Tiger, The Damned

My first reaction to the Tiger Woods public apology was that he needs to shut up and play golf. It’s is clear that neither he, nor those counseling him, are as smart as the demons chasing him. This is evident in the double root-canal press conference the other day. The Buddhism reference was most painful, in that it conjured up the classic celebrity-as-god conundrum, personified in the late Michael Jackson as a Jehovah’s Witness child-molester. God and religion are the Pandora’s Box of celebrities. Avoid, avoid, avoid.

Stepping back, Tiger’s life is in a tough spot, and I feel for him. His near deity status in golf is what encouraged/facilitated his excessive pursuit of outside women, especially what earthly rules applied to him. He lightly touched upon this in his apology, but he does not yet get it. He can’t get it because, now more than ever, the golfing world is begging for the return of their god, while he struggles mortal.

The industry (of golf), which he heads literally and figuratively, is hurting like it has never hurt before. Golfers, courses, tournaments, sponsors, retailers, and manufacturers alike, are missing billions of dollars. They need this guy back on the links in the worst way. But, they want him to be a man and their god at the same time, and this demand is quite impossible for him to sustain. Until he figures out who he is and what he really wants, he is Tiger, the damned.

James C. Collier

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