Great article here by Dermot, one of the most venerable and well-respected golf writers on the planet.
Personally, I can’t see Woods at St. Andrews for the British Open. They are not ass star-struck with him across the pond as Americans are, and there was a surging groundswell against Woods merely for poor sportsmanship at last year’s Open at Turnberry. Now they are howling. The family of Old Tom Morris, was poised to make an additional award of a replica of the Moroccan belt – the original prize, before there was a Claret Jug – to next year’s winner to commemorate the 150th Open. They were already considering whether to NOT award the prize to Woods because of his incessant poor sportsmanship. Now one has to wonder if they will take further action.
Dermot makes a few good points:
“One thing is clear: his management team, headed by Mark Steinberg, seriously misread the public mood from the time they told the Windermere police that their client would not be talking about a motoring mishap in the early hours of Friday, November 27. Since then, they continued to miscalculate the intensity of a media onslaught, largely from outlets who happily pay for their news.”
They also misread and underestimated their opponent, the tabloids. Who have stlked Woods and his extended family to the ends of the Earth to not only break the story, but counter every move Woods made.
“Jim McCabe of the American magazine Golfweek has quoted a source within America’s PGA Tour as saying of Woods: “He’ll never be looked at or thought about in the same way. But if he comes back humbled and a better person, well, that’s what you hope happens. He’s hurt a lot of people.” McCabe also quoted a US sports agent who was roundly critical of the Woods’ back-room team. “It’s a classic example of not understanding today’s reality,” he said. “They thought things would blow over. They misjudged the tabloid ferocity. Obviously it backfired, so they’re doing the only thing they can do right now.”
Another agent said: “I’m guessing what Woods’ people are thinking right now is, ‘How long can we let him sit out so that when he comes back he still preserves the relationships?’ His endorsements are all based on playing, but sponsors might not be so quick to exercise that clause. They know the man we’re talking about, how he’s done unthinkable things.”
Woods has done unspeakable things and humiliated golf and the PGA Tour. He better come back humble and open, because if he doesn’t and we let him go, then it’s “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.”
