When you think of Tiger Woods and the images that define him, what do you see? Is it him roaring on the 16th at Augusta National in 2005, having chipped in? Fist clenched and clad in red? It might be him limping around on one leg, impossibly claiming the US Open in 2008. Perhaps it was his last victory at the Masters, arms outstretched on the final hole, embracing the energy pouring onto him from an adoring crowd.
Or is it a series of glassy-eyed mug shots? A growing number of photos of SUVs lying the wrong way up? Grainy images of him looking vacant as he departs law enforcement agencies?
In the most recent shot, on a suburban Florida street near his house, you can see Woods in the background. A cornflower blue polo tucked into shorts as he makes a phone call. I wonder who the greatest golfer of all time calls when he has just crashed his car so badly that the wheels aren’t touching the road… again.
Golf is an unusual sport in the sense that you can keep playing so long as events want you. Retirement is a fluid concept. Woods is 50. A previous car crash nearly cost him a leg, and it means he is still in a lot of pain when he walks. Yet, every event in the sport would gladly have him teeing it up if he opted in.
He is the hero of golf. A living, breathing piece of history. Woods is also crucial to its future. He’s a co-owner in the lame simulator competition ‘Tomorrow Golf League’, which is seen as vital to the sport’s viability. He’s a key powerbroker inside the US PGA. Until last weekend, he was expected to be the next USA Ryder Cup Captain.
A sport defined by manners and etiquette has been too polite to acknowledge that the best to swing a club is among the worst to steer a wheel... at least when in the grip of addiction. We asked golf writer Alan Shipnuck why Woods wouldn’t just get a driver? He can certainly afford it.
Some have argued that driving makes him feel normal. Shipnuck suggested something else. He doesn’t want anyone to know his secrets.
Next week, the US Masters gets underway at Augusta National. Tiger has been part of developing a public course for a predominantly black community close to the main event. He won’t be there as he takes time away from the sport to try and get healthy. At least, that’s what his official statement says.
It’s hard to take it seriously, when we’ve been here before.
