Tiger’s tell-all a little thin on insight
LONDON Tiger Woods may wonder why he opened up at all. After all these years, he consents at last to do what he has long been urged to do and write a book, and then when he does the TV rounds to promote it, what do they end up talking about? His baldness.
He must be wondering, is this what they meant when they demanded to know what lay beneath the baseball cap?
You only have to type his name into Google to discover the reaction to the release of The 1997 Masters: My Story. The most interesting fact is not that his father, Earl, would ask him, “How do you feel being a little n––?” just to toughen him up, or that he was singularly unimpressed when first driving up Magnolia Lane.
No, what is most newsworthy is that a 41-year-old man suffered hair loss, probably triggered by a breakdown product of the hormone testosterone that causes miniaturization of follicles. If only the scientists had told us of this remarkable part of human aging before.
His celebrity has been deemed more important than comprehension, his infamy more sellable than insight. Of course, Woods is far from alone on that score, but it must make him regret agreeing to put pen to paper. And so must some of the negative reviews, which have deigned to look past the morning shows and delve into the content.
A withering article on the Sports Illustrated golf website, opined: “Writing a book requires a person to give. And too often in this book Woods does not.” Same old Tiger, is the general tone. Only telling the audience what he wants them to hear, the control freak with the paranoid iron grip clasped firmly on the message.
“Another lost opportunity,” says Golf.com.
Yet that was not how this reader judged it, probably because there was no expectation of anything deep enough to alter perception.
As we wait to see if he is fit enough to play on the 20th anniversary of his sport’s most extraordinary triumph, Woods presents us with a vivid reminder of what we had and what we have been missing.