What should I do? I have been a critic of Tiger Woods from the beginning of his professional career. I saw through his fake façade instantly. He started out his professional career by saying “hello world” and everybody thought it was insightful. Then, two days later, Nike runs an add with that slogan plastered all over the screen. Nike made that ad months before Tiger’s first professional tournament.
Tiger could not even come up with an original thought to start his career with. Back then he was already programmed like a robot with no human emotion or thought. The only emotion we would ever see from him was anger on the golf course. He was either slamming clubs or cursing at a wayward shot. Yet, he was immediately popular not only with golfers but with what seemed like everybody.
As more and more stories of how Tiger Woods acted like a jerk surfaced somehow his popularity continued to rise. Several people who came in contact with him called him cheap. He refused to take a stand on any issue, ever.
[adinserter block=”2″] Everything he did was calculated and planned. I always wanted Tiger to do more with his power and money to promote the game to as many people as possible. To build golf courses all over the United States that were beautiful and affordable so more and more people could play and fall in love with the game like I have. Alas, Tiger felt it necessary to build a golf course in Dubai because it presented the best opportunity for him to make even more money. None of this however, is my current issue with Tiger Woods. That is the Ryder Cup.
I love America. Love it! I root hard for all of our athletes at every Olympics or World Cup or any international sporting event. I am the guy that gets chills hearing the Star Spangled Banner before each game he sees live. I want the U.S. to destroy Europe in the Ryder Cup this weekend. The problem is, for the U.S. to do so Tiger Woods is going to have to play like the old Tiger Woods. That means I am going to have to root for Tiger to play well. I will not be able to root against him like I do in all the other tournaments.
I use to take grief from my golfing friends that I was a Vijay Singh fan. They could not believe it. Nobody was a Vijay Singh fan. I liked him. I liked him for speaking his mind. I liked him for standing up to Tiger Woods. I liked him for becoming the number 1 ranked golfer in the world at a time when no one else could. I liked him for doing a lot to grow the game of golf in his native Fiji. I liked how he never cursed on the golf course. I liked how he stayed even keeled all the time. I liked that his caddie wrote “Tiger who?” on the back of his hat. There is no Vijay to pull for this weekend, only the United States of America.
[adinserter block=”1″]So again I ask what should I do? The U.S. team has my favorite golfer on it, Steve Stricker. Stricker and Woods will be playing together this weekend. I will be rooting for Stricker to play lights out. Which means I have to be rooting for Tiger to do the same. My country expects it of me. It will be painful to sit and actually root for a Tiger putt to drop or a tee shot to find the fairway, but if that is the difference between the US clinching the Ryder Cup or experiencing a gut wrenching loss I want Tiger to stick all of his approach shots inside five feet of every hole, just like I will for Mickelson, Cink and all the rest. Above all I want the U.S. to win. So in spite of everything I want…gulp…Tiger to play well. The decision has been made. Good luck Tiger.
Everyone, including me, will be rooting for you.
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