Golf: The Majors and the minors too

[Fragile Bird]

If you go back and re-read this thread you'll see I was cheering for Tiger on numerous occasions, including the British Open. 

Sad to say I didn't realize they changed the timing of the final round due to weather, and I just got home from Sunday grocery shopping, expecting to watch the final round and not Tiger sitting with last year's winner being congratulated on an epic comeback. I don't even know when a replay will show up, my on-tv guide still shows the afternoon schedule with the round on right now. Oh well.

However, my feelings for Tiger took a sickening shudder a while ago when I saw pictures of him playing a round with Trump. I mean, what would I expect, right? he's a 1%er and likely loves the lower tax rate. Let's not worry about what a raving racist Trump is, right? Other black sports leaders take a knee, Tiger plays with Trump.

So seeing the win was bittersweet. Happy for Tiger, with a bad taste in my mouth.

[DireWolfSpirit]

As Niklaus comments here- https://www.golfchannel.com/article/golf-central-blog/jack-supports-tigers-political-comments-resurgence 

Tiger supports the "office" and probably would have (or has?) played a round with Barrak as well, so I wouldnt read more into it than that.

[Fragile Bird]

58 minutes ago, DireWolfSpirit said:

As Niklaus comments here- https://www.golfchannel.com/article/golf-central-blog/jack-supports-tigers-political-comments-resurgence 

Tiger supports the "office" and probably would have (or has?) played a round with Barrak as well, so I wouldnt read more into it than that.

Yah, no. "Respect for the office" from a vocal Trump supporter like Jack, another 1%er.

[Fragile Bird]

Just watched the scheduled coverage on a US channel (the Canadian channel went to other programming), and that was a hell of a final round. Molinari fell under the Tiger curse, which is yet another sign the Tiger is back. So many of the others felt the pressure. For so many years these young turks, you saw, kinda had a Tiger who? attitude. They know who now, that's for sure!

[lmanion]

The young guys were all saying how great it was that Tiger is back, then Justin Thomas after a practise round this week said Tiger wasnt as friendly with them in the lead up to this tounament, that was the sign for me that he was really up for fighting for this tournament. The way hes hitting the ball he should hopefully take the pga wins record sometime this year.

Also someone was cutting onions in my house at 430am when he was walking off 18 and the tiger chants were happening. One of the great sports comebacks from 2 years ago when he was saying he didnt think he would be able to play golf again to now is amazing.

[BigFatCoward]

I don't get it. Hes a scumbag. Why are we celebrating this again?

If it was the comeback from just the injuries, I'd be right there with you all. 

[Spockydog]

2 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I don't get it. Hes a scumbag.

Huh. Why do you say that?

[Heartofice]

4 hours ago, BigFatCoward said:

I don't get it. Hes a scumbag. Why are we celebrating this again?

If it was the comeback from just the injuries, I'd be right there with you all. 

Dude.. he has AN ADDICTION!! He is thus exempt from criticism.

[Spockydog]

18 minutes ago, Heartofice said:

Dude.. he has AN ADDICTION!! He is thus exempt from criticism.

Wait, he's a scumbag because he got addicted to prescription painkillers? That's setting the scumbag meter pretty low, if you ask me.

FWIW, I had heart surgery last year, and spent about three months on various opiods. Coming off Tramadol felt, at the time, like the worst three days of my life.

 

[Fragile Bird]

2 hours ago, Spockydog said:

Huh. Why do you say that?

One of the thoughts that has crossed my mind has been ‘I wonder if he’s still a scumbag’.

He was always a careful, well-protected, young man as a young phenom, no scandals around him, a follower of Buddha, above the fray. Everyone knew his reputation had to be protected, not just because he was going to be an incredible star and incredibly wealthy, but because he was a black man in a white white white sport. When he got married his life moved from Fairy Tale Part 1 to Fairy Tale Part 2, and everyone was going to live happily ever after. First, a beautiful Nordic wife, then the birth of two gorgeous children, continued stardom, records were going to fall and no one was ever going to match him, the tragedy of his beloved father’s death.

How did he transform into a reckless gambler who hung out with scuzzy NBA players in Las Vegas dens of iniquity, screwing anything in sight, sneaking out of the mansion at night to fuck waitresses in parking lots after midnight, even taking a mistress with him to Australia for a tournament?

His wife’s go at his car with a baseball bat came as a stunning shock. Many of us just couldn’t believe what we were reading. Tiger was on a podium, worshipped by millions. Golf players are actually a pretty conservative, tight-ass bunch, and he lost the respect of not only fans but his fellow players and mentors, and of course, sponsors.

But more than 10 years in the wilderness is a long time, and God seemed to go out of the way to punish him, twice or three times over. People have been cheering for him for years, not only because enough is enough, but because he had such incredible and amazing talent and he had brought such excitement to golf when he played. If Tiger was in a tournament, attendance soared and ratings went up. Nike payed a lot but made a lot. We in Canada hold a grudge against him because he had a ‘fuck Canada’ attitude. The PGA wants us watching and Nike wants us buying, but he had to be lured here to play the Canadian Open on a pretext (no one had ever won a certain combination of events in one year) and he came and conquered and said ‘screw you’ forever after.

And now he’s back, and many people have forgiven him completely (not everyone), but even those who have forgiven him might wonder, is he still a scumbag?

In light of all the articles that have come out about the gross conduct of The National Enquirer, one wonders why exactly they chose to break the story about him. At the time the Enquirer said they were a real news organization, ya know, that covered stars and their scandals, and uncovering all the sordid details was an example of their great investigative journalism. Right.

[Heartofice]

Just now, Spockydog said:

Wait, he's a scumbag because he got addicted to prescription painkillers? That's setting the scumbag meter pretty low, if you ask me.

FWIW, I had heart surgery last year, and spent about three months on various opiods. Coming off Tramadol felt, at the time, like the worst three days of my life.

 

I heard he was addicted to sex

https://www.theguardian.com/global/blog/2010/jan/16/golf-tiger-woods-sex-addiction

Because man who takes advantage of the opportunities given to him by being a multi millionaire sports celebrity needs some excuse for cheating on his wife.

[Spockydog]

So he cheated on his wife? Who the fuck cares? And what business is it of yours? Frankly, all the pearl clutching when that story broke was ridiculous. I doubt he would have lost all those sponsors if he'd been married to a black woman.

[Fragile Bird]

1 minute ago, Spockydog said:

Wait, he's a scumbag because he got addicted to prescription painkillers? That's setting the scumbag meter pretty low, if you ask me.

FWIW, I had heart surgery last year, and spent about three months on various opiods. Coming off Tramadol felt, at the time, like the worst three days of my life.

 

I think the addiction was to sex. The guy undoubtedly has a lot of testosterone. He ight even have been given extra in the course of pain treatment. One of the secrets about JFK kept from the public was how much incredible pain he was in from his wartime injuries. Iirc, he also had a medical condition on top of that, which was treated with testosterone, which might explain his womanizing to an extent.

[Spockydog]

4 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

How did he transform into a reckless gambler who hung out with scuzzy NBA players in Las Vegas dens of iniquity, screwing anything in sight, sneaking out of the mansion at night to fuck waitresses in parking lots after midnight, even taking a mistress with him to Australia for a tournament?

Eek, that's pretty sleazy. I don't really follow golf so wasn't aware of any of that. However, I would be amazed if his appalling treatment ten years ago hasn't contributed in some way to his troubles.

[Fragile Bird]

12 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

So he cheated on his wife? Who the fuck cares? And what business is it of yours? Frankly, all the pearl clutching when that story broke was pretty fucking sickening. I doubt he would have lost all those sponsors if he'd been married to a black woman.

Nope nope nope.

First of all he was playing in a white sport, not only a sport where there were no black players (and you could start a whole new thread on the topic of why, it’s not a frigging winter sport for crying out loud), a sport where many of the playing clubs refused black men entry until forced to do so by law. He knew, his father knew, Tiger had to be a super straight black man. Like Obama knew he could have no scandals, and didn’t.

And golf is a conservative game. Wearing orange during Round 4 in honor of your university is almost more scandal than the game can bear.

But mostly because Tiger was such a packaged product. There was a whole industry based around Mr. Wonderful-and-squeaky-clean Woods. The networks were extolling his ideal life every single week, every single weekend. He was held up as a model player, a model husband, a model father, a spokesperson for the ages, and it was all lies.

The first rule of sponsorship is ‘no scandal’. The players with scandals attached to their names do not have sponsorships in golf. 

And saying ‘if his wife was black’ is bullshit, because his wife wasn't black, his girlfriends before his marriage weren’t black, and his girlfriends after his marriage haven’t been black. Her color is irrelevant. He was a god who fell to earth.

[Fragile Bird]

15 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

Eek, that's pretty sleazy. I don't really follow golf so wasn't aware of any of that. However, I would be amazed if his appalling treatment ten years ago hasn't contributed in some way to his troubles.

If you play golf, and even if you don’t, you know golf is a game played in your head as much as in the physical world. Lots of sports now use mental coaching as a key factor on the road to victory, but golf is unique. It’s played over four days, it uses strategy, it has many many pressure points in every game. Round four of the Masters was a brilliant example. Molinari went through 54 holes without a bogey and made two bogeys and two double bogeys in the last 18. Other players made such bad shots down the stretch. Half a dozen players could have, should have, won. Stress.

When Tiger was at the top of his game he was such a solid block of physically radiating intimidation, of active hostility, he notoriously crushed his round 4 playing partner in tournament after tournament.

In the link provided by DireWolfSpirit up-thread, Nicklaus talks about how good his shot is now, but says winning is going to depend on the five inches between his ears.

[Spockydog]

48 minutes ago, Fragile Bird said:

And saying ‘if his wife was black’ is bullshit, because his wife wasn't black, his girlfriends before his marriage weren’t black, and his girlfriends after his marriage haven’t been black. Her color is irrelevant. He was a god who fell to earth.

In the UK, the coverage of the original scandal was, shall we say, febrile. In the tabloids there was a definite subtext, something along the lines of, 'How dare this black man betray this beautiful blonde godess?'

Overall, he definitely would have been treated differently had he been white.

[Fragile Bird]

7 minutes ago, Spockydog said:

In the UK, the coverage of the original scandal was, shall we say, febrile. In the tabloids there was a definite subtext, something along the lines of, 'How dare this black man betray this beautiful blonde godess?'

Overall, he definitely would have been treated differently had he been white.

My instinct says so as well....but. The problem is there is no comparison. The previous god-golfers, like Palmer and Nicklaus, were family men who didn’t cheat on their wives (as far as we know, married for years, no one attacked their cars with, actually now that I think of it, a golf club) and were totally straight-and-narrow guys. 

And right now there is still no white equivalent of Tiger. Everyone thought Spieth was going to be it, but he has faltered. Tiger is unique in many ways.

[Mr. Chatywin et al.]

Oh BIRD!, I just have to LOL at your last couple of posts.

[Fragile Bird]

3 minutes ago, Tywin et al. said:

Oh BIRD!, I just have to LOL at your last couple of posts.

????

What, color only matters in the US Politics thread?