In golf, when a player screws up his first shot, ignores it and takes another, it’s called a mulligan. Bill Clinton did this repeatedly during a typical round. Tiger Woods, in his statement to the nation last week, appeared to be asking the public for a mulligan on his professional golfing career.
Not surprisingly, the media have been overdosing on this ever since. Celebrity, sports and sex: a perfect media trifecta.
Tiger’s not the first husband (or wife) to be unfaithful and won’t be the last. John F. Kennedy, as president, is known to have had his dalliances, but that was in an era when it was possible to keep this kind of thing from the public. The immorality of this is obvious and indefensible.
What’s dumbfounding is, in this all-seeing media age, that Tiger thought he could somehow get away with brazen infidelity to this degree without being discovered. He addressed this in his public statement, confessing he had rationalized that “normal rules didn’t apply” to him.
Unless he’s a great actor, Tiger’s customary confidence and self assurance were conspicuously absent. He was awkward and fumbled a bit. He didn’t mince words, describing himself as “wrong, foolish, a cheat, selfish” and repeatedly saying he was sorry.
He also flatly denied his wife, Elin, had hit him with a golf club that night. (Perhaps she was using a two-iron and whiffed. Any golfer can relate to that.)
Talk is cheap (although his public relations team was likely well-compensated in this case). Tiger’s future actions will ultimately determine whether he can earn back support from enough of the public (and sponsors) to resurrect his career.
This will be more likely from golf fans and less likely from women who’ve never watched him play and who’ve been wronged themselves (think Hillary Clinton) by philandering mates. But his speech was a potentially successful first step on a long road back.
Personally, I hope he rejoins the PGA tour and picks up where he left off. He could be the best ever and I enjoy watching him play. So I’m inclined to give him a second chance. Some, no doubt, won’t. Most Americans are forgiving when they believe repentance is sincere.
He said he plans to return to the game “one day,” and didn’t rule this year out. If his marriage can be salvaged, he might stay away a while longer to work on it. If Elin were to tell him next month that it’s irretrievable and she wants a divorce, there’d be less reason for him to delay his return to the game. I never imagined he’d forsake professional golf and become a plumber or a CPA.
One wonders how enthused some tour players are about his return; in his absence, there are more first place trophies available for others. Then again, TV audiences surge when Tiger’s in contention on any weekend and that ultimately translates into more prize money for the field.
He’s lost personal-endorsement sponsors and millions of dollars. There may be opportunities to replace them. Toyota would be a perfect fit with Tiger as their spokesman, proclaiming, “We’ve made some mistakes in the past, but now we’re back!”
On the other hand, it might be unseemly for him to do Viagra ads.
Mike Rosen’s radio show airs weekdays from 9 a.m. to noon on 850-KOA.
