ShareThisA fellow told a story during the RBC Canadian Open last week. It was about a man, his young son, and Tiger Woods. It wasn't pretty.
The father and his son had been watching the first two rounds of the Open Championship two weeks ago, where Woods missed the cut. He threw clubs. His face contorted in anger at himself.
It wasn't pretty.
The father and his son went out to hit some golf balls one day during the week. The youngster hit some poor shots. He got mad. He tossed clubs. His father told him that's no way to treat a grand old game. History dictates that stuff isn't part of golf.
"But Tiger does it," the boy said.
Woods has done it for years, but his recent antics at Turnberry in Scotland touched a nerve. His reactions to his shots have been a subject of conversation wherever people chase the pill around a field.
Even here at St. Andrews-by-the-Sea, where the Barrett Amateur, a 72-hole tournament with aspirations to be one of the best in the world, starts Thursday, Tiger's the talk. He's polarizing golf watchers.
"The (PGA) Tour has a problem with its players," said Bruce Barr, a member at the Thornhill Golf and Country Club near Toronto. "They're too flat, uninteresting and boring. Their games have no personality. Tiger's human. He shows he cares."
But didn't Jack Nicklaus care while winning 18 majors, the record Woods is approaching? Didn't Tom Watson care while winning five Opens, and nearly winning another at Turnberry?
They hit bad shots. They were disappointed. They too played in front of worldwide audiences via television, although except for Watson at Turnberry, in an earlier era when the audiences weren't as big and the scrutiny not as intense.
Still, they cared. But they kept their disappointments to themselves. Nobody saw Nicklaus or Watson throw a club or an F-bomb. Nobody's son helicoptered a club and said, "But Nicklaus does it." Or, "But Watson does it."
Woods's late father, Earl, taught him the "10-second rule." He gave his precocious son 10 seconds to vent. Get it out of your system after a bad shot, and then focus on the next shot.
But surely Earl Woods didn't equate venting with throwing clubs and fits. Surely, he wouldn't have approved of how his son has been acting on the course when he hasn't performed up to his and others' outsized expectations, even as he would have approved of what Woods has been doing off the course.
His Tiger Woods Learning Center in Anaheim, Calif., for instance, is providing outstanding opportunities for children. Woods is very involved, and he doesn't draw attention to what he's doing there. Good for him.
But his displays on the course have drawn attention. He will be at the Buick Open in Grand Blanc, Mich., Thursday. That starts a stretch of three tournaments in a row for him, culminating in the PGA Championship, the year's final major. The golf world will be watching.
"Hello World," Woods said, famously, when he turned pro in August of 1996.
The world was watching at Turnberry. The world will continue to watch Woods, the world's most recognizable athlete. He's making gazillions from his play and from sponsors. Do they approve of how he handles bad shots? Many people who watched him at the British Open didn't approve.
"I did notice it," David Glover, a Scot and an avid golfer, said here of Woods at Turnberry. "He's obviously coming back after a long layoff and trying to establish himself in the majors again. They're all that matter to him. He really did think he would do well. His reactions are a reflex. But I think they probably affected his ability to make the cut."
The discussion continued. Somebody said Woods needs to behave in a more dignified manner. He spoke of the classy way Bobby Orr in hockey, and Joe Montana in football, dealt with disappointment.
Somebody else said, sure, but what about John McEnroe in tennis, who often exploded when he got what he thought was a bad call and berated officials, "You cannot be serious." The fellow preferred Bjorn Borg, icy and stoic.
Golf observers used to ask, "What will Phil do next?" about Phil Mickelson. Now, its "What will Tiger do next?"
"(God-expletive) it, Tiger, you gotta be kidding," Woods pouted after pushing his drive on the 17th hole during the first round at Turnberry.
"You cannot be serious," many people watching must have thought.
Woods is very serious. He craves majors. He wants the ball to go where he commands it to go. He's an extraordinary golfer to watch.
Lately, many of us want to avert our eyes. Maybe he doesn't care.
But he should. It's time.
Although given the mystery of motivation, who knows whether he would be as competitive against others if he weren't so combative with himself?
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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