 This Week at WorldGolf.com: April 1, 2008
Game of honor? Tiger Woods' behavior reveals golf has lost its gentlemanly ways
When Tiger Woods eventually calls it quits, he'll have broken practically every record the game of golf has seen.
But he is also going to leave behind a legacy of unapologetic, expletive-laden outbursts.
Woods lost his cool again at Doral two weekends ago. My blog following the incident, criticizing Woods' lack of an apology to the fans and any children who either were in the gallery or heard Woods' reaction in the media, drew a passionate response from both sides.
"You don't mess with Picasso while he's painting," argued one reader. Others said Tiger was only receiving heat because the press was backing up one of their own, the photographer who provoked the episode.
But seek out media members or fans who have been to enough PGA Tour events and they can all serve up an instance where they witnessed a hot-headed Woods with little regard for his surroundings.
"For a long time, I've hoped Tiger stops using profanity on the course," commented another reader.
For being the world's most recognizable athlete and top endorser, Woods' on-course demeanor isn't exactly laudable - and when you can make a case for his younger Nike Brother, Lebron James, as being the more civil under pressure between the two, it should raise eyebrows.
"You have no idea what's being said out there, in any sport really," Woods said in his defense on ESPN the following week.v
So the swearing and threats are nothing out of line? Then I suppose the PGA Tour has become chock full of coddled country club boys who, under pressure, develop the unfiltered profanities of a deranged street bum. The honor of the grand game we know has taken a back seat to the high stakes of $7 million purses.
For many families, the main reason they introduce golf to their children, at programs like First Tee or their local golf club, is because the game teaches civility and etiquette in a manner you can't learn on the playground. Many kids learn how to grow up on the golf course.
If golf's greatest icon consistently disregards that civility, it sends a dangerous message, and golf loses a piece of its nobility. Woods should be worried less about Jack's 18 majors, Sam Snead's 82 wins or Byron Nelson's streak of 11 victories, and strive harder to match them in integrity.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: No, this isn't an April Fools' Day spoof. This is.)
As always, WorldGolf.com welcomes your comments.
Confident about your golf game? If you've scored a few low rounds lately, take your golf clubs over to the Hawaiian island of Kauai and the Prince Course at the Princeville Resort. Trying to take down one of Robert Trent Jones Jr.'s most demanding courses can make for a maddening (but fun) afternoon, Brandon Tucker writes.
Also: Readers review the Prince Course
After the sheer devastation Lorena Ochoa inflicted upon her LPGA cohorts as well as upon Superstition Mountain, it's unlikely that she will need much more of a tune-up for the upcoming Kraft Nabisco Championship. I'm betting along with the odds that Ochoa wins a major trophy this week. I'll even up the ante to say that Lorena Ochoa will sweep the majors this year, saddling alongside of Tiger Woods for an LPGA/PGA Tour tandem Grand Slam!
Reader: Tiger and co. are too pampered
If you like sand, you'll love the Arroyo Course at Red Rock Country Club. The Arnold Palmer signature golf course has close to 100 bunkers, but even more importantly, some 40 acres that used to be irrigated turf have been returned to the desert - ergo more sand ... and rocks and cacti, Mike Bailey writes.
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