Tiger Woods used to be a truly graceful loser. This is one of the things he’s never received nearly enough credit for - his classy sportsmanship. In the rare occasions when he did come up short in a big tournament, he’d always heap praise on the other players, never stoop to lame excuses.
Some people are too preoccupied with the colorful expletives he’d drop in frustration (at himself) to recognize this. But it was true.
Apparently, the emphasis is on WAS though.
For the good loser Tiger was nowhere to be found after he threw away a great chance to force the tepid, tentative Trevor Immelman into real pressure situations. Instead after posting that weak final round 72 - the same score his playing partner Stewie Cink put up - Tiger turned into Rory Sabbatini.
Woods actually blamed the media for that Grand Slam talk he eagerly fueled at every opportunity.
“I learned my lesson there with the press,” Woods said in his press conference afterwards according to the Associated Press.
Pathetic, simply pathetic. And so beneath what Tiger Woods has always been about.
First, he screamed bloody neck rearrangement at the photographers at Doral when the perfect season that he also openly talked about and pumped up went poof. Now, his inability to do anything on Masters Sunday is chalked up as a press problem.
What’s happened to Tiger Woods? We need golf’s first-class champion back.
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The Accidental Golfer:
Brandon Tucker:
Mark Nessmith:
Jason Scott Deegan:
Of course, when the best gig you can land is blogging for "travel golf" can you really be considered part of the media?
It always amazes me how quick the media is to critique athletes for off the cuff comments made after horrendous defeats.
Here's a thought experiment: practice writing. Practice it so hard that your life is consumed by it. You wake up at 6am everyday and do thousands of finger exercises and then run 5 miles to build endurance. Done with the run you go and write. You write all day long until 8pm when you call it a night. Repeat for 330 days a year. The other 22 you get off.
Then, after you've narrowly missed the Pulitzer after grinding away on a story for 330 days you do an interview. Careful with your words, but still steaming you let it slip that "perhaps I shouldn't have said that the Pulitzer was easily within reach, as it lead to undue and unfair expectations by the media. I expect greatness out of myself and anything else is the attitude of someone I'll never be."
Then you get ripped for being honest. Pobrecita.
And if you think he was saying that he let the media pressure get to him, you're crazy. Tiger doesn't admit stuff like that. He was whining about reporters coverage that he fueled. Simple as that and low class. So beneath Tiger Woods.
The media made him what he is and came up with the bogus awards for him (the tiger slam) , the media also has the power to take him down. He needs to respect the game and the players who made the game what it is today. He may get more wins in Majors than Jack, but he'll never equal the more impressive stats of 19 seconds and 47 top 3's, 57 top 5's, 73 top 10's, or 13 straight top 10 finishes in Majors.
Believe it or not , the game is not all about him, media is finally starting to realize that there are better stories than a filty mouth, club throwing individual.