The rise and fall of golf’s king
A fascinating look at a phenomenal sportsman who struggled to deal with the pressures of fame and eventually succumbed to its temptations, writes James Croot.
‘B
eing Tiger Woods took its toll on Tiger.’’ That’s the blunt, but sad assessment of Steve Williams, a man wellqualified to comment on the highs and lows of the famed golfer’s life and career. The Kiwi spent more than a decade as Woods’ bag man, caddying while the prodigiously talented sportsman dominated the game he loved in a way no-one had ever done before. Williams was there when Woods completed the incredible Tiger Slam and when he overcame crippling leg and knee injuries to triumph at the 2008 US Open.
‘‘I heard a crack in his knee like he’d just been shot,’’ Williams recounts. ‘‘I said to him, ‘maybe this is the time to quit’. His reply? ‘Stevie, f… you, I’m winning this tournament’.’’
Williams is one of many erudite, open and sometimes emotional interviews featured in Matthew Heineman (Cartel Land, A Private War) and Matthew Hamachek’s (whose previous editing projects have included tales on Amanda Knox and the battle between Sega and Nintendo) excellent two-part documentary Tiger, which is streaming on Neon.
Over three hours you’ll learn a lot about Woods’ upbringing, the role of his father, Earl, in grooming his son for stardom, his inexorable rise to the undisputed status as the world’s No 1 golfer and one of the richest sportsman, and how he became a husband and father-of-two, all while juggling a ‘‘complicated’’ double life involving regular trips to Las Vegas and multiple women.
For golf fans, there’s plenty of stunning footage of one of the greatest handlers of drivers, irons and putters, and for fans of revelatory documentaries, there’s plenty to chew on, especially if you haven’t read the
2018 Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian biography on which it is based.
While he doesn’t provide the most revealing or titillating testimony (that honour falls to Rachel Uchitel, the woman labelled as Woods’ ‘‘mistress’’, speaking out for the first time in
10 years, or some of Earl’s golfing buddies who detail how Woods Sr had a Winnebago parked beside his home course for post golf-lesson cocktails with female clients), Kiwi Williams still provides a key voice.
Describing his former boss as having ‘‘a monk-like pursuit of perfection’’, Williams recalls Woods forcing him to pull over on the side of a Toronto freeway so he could practise his swing. Williams also admits to doing a couple of things he now regrets while trying to protect his charge (especially from the media) in the early years and that Woods insisted that he learned how to pronounce then girlfriend Elin’s (the Swedish nanny who would eventually become his wife) name properly.
However, while impressed at how Woods was able to shut out distractions to perform at the level he wanted, Williams says that same focus also meant he could easily distance himself from family and friends. ‘‘It’s quite sad, really,’’ he says, after recounting how their 13-year partnership ended with a phone call from one of Woods’ entourage.
Woods had taken time off after his fourth placing at the
2010 Masters and, with his return date uncertain, Williams wanted to keep gainfully employed. After receiving what he thought was tacit approval to caddy for Adam Scott, he was given a warning just days before a tournament that, if he did so, it would be the end of his ‘‘Tiger’’ time. Thinking it was an empty threat made by someone unfamiliar with their deep friendship, Williams ignored it, only to get another call afterwards informing him his services were no longer required.
‘‘I gave 100 per cent, so for him to fire me was pretty unusual,’’ he says. ‘‘And when he fired me, I thought he wasn’t firing me as a friend. Tiger was the best man at my wedding. It’s a hard pill to swallow – that a guy can’t even speak to you after
13 years.’’
Williams isn’t alone in his tales of alienation. Woods’ first girlfriend Dina Parr tells of how their three-year relationship was ended via a scathing handwritten letter critical of her ‘‘influence’’ over him, and Las Vegas hostess Tiffany Masters believes that Woods was guilty of playing with the emotions of the many women he had affairs with. ‘‘Tiger broke their hearts – and that’s what brought him down.’’
Heineman and Hamachek do their best to create a thorough and balanced account, ensuring the women have their stories heard, and also demonstrating the desire among some to see this sporting icon fail and fall (the New York Post devoted more front page headlines to Woods’ scandals than 9/11 coverage) and showcasing how extra pressure was placed on a young man because of his background and ethnicity. While Woods described himself as ‘‘Cablinasian’’ (and only 25 per cent African-American), he was seen as a great black hope and the person who could heal the United States’ racial divisions. That was a perception not helped by Earl, who in many interviews and speeches, described his boy as ‘‘bringing humanitarianism to the world’’ and likely to have an impact on the same level as Gandhi, Buddha or Nelson Mandela.
More than anything else, it’s their complicated relationship that really seems to be the key to Tiger’s story. Sift through the sometimes hilarious, occasionally horrific and often heartwrenching archival footage of television appearances of the pair, especially from when Woods junior was very small, as well as the many heartfelt accounts from friends and family (sometimes prefaced by the words, ‘‘he won’t like me saying this’’), and you’ll see just how influential Earl was.
Tiger Woods’ kindergarten teacher recounts how he asked her to ask his dad if he could play another sport and how she and other educators didn’t like Earl (‘‘he was definitely an SOB,’’ she baldly states). Another interviewee later attributes Woods’ increasingly erratic behaviour to ‘‘seeking to fill an Earl Woods-sized hole in his life’’ after his Dad’s death in 2006.
Ending on a hopeful note, with a more relaxed Woods triumphing at the 2019 US Masters, Tiger ultimately is a fascinating look at a phenomenal sportsman (‘‘Michael Jordan in long pants’’) who struggled to deal with the pressures of fame and succumbed to the temptations it offered.
‘‘When he fired me, I thought he wasn’t firing measa friend. It’s a hard pill to swallow – that a guy can’t even speak to you after 13 years.’’
Steve Williams