Sadness is the emotion I felt looking at the bloated mugshot of Tiger Woods being beamed around the world. The eyes don't lie, and the eyes are 'lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eyes', to quote the character Quint in the movie Jaws. How did it come to this? How did the man who mesmerised the sporting world with his supernatural golfing talent end up getting booked for a DUI? A DUI? Anyone found guilty of a DUI veers into unacceptable territory. Woods has not been found guilty at this point.
The Tiger Woods I grew up watching had this aura of command, control. He reduced his playing peers to nervous wrecks when he appeared in dominant red attire during his heyday. This was a heyday that included eye popping displays such as the first Masters win in 1997, by 12 shots, the breathtaking performance at Pebble Beach in 2000, when Woods won the U.S. Open by 15 shots, and the 'Tiger Slam', the moment when the final putt dropped at the Augusta Masters in 2001 and he was in possession of all 4 majors on his coffee table.
Woods changed golf, and in many ways sport. He brought big money to golf, he obliterated the dark racial overtones which had peppered parts of the game. He was the biggest draw since Ali. He was inhuman, unbreakable, invincible.
The incident when he hit the fire hydrant in 2009 was the moment when it was never the same for Woods. His personal life ignited and blazed all over the world's tabloids. His image as a role model was stained. Slowly he rebuilt his reputation, but this is another setback in that journey. He would never win a 15th major following the 'scandal', if one wants to call it that, and with a damaged back at 41 years of age, he is never likely to.
In the case of Tiger Woods, amid conflicting emotions of anger and annoyance, one can also feel sadness for a human being that once was so inspiring. Golf has moved on without Tiger Woods, and the sad thing is that the next generation are more likely to remember the mugshot than the walk on water golf shot.
The late great Tony Fenton once told me that 'your reputation is everything'. A truer statement was never uttered.
