate it even worse and came out with Tavistock Cup. Even the name sucks.
@JonBoy – agreed, but at this point most of the criticism of Haney is that he should not be writing it at all. If there are lies or anything that isn’t true, then he should be confronted with those, and if he is proved to be lying, condemned for it.
@BrianS – I am a history person. If Diaz wrote a bio of Tiger I would love to read it. This is different. Which is why I have a problem with Haney writing it.
Part of how it’s different is that it’s all through Haney’s perception. If you and I (or any two people) are looking at something, we’ll see different things, because our perception of it is different. What a biographer generally tries to do is come at things from a variety of different angles. Also a lot of what has come out has been hearsay or inferences: for instance Tiger saying this would be really cool to do to a Seal video, was translated by Haney as, he was serious about quitting golf to become a Seal.
@BrianS – I can put myself in Tiger’s position and know how I’d feel if someone I invited into my house wrote a book telling tales about it. Hence I find it distasteful.
You are correct though, that it is part of the society in which we live. It is however a part of our modern day society that I genuinely dislike. Just like you don’t like that athlete cursing is now commonplace.
(and btw to the 1st amendment person a) that’s not what the 1st amendment means and b) nobody’s said what he did was illegal)
That’s true, but what’s wrong with Haney’s perception? He was there close to Tiger, and is documenting it. That’s also how history is remembered. Who is Diaz? Why is he better than Haney? Are you implying this book is all lies or something?
@shoshana – I never defined what the First Amendment means. Nice try on that one.
Unless protestations againts publications by evangelical Christians, radical Islamists, and Tiger Worshippers (like yourself maybe?) are just self-acknowledged quixotic blatherings, then there are aspects of the First Amendment that they (you?) just don’t like.
@Marky Mark well I’m not the government so the first amendment actually doesn’t apply to me. If the government tried to ban Haney’s book I’d have quite a big problem with that. Haney writing his book is legal, I don’t think it should be banned. I just find the fact that Haney chose to write it distasteful. What does that have to do with the 1st amendment?
@Max History is a combination of things. There’s nothing wrong with Haney’s perception it’s his version of things. But anyone’s version of things is colored by their own history, beliefs, what they can see vs what they cannot.
If you and a friend look at a painting, and then say what you see and think, both of you may be right, your answers will also be different. That’s perception.
What a historian will do, is get both of your answers, and also try to interview the painter or get more angles, in an attempt to present the most accurate description.
Diaz is an excellent golf writer (he ghost wrote the Haney book), who has also known Tiger (as a media person) since he was a kid. To me him doing a biography on Tiger would be better/different, because he comes at it from a more objective point of view, and because he’d be interested in compiling a picture from different angles (for instance he might have tried to verify that Tiger actually trained with the Navy Seals rather than just going on word).
Marky Mark – this is not a 1st Amendment issue. No one has suggested this book be censored or halted from publication on legal grounds. Rather, the suggestion is that it is particularly slimy for Hank to write a (significantly non-golf, it seems) book about Tiger that delves into areas that clearly were not intended to become public knowledge. That point seems undebatable to me.
Yawn…Tell me something new please.
Right, but as you say everyone has their version of things and that includes historians. Journalists too. It’s kind of impossible not too. I get your point about objectiveness, and agree a solid as-objective-as-possibe point-of-view on Tiger would be interesting. But that has nothing to do with the relevance of Haney’s book.
Slimy? Perhaps. A valid view of Tiger? As much as anyone’s.
@Shoshana – I never indicated how the First Amendment applies or doesn’t apply to you.
@Paul – I never said it was a First Amendment issue.
Here’s what I think _
1. The golf press (and the larger press as a whole) gave Tiger a free ride for many years. For whatever reasons. No way a guy like Michael Wilbon or Feinstein can cover a guy like Tiger and not know he was fooling around on his wife. Wilbon had dinner with Woods numerous times and professes he knew nothing about it. That’s as ridiculous as ol’ Stevie saying he knew nothing about it. They were so afraid they would never get access to him if they printed anything about his rather weak personal life. Of course, they will say it is not relevant to his golf performance. I would say it is – like how not so well golf Tiger has played since his extra-marital activities became public, and his divorce.
2. The broadcast media still treats Tiger with kid gloves. He may get some tough questions at pressers, but on-air, Maltbie in particular, give him a free ride. He plays crappy and just walks away.
3. You know what -the guy is a boor. It is that simple. For whatever reason(s), he’s just a boor. He was on top of the golf world for a long time, so no one cared, but now that he’s been pulled back down, his churlishness and immaturity comes out. Nike puts up with it, as do his other sponsors, but at the end of the day, he is just a boor. A talented one, but a boor just the same. Compare his conduct off the course, with the media and with fans with someone like Nicklaus, and see how a gentleman conducts himself.
It is un-fortunate, because he is obviously a phenom golfer with a tremendous record, talent, etc. It is too bad he never grew up and learned how a gentleman behaves himself.
whether it’s truth or lies, everything Hank does is to make money
I met Hank 25 years ago before he hit the big time. Massive ego is what I recall thinking.
I have been a big Haney fan for years, but I am starting to wonder if all his media exposure is not having an impact.
What you have all written is all well and good but I think the Tiger story should be laid to rest. We have been hearing, reading, seeing all things Tiger for more than two years and by this time all bases must have been covered. Move on folks.
I have no problem with Hank writing a book about Tiger. I wish his ex-wife would write one about him too. Until he ditches this holier than thou, untouchable persona, after everything he did to his family, I’m ok with folks bringing him down a notch. After all his failings and faults, the only he has changed is his swing.
Stephanie,
I think someone in the media should follow the Feherty approach (see first tee today at Tavistock) and inject some humor into Tiger’s press conference at Bay Hill.
For example, “Tiger, can I have a popsicle?” Will you be the one? Be the one!
Of course, it would be every funnier if Tiger opened the press conference by offering popsicles to everyone in attendance.
Someone here talking about a person being a boor? Open the door for Feherty ’cause I think his bit has already run its course.
I’m glad that Tiger is being exposed as mostly a jerk, but I don’t like the fact that his coach is contributing to it. Like doctors, lawyers, ministers, and therapists, coaches fall into different category from that of “ordinary” associates.
Now I am going away to do my breakfast, once having my breakfast
coming again to read further news.