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Tiger has one step to rekindling career - an apology

Roar Guru
20th November, 2015
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Tiger Woods on the course. (Keith Allison/Flickr - CC BY-SA 2.0)
Roar Guru
20th November, 2015
22
1182 Reads

If we divide Tiger Woods’ golfing career into four quarters, with six years in each quarter, he has just completed his third quarter.

The first quarter, from 1997 to 2002, was a huge success. Eight major victories, a US Masters at just 21 years of age, and winning the US Open by 15 strokes in 2000. All super impressive.

The second quarter, from 2003 to 2008, again was a huge success with six major golf tournaments. He displayed a great ability to get to and hold a lead in a major, and it looked like a matter of time until he would pass the great Jack Nicholas’s 18 major golf titles.

The third quarter, from 2009 to 2015. was a dramatic fall from grace. Zero golf majors, and in 2015 he missed three straight cuts at majors. It was a far cry from the Woods we were used to in his winning days.

So how to fix Tiger Woods?

Woods needs to do one thing. Apologise.

Back to 2009. After winning in Australia, once again in impressive fashion, he had to go home and avoid the wrath of an angry wife who found out he hadn’t just been playing golf when he was away playing golf.

This was no one’s business, except for his now ex-wife and his alleged 120 girlfriends. His apology, if there was one, was between him and them.

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What Woods owes people an apology for was telling the golfing public what a great family man he was. When he was asked on 60 Minutes in Australia if family was his main priority he answered ‘always’. Smiling away lying through his teeth. The world believed him.

When the stories broke and Woods was exposed as a fraud, he apologised in the form of a prepared statement. It was plastic, right down to hugging his Mum at the end.

What Lance Armstrong finally did, after he was exposed as a cheat, was sit down with Oprah Winfrey and clear the air. No prepared statements and no hugging Mums. Just answered questions. He got hammered for it, but at least he cleared the air.

Woods still hasn’t done that. He still hasn’t apologised to you and me, the golfing public who bought his cock and bull stories. The golfing world has waited for six years, a time where Woods and golfing success have been far from friends.

Like the West Indies and cricket, there is something special about seeing Woods succeed in golf. However, he owes the public some of his time first, and a chat to clear the air. He still has a quarter of his career to go. If he fixes things, there could be some overtime as well.

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