When Tiger eventually emerged from the Woods, it was to show the world that even the richest sportsman in the world can be crippled by nerves, and even the wealthiest performer can be let down by poor equipment. The signs weren’t good from the start.
After the catastrophic strategy of disappearing from sight and remaining completely silent while the media gleefully described domestic mayhem of jaw-dropping intensity and the worldwide web nearly melting from “hole in one” jokes (sample – it’s curtain up on a new Christmas panto: Woods In The Babes), Woods decided to “set the record straight” after only three long, long months. The words were there: foolish, irresponsible, not acceptable. Bitterly disappointed. No questions – better not to speak directly, just read from script. Journalists were thumbing through yellowed notes of the case, it happened so long ago. Then – oh joy! – they got their story.
As Tiger dragged his Cross down the Via Dolorosa the world fell silent and dark. Or rather, the camera broke down. Darkness stalked the land until a smaller secondary camera flickered to life, showing a curiously box-like picture of the side of Tiger’s face. Memo, not to the golfing superstar, but to the many legions of apparently highly paid and useless communication experts who flock around to touch his garment…human beings value honest speech they can trust more than anything else. Don‘t try to manipulate the very people who made him a star. They know how to do the opposite.
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