Should we love or hate Tiger Woods, plenty of folks on both sides of the fence since the car crash”incident”. After all, Tiger did let us down, didn’t he? He is at least partially human after all. He made some major life mistakes for the whole world to see, still shows his temper, spits on the golf course (how could he?) and no longer makes ridiculous putts at clutch moments.
And let’s not talk about yet another swing change….ok let’s do. If you have arguably THE BEST golf swing in the world why oh why would you change it? As I’ve said before, Tiger did not need a swing change, he needed a life change. His swing under Hank Haney was just short of phenomenal, who else could win with a fractured leg?! Tiger needed a fresh perspective, something to work on to get his personal life back on track. Obviously the guy could use the “swing in a phone booth” method and still play great golf. Perhaps Foley has given him something to work on that will make him less prone to getting “stuck”, or maybe Tiger just needed some time to shake off the cobwebs and get back to work on being Tiger.
What I do know is that nobody who watches golf was not glued to the TV on Sunday at Augusta. Briefly Tiger was back, and love him or hate him you enjoyed the moment. Why? Because he is the best athlete of our time, because despite what Poulter or Ricky may say, they respect the golf that Tiger can play. We all do. We all want to walk onto a golf course and have people take pictures of us just standing there, or drinking water…and we all watch him because we enjoy watching the best. The excitement that Tiger brings when making a run is just like a car wreck, even if you don’t like him to still sit there and watch.
Luckily good coaching in the junior golf ranks has brought us Rory, Fowler, Day and other young guns who will eventually become the next generation of golf superhero’s. The future of golf is in good hands indeed.
We may not agree with his lifestyle and we may never forgive his transgressions, but golf still needs a Tiger and until someone eventually steps up permanently, he’s the only one we’ve got.