The Lady or the Tiger: The Golf Worlds Debate

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: June 20, 2012

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The golf world was given a choice a few years ago after Tiger Woods ill-timed run in with the world's most famous fire hydrant: focus solely on the golfer and remain supportive or focus on the flawed man and root against him.

Either way, the television networks stood to benefit as Tiger Woods turned into a golfing version of the Batman villain Two Face.  Loyalists would watch to see him win by separating the artist from the art while detractors prone to schadenfreude would root for his demise.  Either way, so long as Woods played, fans and rubberneckers alike would tune in. It was a can't lose proposition for golf - ironically, the antithesis of the message of the famous short story The Lady or the Tiger.

All that could foil the plan was Woods not playing or becoming irrelevant on Sundays. And that has been the state of golf for the past three years.

To the networks, Woods is the living embodiment of the guy who doesn't care whether you say anything good or bad about him so long as you are talking about him.  As Woods has rarely played or been on the leader board on Sunday, his absence has greatly diminished interest in the game: as Tiger Woods goes, so goes the PGA Tour.

This weekend we have again seen a small glimpse how popular golf on TV can be with Tiger Woods back in contention. In the past, Woods had few detractors, at least publicly, and was both the media and gallery darling.

Now, after seeing his marriage and his game implode, his life is far more nuanced and he can no longer hide behind the facade of perfection as he had for so long.

This incarnation of Tiger Woods is no longer a fictitious idol of Nike's making and our own imagination.  The new comeback Tiger, warts and all, the divorced philanderer, the aging (by golf standards) broken down veteran is a far more real and interesting character.  Someone that most can relate to in some way.  He no longer r...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Golf

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