While the whole world has been watching Carmelo Anthony bounce back and forth between New York and New Jersey, a little sport called golf began the PGA Tour a few weeks ago. This past weekend, Tiger Woods was once again eliminated in the first round of play at the Match Play Championship. Two years ago that sentence would have sounded ridiculous, but two years ago† Woods was ranked number one in the world and didn’t even have to worry about looking over his shoulder.
Although many analysts speculated that Woods would once again return to glory this year, I have to say I just don’t see it happening. Ever since he stood behind that podium over a year ago and told the world he was a cheater and a sexual gallivanter, his game has been more screwed up than James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s Oscar monologues. Not only has he failed to win a tournament, but Woods has become the laughingstock of the entire golf community. In the last year and a half Woods has arguably suffered the biggest fall from grace both professionally and personally in American sports history. Despite his sexual misgivings, I believe that Woods’ downfall did not stem from his personal relationships alone. I believe, that Woods’ downfall has stemmed from his own selfish attitude. Woods has always been a cool and confident contender but somewhere along the way that confidence turned into arrogance. Although he has always been a whiner on the golf course, cursing up a storm every time he messes up a shot, Woods has shown his true colors in the last couple of years. Not only did he cheat on his wife, but he chose to return to golf at the Masters the following spring. It was blatantly obvious from the time that he made that announcement his goal was attention and not winning golf tournaments. It made no sense to return to golf, arguably the world’s toughest mental sport, by entering into the most competitive atmosphere of the entire tour after suffering such an emotional trauma. The fact of the matter is that he wanted attention; I don’t care how successful he had been at Augusta in the past.
In addition, he made his announcement to return to golf on the third day of the 2010 Match Play Championships. To make an announcement like that and purposely overshadow your fellow golfers just because the main sponsor of the event dropped you after you admitted publicly to repeatedly cheating on your wife, is one of the most selfish acts of sports publicity I have ever seen. He exposed his true self once again a couple of weeks ago by spitting on the green in the middle of a round at the Dubai Desert Classic. Any person that has been on a golf course past the age of 12 knows not to spit on the greens, especially not in the middle of a professional tournament. However, given the way he has acted over the last year this blatant disregard for the sport that has made him a millionarie should have been expected.
Once again, Woods proved that he thinks he is above the sport of golf and society. In the end, it seems pretty clear to me that Woods is going to have a long road ahead of him as long as he continues to focus on getting attention and not winning matches.