Tiger’s sit-downs were rushed but telling (Yahoo! Sports)
March 22, 2010
Phew! I’m just glad neither ESPN’s Tom Rinaldi nor The Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman opened by asking: “Tiger, can you take us through your card?”
Silly me. I thought Tiger Woods announced he was doing interviews just to tell us he had Northern Iowa, St. Mary’s AND Cornell in his Sweet 16.
Nope. It’s official now. He hath deigned to answer questions.
And yes, some of it was productive.
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In this photo from video, Tiger Woods responds to questions during an interview with the Golf Channel on Sunday.(AP Photo/The Golf Channel)
We now know he is continuing outpatient treatment – for an undisclosed problem – for the foreseeable future. We now know he will wear a Buddhist bracelet for “strength and protection.” We now know he is embracing the buzzwords of rehab – “One day at a time”; “Stripping away denial and rationalization”; “Living a life of amends”; and more. We now know he tried to stop serial infidelity but says he could not. We now know he says he feels a new type of strength – the strength of self-awareness.
We also now presume he must have really, really wanted to watch the end of the weather-delayed Transitions Championship. What other good excuse would there be for the overly controlling limit of five minutes – five minutes! – for both ESPN and The Golf Channel?
The “5-Minute Rule” prevented any conversation of substance, any follow-up question and any semblance of conversational pace. The “5-Minute Rule” also forced a stressed Rinaldi into a rhythm that felt a little like a lightning round from an old game show. I half expected him to start barking out random questions:
“How did you tell Elin?”
“What will the Masters be like?”
“What’s the capital of Colombia?”
“Who won the 1959 World Series?” …
I want to be clear in saying I thought both Rinaldi and Tilghman did as well as they could in the 300 allotted seconds. That was not an easy gig. They had to come prepared, never stumble and have an endless well of questions. It would have been a little rough about three minutes in to have one of them look at their watch, look to the camera and say, after an awkward pause: “Well, that’s it. I’m tapped out. You wanna just hang here for the next two minutes?”
Truth be told, I think Tilghman’s interview was slightly more productive. She netted the Buddhist bracelet tidbit and had the guts to bring up Tiger’s late father, Earl, getting one of the better lines of the day in return.
“That’s one of the things I miss,” Tiger said. “I miss his guidance.”
I’ve been wondering all along how the specter of Earl – the dominant figure in Tiger’s life until his death in 2006 – was playing on Tiger’s mind. A missed opportunity for Tilghman was to ask if Tiger thought that Earl’s death may have played a role in Tiger’s increasingly reckless behavior, but that missed opportunity can be partially explained by the ridiculous “5-Minute Rule” that forced the interviews to be so rushed.
Otherwise, it appeared Tiger was more relaxed with Tilghman than with Rinaldi. The close relationship between The Golf Channel and PGA Tour players is likely a reason why. Whereas ESPN usually only rolls out its big guns for majors, The Golf Channel is there week after week after week after week. And Tiger watches golf a lot; when he’s not playing, he listens to Tilghman broadcast tour events. Hence, Tiger felt at ease enough to drop a “Kel” on her at one point. And she coaxed maybe the line of the entire production.
When Rinaldi asked, “Why did you lose control over your car?” on that Nov. 27, 2009, morning, Tiger answered only: “That’s a private matter.” But when Tilghman asked him the same question, Tiger answered: “I wasn’t going very fast … but I hit a few things.”
Of such answers are instant classics born.
To be sure, Rinaldi held his own. I thought his question of “Respectfully, why did you get married?” was one of the best of either session. I’ve long thought that there’s a sort of unspoken pressure on the golf tour to get married, just to complete the picture of having a wife and kids run on to the green after victories. There are precious few bachelors out there, and Tiger might have felt the need to get married because it was the expected thing to do, to flesh out the profile for endorsers, too.
Of course, there’s also the thing called “love,” and Tiger said he “loved Elin with everything I had.” And Rinaldi got Tiger to admit to nerves over how he will be received at next month’s Masters, probably the first time Tiger has admitted to being nervous over anything since he was asked to dance at a fraternity party at Stanford.
I would venture to say we all have many more questions we’d like to ask, and hopefully the reporters at Augusta National – my brothers and sisters of the ink-stained golf media, stand up! – will take the baton from here. I trust they will. Among the possibilities:
Is golf as important to you now as it was before Nov. 27, 2009?
Is passing Jack Nicklaus’ all-time record for major championships as important to you now as it was before Nov. 27, 2009?
Is it important to you, or a goal of yours, to regain your endorsement profile?
Have you considered the possibility that answering questions earlier in this process would have made this story go away faster?
Can you understand why some fans are suspicious of your relationship with the Canadian doctor who is suspected of trafficking in HGH?
For now, we’ll take Sunday’s “300 Seconds of Fury” as a decent step forward in our reconnecting with the world’s greatest golfer.
Just think, next time you see him, he’ll be playing golf.
Scorecard of the week
Jim Furyk hits from the ninth fairway during the final round of the Transitions Championship.(AP Photo/Chris O'Meara)
67-68-67-69 – 13-under, 271, Jim Furyk, first place, Transitions Championship, Innisbrook.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch …
Jim Furyk owes Tiger a text message.
“Yo, dude. Thx 4 arranging ur intervu airing just as I imploded on 18. Nobody knows how bad it got. They just see the ‘W’! I owe u one.”
It’s been 58 events and nearly three years since Furyk won on the tour, a startling statistic for a guy you used to think of as one of the world’s best. And, technically, he is one of the world’s best – up to sixth in the World Golf Rankings with the win at Innisbrook.
It did not come easy.
Bogeys on 13 and 15 meant a once-comfortable lead was down to two strokes over K.J. Choi at the 72nd hole. Furyk, admitting later to nerves at not having won in so long, pumped his drive well right into the native area. His second shot was so awry, reports are it nearly hit Roger Maltbie. Only a third to the green and two-putt from 30 feet allowed a bogey and a one-shot win.
Here’s the catch: Nobody saw it.
Furyk’s tee shot on 18 came right around 7:30 p.m. ET, otherwise known as “Tiger Time” for ESPN and The Golf Channel. Like crazed paparazzi, most of America frantically switched over to see Tiger, leaving the 72nd hole at Innisbrook in the dark. Hence, nobody knows that Furyk barely avoided an epic meltdown.
Instead, one big cardboard check is coming his way. And if anybody asks? Furyk can say: “Fairway, green, two putt, no worries … winner, winner, chicken dinner!”
Mulligan of the week
In fact, while we’re on the topic, can we just rush out to that 18th tee, toss one to Fluff, let Furyk re-tee and … give that man a mulligan!
The mulligan of the week never came so easy.
Broadcast moment of the week
“You went from being known as the greatest golfer in the world to being a punch line. How did that make you feel?” – Kelly Tilghman, The Golf Channel, with one of her stronger questions of the evening to Woods.
Truth is, there were so many choice moments from which to choose in the Tiger interviews, and the fact is, nothing will ever top Tiger’s “I wasn’t going very fast … but I hit a few things” description of the car crash.
It was impressive to see Tilghman remind Tiger that he became a national joke. Previously, the toughest question any golf media member – yours truly included – ever asked Tiger was: “Tiger, on a scale of 1 to 10, how awesome are you?”
Where do we go from here?
Iced tea and lemonade on the house – it’s Bay Hill time!
In this column, it has long been believed that Bay Hill would be Tiger’s first tournament back from his “indefinite” leave. So much of it made sense: a warmup before Augusta, Arnie’s welcoming embrace, a home game, success at the venue … on and on.
Tiger said Saturday his game isn’t “ready” for competition yet, hence he is skipping Bay Hill and phoned The King to tell him the news.
More likely, he is skipping Bay Hill because Team Tiger would have precious little control over a public venue like the tour stop at Bay Hill. The Masters provides so many layers of security that it makes far too much sense.
So, we’ll go Tiger-free at Bay Hill. But we’ll enjoy the iced tea and lemonade in the meantime.
Brian Murphy writes a weekly golf column for Yahoo! Sports. Send Brian a question or comment for potential use in a future column or webcast.