For golf fans there are better books on Tiger available
BEING the most iconic athlete of a generation brings more than a little scrutiny, in fact, it brings the eyes of the world. Catapulted into that position, anointed as a kid, there is a humongous amount of pressure to conform to the norm.
It makes it almost impossible to be an individual, you can’t live a normal life. There are big bonuses but irreplaceable moments are lost. Tiger Woods spend more than almost two decades rebuffing the eyes of the world, trying to keep his existence as ‘normal’ as possible.
On the course Woods had an aura, it attracted fans and created detractors, it frightened the life out of a generation of golfers. He was a private individual that everybody was familiar with but nobody really knew.
Then, one night in his Isleworth home, his world came tumbling down. News of multiple affairs, both pre- and marital, dragged arguably the greatest golfer to ever grace the greens into the tabloids.
It created a snowball effect that meant Woods’ entire life changed in the space of an evening. It was huge news, it was everywhere, people around the world were talking about it, Woods hasn’t won a major since.
The events before and after the day
Woods’ world came tumbling down are all included in the latest publication on the 14-time major winner. Its title is simple, it’s called ‘Tiger Woods’.
Written by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, this publication is billed as the complete story of the life of Tiger Woods. Chronologically written, it moved all the way through his childhood, right up to the start of this 2018 season.
It drives down all all the avenues of previous books, the controlling parents, relationships and awkward situations, the coaches, his big personal life troubles and the injury nightmare of the last few years - it even has some golf in there too.
At over four hundred pages, with small enough font size, there’s plenty of information in there. It’s ripped from multiple sources including previous books, Woods interviews and independent interviews - some credited to the source, others not.
The book was given a boost before it hit the shelves, with representative for the American golfer releasing a statement ridiculing the publication as a ‘re-hash’ of previous releases on Woods.
Manager Mark Steinberg and spokesman Glenn Greenspan said that: ‘Tiger Woods’ was ‘littered with egregious errors’ and the writers ‘can’t even manage basic truth and accuracy’. The rebuff gave the book plenty of life and free publicity.
In truth, it is a little sensationalist. The writers looked to sell the book before its release with juicy tidbits about Woods’ connection with Anthony Galea, a Canadian doctor that was arrested for smuggling human growth hormone into the States, before pleading to a lesser charge of bringing in mislabeled drugs.
However, there’s nothing on the subject but conjecture and rumour, indeed the strongest words are from rebuffing any Woods links to performance enhancing drugs.
Who will be interested in this book? Well anyone who calls themselves a sports fan knows the face and basics of Tiger Woods. The average Joe, that wants to know a little more, this is aimed at you, it has most of what you need to get an idea of his life.
For golf fans is this really the Tiger book you need? Honestly, probably not, the new information is there in patches but most of the new additions fall into the salacious category. Golf-wise there are better books out there.