Capelle On Golf

The Tiger World Tour, as the Golf Channel has hyped it, is turning into The Tiger Trashing, and with good reason. First, he blew a lead at the HSBC in China, then played the final 18 with a scowl on his face as smiling Phil Mickelson won the hearts of the fans. To make matters worse, he dissed his hosts, perhaps in response to the enthusiastic galleries at times less than perfect behavior, saying “I just want to get out of here.”

On to Australia where, with $3 million in his pocket, things were bound to improve. After two rounds Woods was leading and, for the most part, behaving himself to the delight of the Aussie’s. Then disaster struck.

On the thirteenth tee of the third round Woods hit one of his patented wide rights. He hesitated for a moment, then executed The Slam/Throw – a new shot in his arsenal. His driver crashed into the tee box, sprang left and flew into the third row of the gallery. That he didn’t hurt someone, as he easily could have, might have been the luckiest break he’s ever gotten on a golf course. If he’d done this in the U.S. and hurt someone, you can imagine the ensuing high profile lawsuit that would have followed.

Watching the tape of his tantrum is most instructive because it tells you volumes about Tiger’s personality. A recap:

:04 – a pained look on his face as he knows he’s made a bad swing
:05-:07 throw/slams the club to the ground and looks left to verify the clubs direction after it touches down
:07-:12  watches his ball sail right of the fairway
:12-:16  turns his attention to the crowd and retrieves his club
:16-:17  looks at the crowd
:17         then looks back up the fairway

What does this tell us? That his first look away from the flight of the ball was to determine the club’s direction – after discovering that it went into the crowd (where it could have hurt someone) he turned his attention back to the ball. There was no concern for who it might have hit or possibly hurt.

Then, still seething about his drive, he quickly retrieved his club with one second spent looking towards the person who gave it back to him – no time for apologize or for remorse. In sum, Tiger doesn’t give a damn about the fans, just his game. We’ve known this for a long time, but it’s never been so blatantly obvious.

Over the years the golf world has hoped and prayed that Tiger would grow up and mend his ways. But his behavior seems to be only getting worse. Like a stock making new lows, this is how I see his progression: Low #1: the G—d—it, f— after hooking his drive into the ocean at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open; Low #2: Threatening to break someone’s neck at the 2008 WGC-CA after a camera went off prematurely; Low #3: the Slam/Throw at the recent Deutsche Bank that sent Stevie into the weeds while Tiger walked past him: Low #4; the throw into the crowd at the JBWere Masters.

How has his behavior been allowed spiral to such depths? Most of the blame goes to Tiger, of course. He knows all about Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tom Watson and their tradition of superb behavior, and yet he chooses to ignore such exemplary role models. Golf’s spineless ruling bodies are also to blame. The PGA Tour fines Tiger pocket change, making their penalties, at the most, a wrist slap. The organizations that run the four majors are similarly lax in upholding the rules of good conduct.

Still, Tiger is not going unpunished. In the court of public opinion, the fans have delivered a guilty verdict as even some of his staunchest supporters have had enough of golf’s bad boy. Here’s what some fans had to say about his latest escapade:

I’m a big Tiger fan, but the behavior is a little tiresome. When you’re the best in the world, and you mess up, you can’t breach etiquette. Throwing clubs is bad when you’re 7 years old, and bad when you’re the best in the game.

Too much tiger. He honestly could have hurt someone including a child. I don’t mind emotion or even tossing a club at your bag or caddie. But what he did was irresponsible and hope he learns to control himself or find another outlet.

It’s time for someone to tame this Tiger. He’s not going to do it himself, so it would appear to be up to golf’s ruling bodies. And, if they aren’t up to the task, maybe its time to really hurt Tiger in his pocket book. I know that if I were the head of XYZ Corp. and I was paying Woods millions, I’d have my attorney’s preparing to exercise the out clause for “behavior unbecoming a professional.” Having someone endorse your product is a business decision – you hope to experience a net gain in sales. With Tiger as the pitchman, in light of the fans growing discontent, he might be costing them more sales than he’s creating.

Tiger probably doesn’t realize it, but he is at the crossroads of his career. His Ws may yet make him golf’s best ever. But his will be a hollow conquest if he isn’t loved by the fans.