Tiger Woods

Is Tiger Woods finished?

Is Tiger Woods finished?

A second consecutive failure at making the cut in a major probably has sports journalists scurrying to pen obituaries for probably the greatest golfer the sport has ever seen.

Woods last won a major in 2007. Since then, he has battled injuries, an infidelity scandal with the fallout a divorce and intensified scrutiny of his private life and the results have just dried up since.

Jilted lovers and wives who have been subjected to philandering husbands may discover some poetic justice in the high-profile athlete’s predicament and subsequent travails. It would be hard put for anyone (with an axe to grind or not) to not see some connection between his fall from grace and his fall in the rankings since.

That’s as it may be. That’s not for us to decide or deride.

Woods seemed to be putting it all behind him when he recovered his much-vaunted form and reached the apex of the rankings in 2013.

But the Slams still eluded him.

I don’t watch golf. I probably never will.

But there was something mesmerizing about a Cablinasian (Caucasian, Black, American Indian, and Asian) male making it to the top echelons of a sport considered the last white man’s bastion and that too in style. His egalitarian appeal transcended race and nationality and he was the face and spur behind Nike’s foray into the game.

Woods may never win another major. He may never make it past Jack Nicklaus’ 18 Grand Slams.

Arguably, he may never go down as the greatest golfer of all time.

But he deserves to be allowed a chance to enjoy the game in which he achieved greatness, he deserves to be cut some slack while he goes about reinventing his swing and other aspects—yet again. Like all superlative sportsmen, the man craves perfection and it would be foolish to dismiss his reactions to his recent failures as living in the past or excessively positive.

Golf, thankfully, is not a young man’s sport. At least, that’s what pundits would have us believe. I’m not too sure given that major winners are getting younger by the generation.

But the game and its fans will always be thankful to the man who made it one for the masses across the classes in his era and the next.

Herman Cain Cans Tiger Woods Out Of Presidential Prospects

What He Said:

"That was a joke, okay? Tiger – I – that was a joke.Americans got to learn how to have a sense of humor, okay?"

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain withdraws his endorsement of Tiger Woods as a prospective President claiming to have written a 2006 article in jest.

Cain proclaimed:

"Yeah I can be pretty serious.But also there are some things that, you know, you just kind of take tongue and cheek, and you don’t make a big deal of it. Alright?"

Cain is a syndicated columnist and a radio host besides being a successful executive. He currently leads the opinion polls among Republican candidates.

Cain is best known for his role in defeating Bill Clinton’s health care plan in 1993.

In his column titled “Tiger in 2016!”, Cain wrote:

Tiger will be 40 years old in 2016. The Republican Party should begin grooming him now for a run at the White House. His personal attributes and accomplishments on the golf course point to a candidate who will be a problem solver, not a politician.

Tiger’s success on the golf course, which will translate to success in the White House, is a product of his character, discipline and leadership by example. Tiger has one objective when he steps up to the first tee – win. The Republicans desperately need a candidate who will not seek personal legacies through political victories that compromise conservative ideology and increase the scope of federal government. Tiger’s legacy is already set.

In conclusion, the columnist said:

“The Republican presidential candidate in 2016 must not come from inside the Beltway. He must come from inside the fairway, for all of us.”

Tiger Woods’ indiscreet liaisons outside his marital vows have witnessed not just the disintegration of his marriage but also his game. Woods has not won a tournament since.

What Herman Cain Really Meant:

“Remember Gary Hart? Don’t take it to heart, Tiger.”

What Herman Cain Definitely Didn’t:

“Elin (Nordegren), care to be my Sarah Palin?”

Brandon Kelly: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Brandon Kelly Is One Hot Dog

What he said:

“I threw the hot dog toward Tiger Woods because I was inspired by the movie Drive.As soon as the movie ended, I thought to myself, ‘I have to do something courageous and epic. I have to throw a hot dog on the green in front of Tiger.’"

Brandon Kelly, who gained his fifteen minutes of fame by dunking a hot dog at golfing superstar, Tiger Woods at the Frys.com Open in San Martin, California last week, comes up with a bizarre explanation for his misdemeanor.

The 31 year-old claims to be a Woods fan.

He said:

"I honestly wish Tiger the best.One day I hope he breaks Jack Nicklaus’ record."

Woods, speaking to Golf.com about the incident, remarked:

"I guess he wanted to be in the news.And I’m sure he will be."

What Kelly really meant:

“Tiger’s lucky I wasn’t watching Demi Moore’s ‘StripTease’ instead.”

What Kelly definitely didn’t:

“Hot Dogs—Part Deux, here I come.”

Ricky Ponting’s the next Scott Draper (Humour)

 

Ricky Ponting has decided to take up professional golf.

Seriously.

It’s that damned fool Gary Player who’s been filling his head with these ideas.

Player did not even know who Ricky was when he first met him. But can he recognise a fine swing or what?

What next?

Continue reading →

What he said, meant and definitely didn’t: Gary Player

What he said:

“The way you hit the ball, you’re wasting your time playing cricket.”

South African golfing great, Gary Player, to Ricky Ponting on watching him golf.

What he meant:

“You can drive even better on the golf course.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Cricket’s for cows.”

“You’re the next Tiger Woods.”

Winds Of Change: Non-American golf, IPL’s Valthaty, badminton skirts and Rafa season

“The future’s in the air
I can feel it everywhere
Blowing with the wind of change”

Lines from the Scorpions’ ‘Winds Of Change’ come to mind when I ruminate over the past week’s happenings in the world of sport.

The song celebrates the changes in the political clime—the end of the Cold War— and was inspired by the band’s visit to Moscow in 1989.

It was the theme song for the reunification of Germany.

Winds of change are blowing over more than one sport.

Australian Open 2011: Headlining The Rafael Nadal/ Roger Federer Rivalry

Image via Wikipedia

Today—the 16th of January—is the eve of the 2011 Australian Open.

History will be made at the Asia-Pacific Grand Slam if Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal clinch the men’s title.

It will be Roger Federer’s 17th major. It will be a Star Trek landmark—going where no man has been before. If Nadal wins, it will be the culmination of the Rafa Slam—an event much anticipated by players and fans.

Continue reading →

Not yet out of the Woods!

The latest scandal to hit the sporting world concerns Tiger Woods and his tumultuous private life.

With all the salacious details of his secret trysts and rendezvous with a bevy of beauties making the press rounds and bar-room conversations, Tiger is just one among  the long list of heroes (our modern day demi-gods)  who have been shown to have feet of clay. Like many before, (e.g. Beckham and Shane Warne), once the shit hits the fan, the fan keeps whirling and soon the whole room is full of crap!

But before we dwell on Tiger’s indiscretions, let us first note his sporting prowess! Together with Federer, he is the among the best sportsmen of this generation, in any individual sport. With his 14 Slams and Federer’s 15, they both epitomise sporting excellence at its very best. There are perhaps, arguably other contenders but those are in team sports; individual sporting excellence belongs in a separate category and is of a superior pedigree.

Perhaps, there is an argument here that team sportspersons are better family men! But Shane Warne and Beckham are posits against that argument! So no, there’s no likelihood that that hypothesis is ever going to be proved true! Sounds more like a canard to me!

The latest news flash states that Elin, his wife, insists that he now spend more time with family and put golf on the back-burner. That would be an immense shame because we are unlikely to see such grace and power on a golf course for a very long time. Before Tiger, golf was the white man’s last sporting bastion but Tiger with his powerful driving stormed this citadel and crowned himself the unchallenged prince of the sport.

Tiger is said to have numerous trysts with long-legged beauties and also solicited ‘ladies of the night’. For some weird reason, it seems to be less of  crime or sin to have been a solicitor ; its just a transaction and then its done with no complications. Anyway, that does not , in my opinion, make it less of a reason for censure. It just seems a weird distortion of justice that something transacted so casually and coldly is a more pardonable offense! Maybe that’s just my middle class morality or my Catholic upbringing, but it just seems a warped sense of values there!

So what next for Tiger? Will we see him on the golf links again? I certainly hope so! If any golfer in history deserves to go past the ‘Great Bear’, Jack Nicklaus, it is certainly Tiger Woods. No , Tiger may not be out of the woods, but for the glory and beauty of golf, he should be soon!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/12/sports/golf/12woods.html?th&emc=th