I’m a golf fan. I love golf despite its ability to drive me insane, to frustrate me, but with that pain I’m also rewarded with exceptional moments of clarity, the company of good friends, and some of the most beautiful scenery this side of interesting. All of these means I watch golf on TV as well. I don’t normally watch the standard tournaments but always try to watch the majors. Of the four major golf tournaments each year, my favorite is The Masters.
With the Tiger Woods situation being played again and again in the popular media, I found myself sitting on the fence as to my opinion of his conduct. Initially, I was quite annoyed at his personal behavior — as is my right — but thought if he took the entire year off, worked on his personal conduct and focus on his family, then I would respect a decision where he sacrificed a year of his golf life to rectify his image. But no…
Tiger chose to return to Augusta and play in the first major of the season. I’ve watched his respective, clearly sincerely apologetic, press conferences and have been marginally impressed. He seems sincere and genuinely introspective but I still wanted him to sacrifice something on the altar of the golf gods. He chose not to.
Unsure if I was going to pull for or against him, I tuned into Saturday’s third-round action to see what was up. It took me all of 30 seconds to begin pulling against Tiger and smiling when he missed a short par putt. Though the action of the weekend isn’t over, I would have to say I’m pulling for the field rather than the spectacular return of Tiger.