The Final Score: Tiger takes Two Steps Back
12/15/2009 | 03:35 PM
"I’ve learned to trust the subconscious. My instincts have never lied to me."
– Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is Skywalker with an eight-iron. Woods, with the proper club in hand, can cut through improbability and stereotypes on the course. The force is unbelievably strong in this one. Fourteen Majors prove that Tiger has Jedi magic. But while Woods bends time and space, he has also shown that, in true Skywalker fashion, he also bends rules.
Are we really shocked to discover Tiger can’t be tamed? History, the kind that splits society into prejudged segments, never allowed exceptions. Until Tiger and 18-hole hip-hop came along. Golf wasn’t just forced to alter its very DNA to allow Tiger-mania to happen. Golf felt Tiger’s Darth Vader-style invisible chokehold and relented because it had little choice. The tee-shot propulsion machine out of Stanford, the so-called Universal Child (part Thai, African, Chinese, American, Indian and European) had a sport by the neck and the sport had to say, "Yes Lord Tiger, as you wish."
So now we know Woods succumbs to the dark side. Surely he must’ve been forewarned. Earl Woods, in Gary Smith’s 1996 ode to Tiger "The Chosen One", said his son will do more than any other man to change the course of humanity. Not just golf. Not just sports. The elder Woods talks about Tiger’s impact on the human race. Even the most spectacular approach on the 18th is dwarfed by the magnitude of Tiger’s responsibility.
Oh the son has torn down walls. Golf will never be the same. The son, however, is still made of flesh and blood. He is neither immaculate nor innocent. And because he is human, he knows fear. He loves to win because he hates to lose. He is afraid of being ordinary. Ordinary beings can’t change humanity right? Ordinary beings also have no shot of beating the 18 Majors won by Jack Nicklaus. Woods is afraid of being pedestrian. Such fear, Yoda says, is the path to the dark side.
In the Sports Illustrated piece "The Chosen One", Earl Woods tells Tiger to allow freedom of emotion and feeling, acknowledge them and benefit from them and let it all outflow. Earl does a great Obi-Wan Kenobi here. The padawan, however, seems to have a surplus of emotion not even 71 PGA Tour victories, mega-endorsements and worldwide acclaim can contain. It is unthinkable for Tiger to remain common. He is not one of us. He can’t be one of us if he is to change humanity. But he is. The man with the perfect swing doesn’t have the perfect life. We really shouldn’t be shocked.
Now in retreat mode, Tiger hides from the storm. I have little doubt Woods will bounce back from this. He shall return. Kobe did. So will Pacquiao. Even Vader had his eventual redemption. The one thing Tiger does well is come from behind. The force in this one simply won’t allow permanent failure. Losing for Tiger Woods is never an option. – GMANews.TV
– Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods is Skywalker with an eight-iron. Woods, with the proper club in hand, can cut through improbability and stereotypes on the course. The force is unbelievably strong in this one. Fourteen Majors prove that Tiger has Jedi magic. But while Woods bends time and space, he has also shown that, in true Skywalker fashion, he also bends rules.
Are we really shocked to discover Tiger can’t be tamed? History, the kind that splits society into prejudged segments, never allowed exceptions. Until Tiger and 18-hole hip-hop came along. Golf wasn’t just forced to alter its very DNA to allow Tiger-mania to happen. Golf felt Tiger’s Darth Vader-style invisible chokehold and relented because it had little choice. The tee-shot propulsion machine out of Stanford, the so-called Universal Child (part Thai, African, Chinese, American, Indian and European) had a sport by the neck and the sport had to say, "Yes Lord Tiger, as you wish."
So now we know Woods succumbs to the dark side. Surely he must’ve been forewarned. Earl Woods, in Gary Smith’s 1996 ode to Tiger "The Chosen One", said his son will do more than any other man to change the course of humanity. Not just golf. Not just sports. The elder Woods talks about Tiger’s impact on the human race. Even the most spectacular approach on the 18th is dwarfed by the magnitude of Tiger’s responsibility.
Oh the son has torn down walls. Golf will never be the same. The son, however, is still made of flesh and blood. He is neither immaculate nor innocent. And because he is human, he knows fear. He loves to win because he hates to lose. He is afraid of being ordinary. Ordinary beings can’t change humanity right? Ordinary beings also have no shot of beating the 18 Majors won by Jack Nicklaus. Woods is afraid of being pedestrian. Such fear, Yoda says, is the path to the dark side.
In the Sports Illustrated piece "The Chosen One", Earl Woods tells Tiger to allow freedom of emotion and feeling, acknowledge them and benefit from them and let it all outflow. Earl does a great Obi-Wan Kenobi here. The padawan, however, seems to have a surplus of emotion not even 71 PGA Tour victories, mega-endorsements and worldwide acclaim can contain. It is unthinkable for Tiger to remain common. He is not one of us. He can’t be one of us if he is to change humanity. But he is. The man with the perfect swing doesn’t have the perfect life. We really shouldn’t be shocked.
Now in retreat mode, Tiger hides from the storm. I have little doubt Woods will bounce back from this. He shall return. Kobe did. So will Pacquiao. Even Vader had his eventual redemption. The one thing Tiger does well is come from behind. The force in this one simply won’t allow permanent failure. Losing for Tiger Woods is never an option. – GMANews.TV
