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For an icon like Tiger, image is everything

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Mark Kriegel

Mark Kriegel is the national columnist for FOXSports.com. He is the author of two New York Times best sellers, Namath: A Biography and Pistol: The Life of Pete Maravich, which Sports Illustrated called "the best sports biography of the year."

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Updated Dec 2, 2009 2:16 PM ET
     
 

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif.

The most ennobling of Tiger Woods' 14 major victories were his first, which demonstrated that one need not be a middle-aged white guy to win at golf, and the last, which proved one need not have an ACL. Of the two, Woods has called the latter — the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines — "my greatest ever championship, the best of the 14." It's easy to understand why, as it introduced an element sorely lacking in the genteel game: physical heroism. Woods literally limped his way to triumph. All told, he played 91 holes, including an 18-hole playoff, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, ruptured cartilage and a double stress fracture in his left tibia. You see athletes routinely overcome severe injuries in boxing and hockey and football, in basketball and even baseball. But never in golf. This, then, was another first. Tiger Woods had established his virtue as a good old fashioned tough guy. Which brings me to Tuesday's non-event at the Sherwood Country Club. Traditionally, I'm informed, the Tuesday practice round has been among the few days when Woods becomes relatively open and garrulous. After all, the Chevron World Challenge is his tournament benefiting his foundation. But Woods was nowhere to be found, of course. He has issued a statement on his Web site saying that he was "unable to play" as a result of "injuries sustained in a one-car accident last week." In fact, said injuries would keep him from even attending, though he somehow managed to fulfill his duties as a host last year while recuperating from major knee surgery. "I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament," he said. Really? Disappointment? Sounds more like relief. You can pretend that this is all about a vehicular infraction that warranted a $164 fine. But it's really about Tiger Woods. Who is he? If you're like most people, all you really want is the truth. And all you're getting is spin. Woods was treated and released from a local hospital the morning of the accident. His injuries have been described as "facial lacerations." In other words, the guy who hobbled his way to a major championship just 18 months ago can't play at his own tournament for his own foundation. "I think it's going to take away something from the tournament for the first couple of days," said Padraig Harrington. "... Tiger Woods is the biggest player in the game, he's going to be missed." By the same token, Harrington defended Woods' right to be absent: "He was in a car crash and he was injured. That's a fact ... He was unconscious for six minutes, I hardly think he was fit to play golf. I think it's reasonable for him not to be competing." True enough. Still, he's not exactly Ben Roethlisberger. There's no report of a concussion or any neurological damage. So you have to ask: is this about injury? Or embarrassment? He can play hurt. But he can't risk the chagrin. That's how it is with icons. Even if Woods could limit the questions — which he probably could, after a sufficiently passionate opening statement — he'd still be seen. And that's his problem.
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He's not a fighter going to a press conference with a pair of sunglasses. He's Tiger friggin' Woods. The heroic hobbling is one thing. The scratches on his face another entirely. Did he sustain them in the crash? Or did his wife put them there? "There's lots of questions that will never get answered," said Harrington, who allowed that it's "pretty legitimate for people to be curious" while offering that he finds most big news stories "about 25 percent true." If a quarter of this story is true, it won't hurt Tiger even a little bit as a golfer. But it could do irreparable harm to the icon. The scratched face would be an indelible image. And image is everything in the icon business. You can limp your way into legend. But you can't be human.

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