Tiger is odd, but don’t bet against this cat in the hat

YOU have to be odd to be number one” is a quote from Dr. Seuss, the man who wrote a famous children’s book, The Cat In The Hat. He certainly nailed the truth in his quote

That the apogee of individual effort is usually associated with people who are single-minded, high-minded, eccentric, or erratic.

The world of golf and the public witnessed a stirring human drama at the recent Open Championship, when oddball Tiger Woods surged to the top of the leaderboard for a brief moment and defied what seemed to be fate’s consignment to obscurity of possibly the greatest golfer of all time.

By its nature golf is a lonely experience for the player. Each contestant has a team which includes coaches, specialised shot-maker coaches, putting coaches, psychologists, managers, caddies and hangers-on.

All these people recede when the golfer steps onto the first tee and faces himself. There is nobody can help him now except himself, not even the flock of women he cavorted with in his time as a womaniser.

Tiger’s wilderness years as a notorious swordsman were thanks to the legacy of his pushy father Earl, a letch who had porn playing constantly in the background in his house. He also had drawers and closets filled with sex toys and a retinue of attendant young women took care of his many daily needs.

Louche Earl had Tiger playing golf in a hothouse from the time he was a young boy and Tiger’s difficulty with his social skills were partly due to the fact that he was an only child. Tiger had a four-year relationship in his teens, but Earl put an end to that to keep his money-spinner focused on the prizes that enhanced Tiger’s reputation, while also funding Earl’s inappropriate habits.

The other aspect of Tiger that is interesting to note it that he is one of the few black players to succeed in the game.

This called for a more responsible than normal effort to represent both his race and his country. He satisfied this remit by becoming a frequent visitor to Navy Seals training bases with Earl, who was a Green Beret and a respected combat veteran of the Vietnam War before his descent into degeneracy. Tiger’s speech is to this day spudded with military language.

Things started going bad for Tiger, when having been married to Scandinavian beauty Elin Nordegen, for several years, he was exposed as a womaniser. He crashed his Jeep fleeing Elin’s wrath and the sensational news put him under fierce pressure in the tabloids. He became a victim of the kind of vicious media that is waiting to gobble up anybody foolish enough to have a domestic row, when they are cursed with a bit of fame.

This turn of events was decidedly odd and didn’t tally with the image that had been one of Tiger’s strengths, though there were frequent reports that his language on the course was intemperate and often crude. About this time Tiger began to suffer serious injuries and slowly, but surely, he slipped down the pecking order all the way from No.1 in the world to where he is now, a lowly No. 50.

BEING No.1 requires on odd kind of courage. When a golfer loses his touch, he rarely gets it back, but two weeks ago, Tiger finally reined in his oddness to show himself as a contender for further major titles and a possible place on the American Ryder Cup team.

There is no disputing his skills as a golfer and already he has won 14 major titles, leaving him only four behind the all-time greatest golfer, Jack Nicklaus.

Dr.Seuss was on to something all right when he noted that oddness and greatness are often the happiest of bed fellow’s. So the next time you hear someone described as ‘ODD’ don’t be too quick to write them off.