I’m not a golfer not a fan of golfing can’t imagine a worse way to spend a hot summer day than pay someone $30-$50 for the chance to walk on chemically-treated lawns of vast acres for the chance to become increasingly agitated at my inability to strike a little white ball...accurately AND consistently.
It’s not a sport; it’s a game.
However, you do love golf. Your passion has turned this game into a sport. You are amazingly good at the skills to accurately and consistently strike a little white ball while walking...well, you know. But, more importantly, what sets you apart is passion, your fire, to win. I only watch a golf tournament if you’re in it, and coming back from 4-5 strokes down on the last day, the last round, the last 4-5 holes.
I am not alone. There are m-m-m-millions just like me. My wife hates golf and she talks about a tournament if you’re in it.
That is the definition of intense personal scrutiny. Total strangers intensely interested not in your golf skills but in your personal skills to focus, to drive, to block out distractions and yell at those who won’t be blocked out, to overcome obstacles, to rally against all odds and ...win, win in dazzling fashion.
Our intense personal scrutiny for you has proved a bounty for you. It is why you have a personal networth of oh, more than mine by by roughly $599.99999...9 million. That comes from your corporate sponsors who recognize we’re interested enough in you to pay attention when you endorse a Buick (a Buick?) and razors. That’s why corporate networks pay you a gaboodle of money to broadcast your tournament. That’s why you’re paid a guaranteed amount of money to play in a tournament, regardless of the outcome. We come to see...you.
Now. Now, you stumble and fell. Or rather, the veil has been lifted from your carefully manicured persona. I say persona ‘cause clearly the profile we have had to date has been a bit...sanitized. And while you’ve reaped the benefits of our intense personal scrutiny and likely smiled at the illusion you and your team has perpetuated...you never once claimed any problem with it. Until now, when the veil is removed. Now, that the veil is off you claim you have a personal life and we should respect it while you deal with personal issues.
Oh really?
I agree: what goes on in a marriage is between two adults. Adults are always consenting, even when their consent seems to embarass them when seen in the public’s eye.
And that, Tiger, seems to be the issue. Now, we see more of you than you wanted us to. And now it has an impact on that image you and your team has crafted and broadcast to us for years now. And now we’re supposed to suspend our intense personal scrutiny?
That’s not how it works.
Besides, what has our attention now is not your marriage or your growth as a father or husband. You have mesmerized us with the car-wreck you created. We're rubber-necking at this car wreck of yours from the ineptitude of you and your team of advisers. We're driving by in our own life and see your wreck in the newspapers. We keep driving, staying in our lane, wondering how anyone with your talents and skills, with so much help, could drive off the road so far, so fast...and continue on that path.
Your driveway skills were just life imitating...life. That was it in a nutshell or minor-accident.
And you make this wreck worse when you say it is none of our business but then apologize to us on your website for what you say is none of our business. Huh? If it is none of our business, if these are personal not public travails you reference, then why are you apologizing publicly for them whatever they were, we don’t know because they’re private....
You’re in a big growth curve. It’s a personal growth curve.
You seem astonished that 2 people could use you. And you have done what with your millions of fans?
Another lesson you’re learning is you can’t use people and them throw them away when it’s convenient. We’re the date you brung to the dance. We’re stuck with each other. You got $600 million for letting us dance with you on the floor. Don’t be angry when we see you’re casting eyes at others or fall down dancing with them. We're interested only in if and when and how you get back up and what you say when come back to dance with us. I don’t think that many of us believed you were a saint anyway. For that matter, none of us cared. What we care about is that you just be...you...be honest...be Tiger.
I feel for you. I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes even for $600 million net worth. $700? ( Ok...no, not really. $800, let’s talk...?) I am interested, not intensely, to see how you fare. Personally, (there’s that word again) I think you’ll come out stronger.
But, that strength may take years to show. And, if you keep publishing excuses a 7 year old wouldn’t make (at the urging of your advisers...Did your attorney really write that for you? It sounds like it. ) this process may take longer and be more painful than necessary.
One bit of advice: get new lawyers, agents, advisers. Three days to come up with this response on your website? Lame. You can do better. I'm available. My advice here would have been to be completely honest starting at 3:00 AM last week. It's simple and easy. And it respects your audience.
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