CKNW Editorial
for March 27, 2001

I am a Tiger Woods fan … make no mistake about that. As one who once played low handicap golf I see in Woods a man who has it all – superb skills and just the right amount of temper to make himself always play at his best. He also has ironclad mental discipline. When Bob Maye rolled in that monster on the 72nd hole of the PGA last year, leaving Woods with that horror of all horrors for a right hander, a 5 foot sliding left to right putt to tie, Woods was unfazed and it was his comment later that stuck with me … "I brought myself into the present" was what he said. The ability to do that is what separates the excellent from the merely good.

I see something happening here, however. Let me illustrate it from a story that appeared in Sports Illustrated many years ago, about the rookie who went 4 for 4 in his first game … and he continued to go 4 for 4. After a week, the crowds started to grow. By the time of the All-Star break he was still hitting 4 for 4 and the crowds were enormous and he could hardly walk for fans. By Labour day he was still hitting 4 for 4 and the crowds were getting restless, indeed downright rude. They were cheering for the pitcher every pitch he threw to this phenom. On the last day of the season he hit safely in his first three at bats. When he came to the plate for the last time, the boos were such that they could be heard miles away. When he hit safely, the crowd stoned him to death. Good yes … excellent ok … perfect, no thanks.

Tiger wins too often to stay popular. And he pulls too many out of the fire. Yesterday on the 71^st hole he hit a dumb shot … a half nine iron that ought to have gone in the drink and cost him the championship … instead of a hard wedge which would have guaranteed he would be putting. Last week he should have been out of bounds twice in the last three holes but each time hit a spectator. He went 3 under for the last five holes when he should have been 1 over.

It’s not that he is especially lucky, for all people good at what they do are lucky. It’s just that to have that kind of luck attach itself to that much talent is going to cost him fan support.

When he was a kid, and for me even now, that pumping action when he drains one adds to the excitement. As time goes on though, and this kid of a phenom simply gets better and better this gesture of pure arrogance and intimidation – for that’s what it is – will get more and more infuriating to more and more fans not to say fellow competitors.

Tiger Woods has developed a couple of nasty habits. It just doesn’t look right for him to hawk out huge oysters onto the ground whenever he clears his breathing passages. Moreover, while it was seen as amusing when, in last years US Open he gave a voluminous "F" word when he hit a ball out of bounds, this habit will seem less and less endearing as time passes. Now, given my proclivity for ill temper and bad language when I played the game I’m the last one to be giving deportment lessons to the likes of Tiger Woods – I just say that this will add to those who will more and more pull for the underdog as the years go by.

Tiger Woods is the most amazing golfer to ever come along – ever. His record of 6 national amateur championships, senior and junior is phenomenal. He has won more than 25% of the tournaments he has played in as a professional including all four majors, the PGA twice – now plus the so-called fifth major, the Tournament Players Championship. He bids fair in a few weeks to be the only player ever to hold all four major crowns at once – only he and Ben Hogan have held three. He is only 25, an age when most pros are struggling on the Nike Tour or the Canadian circuit. Barring injury or a sudden loss of his swing - which has happened to good players in the past – there is simply no telling what this young man will do. His winning the Tournament Players Classic leaves only repeats for him to look for.

My hero worship remains unabated … but it won’t for everyone. Arnold Palmer remains the most popular of modern golfers because when Nicklaus came along, Arnie started to lose and lose gloriously. People identified with him. Nicklaus was admired and only loved when he got too old to win anymore.

Tiger has 15-20 years of his best golf ahead of him. I predict that starting soon, if it already hasn’t, will be a large body of fans that’s getting tired of seeing the kid hit four for four.

As for me – bring ‘em all on and I’ll be shouting … you can do it Tiger!