The Written Word
for July 7, 1999

Eldrick "Tiger" Woods is an amazing young man. That statement will come as no surprise, I guess, but what made me think of it was watching him win the Buick Western Open last Sunday. I watched the US Open two weeks before and thought to myself, that young man has a lot of learning to do. It wasn’t the two very short putts he missed – everyone does that especially on greens like that. No … it was watching him blow two nine irons over the green on the front nine and putting himself in jail thus costing two strokes that got my attention. You just can’t do this if you’re going to win a lot of big tournaments. In both cases, Tiger was just so pumped up that the ball was still climbing when it reached the green. He must, I said to my companion who knows nothing about golf, learn to hit knock down short irons … shots that come in at half that trajectory and bite when they land.

But who the hell am I to talk? I was once a very low handicap golfer – usually 2 or three but for one brief period scratch – but God knows I was no Tiger Woods … even when I hit my very best on my very best day I looked like a dub compared to the young Mr Woods.

Imagine my surprise last Sunday as I watched Tiger hit at least four punched nine irons or wedges into the green and have them check up beautifully. Two weeks before he would have flown all those greens.

Now it might just have been a lapse in the US Open but what had me thunderstruck was this thought – this young man who already has one Major (four if you count US Amateurs) and nine PGA events plus the German Open and he’s still learning! What the hell is this kid going to be like when he masters the game?

The fact is that if Tiger Woods never wins another tournament he has made a huge mark. Of course he was a very wealthy young man before he ever teed up a ball as a pro but that’s not his mark. His mark is not even his ability to carry this enormous pressure and come across as a very decent human being. No, his real impact has been on the black communities throughout the United States, especially in the inner cities.

Black kids have a new idol who isn’t a fighter, a baseball player or a basketball star … not that there is anything the matter with those starts as role models. But the hero now is a man in a game where you’re all by yourself and in the fresh air. But mostly the hero is in a white man’s game and opening doors in every nook and cranny of America as no one else has ever done. How right Tiger is to recognize Ted Rhodes, Charlie Sifford and Lee Elder, pioneer black players who paved the way. But Tiger has come along just at the right time and he is just the right person.

Tiger Woods’ influence goes beyond the black community, of course. After he burst on the scene and won the 1997 Masters by an unbelievable 12 shots at an even more unbelievable 15 under par one veteran pro said that Tiger had given them all a wake-up call. And he had. The entire game has changed. Purses are up by over 1/3 because Tiger is drawing ‘em in – not just on the course but on television as well. A tournament without Tiger is an also-ran event and everyone knows it.

Tiger Woods will have his ups and his downs – all good golfers do. He’ll go into periods where he can’t hole a putt or keep a drive on the fairway. But he’ll have plenty more days when everything’s 300+ down the middle and everything that doesn’t go in looks as if it should have.

Yes … there’s a little bit of hero worship in what I’ve said. I admit it. But when you look around at what’s happening in sports today, I could do a lot worse. Tiger plays to win … and he often does just that.

And I think the guy will be doing it for many, many more years to come.