HBO film seeks a look behind Tiger Woods’ public persona
Woods’ high school girlfriend, Dina Parr, shows a poignant clip of a carefree Woods dancing at a party with a blissful look on his face. “I wanted to protect that sweetness of him,” she said, “because I could tell he didn’t know what was coming.”
Neither did she. Ordered dismissed by parents who saw her as a distraction, Woods cut off their three-year relationship with a letter. She never spoke with him again.
The film relies heavily on interviews with Parr, Woods’ former pro caddy Steve Williams and another friend, Amber Lauria. All were once close to Woods and saw their relationships end abruptly. Yet none appear to have axes to grind.
“One of the things that was surprising about making this was how much everybody — from the people in his life today to the people who were cut out of his life, often in harsh ways — are still so protective of Tiger,” Hamachek said. “I think they witnessed the pressure, the expectations, all those identities being pressed upon him at a young age, and I think he talked to them about it.”
A former golf pro that a young Woods worked with, Joe Grohman, revealed how he and Earl Woods exposed the prodigy to a seamy side of life. Both older men repeatedly cheated on their wives with women at the golf club. Earl Woods had a Winnebago he’d use for trysts.
Grohman now regrets the example they set.
“Sorry, champ,” he says through tears. “Sorry.”
Parr said seeing the behaviour made Woods angry at his father, “but he could never express it.”
“Obviously, in many ways, Tiger repeated the sins of his father,” Heineman said. “Not to excuse it, or suggest that he didn’t have agency in his own life, but it was interesting and tragic to see how that happened.”
When Woods achieved fame, his golfing prowess amplified by endorsement deals with Nike and others, he pursued hobbies that could be viewed as an escape — scuba diving and training with Navy SEALS.
“This was a kid who never grew up,” Heineman said. “This is a kid who didn’t have a life, who didn’t make the mistakes that normal people go through. It’s also the most famous person on the planet who hated being in the spotlight. He hated living that life. He did everything he could to avoid being in that position.”
The first part of the