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It's no wonder Tiger has to be so guarded

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Robert Lusetich

After more than 20 years of covering everything from election campaigns to Olympic Games, Robert Lusetich turned his focus to writing about his first love — golf. He is author of Unplayable: An Inside Account of Tiger's Most Tumultuous Season. MORE>>
Updated Aug 9, 2009 7:49 PM ET
     
 

AKRON, Ohio

David Feherty passes gas and Tiger Woods gets the blame. That's the way it is when your life is lived inside a giant fish bowl. The mischievous CBS announcer's loud, rumbling faux pas on the 18th fairway at Sunday's Buick Open was captured — unfortunately for him, very clearly — by one of the network's microphones. Woods and caddie Steve Williams, who were standing nearby preparing to hit onto the green, heard Feherty's indiscretion and began laughing. By Sunday night, the clip of the incident found its way onto Internet sites like YouTube and, of course, it was Woods who was immediately identified as the source. Although relatively innocuous — and humorous — the incident nonetheless illustrates that when you're Tiger Woods, there is no such thing as privacy; no moments are ever allowed to go unguarded. Is there any wonder, then, that his gloves are always up when he's in public?
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My colleagues often bemoan the fact that on the rare occasions in which Woods speaks — has any sporting superstar, by the way, granted fewer man-behind-the-mask interviews? — he rarely says anything of note. But the truth is that if he did, if he really spoke his mind, Woods believes he'd be lambasted. It's a classic lose-lose scenario for him and it's hard to argue against his reasoning. What he's also acutely aware of is that, for whatever reasons — and I believe one of them to be racism — there exists a small but noisy group of naysayers for whom Woods can do no right. These Tiger haters peddle whatever argument they can dream up to belittle his achievements. And it takes some serious mental gymnastics to sell Tiger Woods short. With his victory Sunday at the last Buick Open in Michigan, Woods has now 69 Tour titles. He's third on the all-time wins list, and on a pace years ahead of both second-placed Jack Nicklaus — whom he now trails by only four — and Sam Snead, the all-time leader with 82 Tour wins. But to those who seek to diminish Woods, it's not good enough. It's never good enough. They babble on endlessly about technology being better and fields being weaker.
They whisper that Woods is on the juice without the slightest iota of proof — as if the Tour doesn't drug test him; that he wins at the same courses — as if other players don't play at their favorite courses each year; and that he doesn't have worthwhile rivals, as Nicklaus did in Palmer, Watson, Trevino, Player et al. This last one really is a peach. Ever pause to wonder why Woods doesn't have any real rivals? I've been watching him at close range since he arrived on the scene 13 years ago and here's what I see: one by one, he's vanquished all the pretenders to his throne. He's a rivals serial killer. Ernie Els, let's face it, is a shell of the player he once was and, in a quiet moment, he'd probably admit that losing over and over to Woods in the early part of this decade took its toll. David Duval's certainly had to face adversity on and off the course, but the fact remains that once he got to the top of the world, he discovered it was a lot tougher staying there than it was getting there. Sergio Garcia? A wondrous prodigy but he's never been able to beat Woods. Do you think it eats at him? To quote Jack Nicholson in "Chinatown," only when he breathes. Padraig Harrington? What happened to him after three majors in 13 months?
"I have no ego left when it comes to him, absolutely none."
— Jack Nicklaus, about Tiger Woods
And let's not forget Colin Montgomerie's pompousness in suggesting that the young Tiger cub might not have been able to handle the pressure of the moment when the two were paired in the third round of the 1997 Masters. How'd that one turn out, Monty? Phil Mickelson's the only one who at least has fought back after being pummeled by Woods for years but the fact remains that he's spent longer inside the world Top 10 without making it to No. 1 than anyone in history. Vijay Singh gave Woods a run for his money for a while but now he's just another who's fallen by the wayside. I tend to defer to the Golden Bear himself when it comes to evaluating Woods. Nicklaus leaned against a doorway earlier this year when we were at the Memorial tournament, which Woods won, and told me that he had no doubt Woods was the greatest golfer who ever lived. "I have no ego left when it comes to him, absolutely none," Jack told me.
When Woods wins, as he's done four times this year, setting himself up as the front-runner for yet another Player of the Year award, his detractors turn the focus on to his behavior. He is, to be sure, passionate and emotional, no more so than athletes in other sports, but golf is, of course, a more gentlemanly pursuit. His emotions can spill out sometimes in unfortunate ways and I'm not going to justify his choice of words or throwing of clubs. I will say that I believe he knows it's not the message he needs to be sending and is trying to change. Sunday at the Buick Open, when he sent an ill-advised shot into the water pond on the 13th hole, he pulled his cap over his face and unloaded on himself for making what could've been a game-altering error. Many times this year he has walked by me and sotto voce berated himself — without anyone more than a few feet away hearing. Indeed, he's gotten so good at this that his lips barely move. Some call it petulant but I believe it's a mechanism Woods has long used to sharpen his focus after a mistake. It's been ingrained for a long time as part of his mental strategy and it's not easy to suddenly stop. Does he go too far at times? Yes. But I have witnessed many golfers do worse without ever having to pay the price because the cameras weren't trained on their every move. It's not my job to be an apologist for Tiger Woods — I have certainly criticized him in the past when it's been warranted — but I'm paid to call it as I see it and I think he too often gets the short end of the stick undeservingly. The bottom line is that we live at a time in which we have the chance to bear witness to one of the greats — not just of golf, but any athletic endeavour, and that should be hard to hate.

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