Asians cheer Woods' Masters victory
By JIRAPORN WONGPAITHOON Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Tiger Woods' record-setting Masters
victory made Naris Ruabrat proud.
Naris, who manages Bangkok's exclusive Pinehurst golf club,
said today that Woods' performance proved that Asians can excel
at golf, an increasingly popular sport with the region's emerging
middle classes.
"As he is a Thai, I'm proud to be a Thai also," Naris
said.
Woods, whose mother is Thai and whose father is African-American,
was front-page news around Asia. Headlines and editorials lauded
the 21-year-old, the youngest major tournament winner.
Woods finished play Sunday at Augusta National with a record
18-under 270 total, and broke another mark with his 12-stroke
winning margin.
Aside from being the first African-American to win the Masters,
or any of golf's major tournaments, Woods is also the first Asian-American
to do so, and Asians were quick to claim him as one of their own.
"The Western press rarely mentions that he's Asian,"
said Suntorn Jarumon, a golfer at Pinehurst. "Americans like
to say he's American. Blacks like to say he is black. But Thais
are proud of him as an Asian."
Woods was greeted enthusiastically in February when he competed
in and won the Asian Honda Classic tournament. Surrounded by the
local press, he was feted by the prime minister and awarded a
royal decoration.
But not everyone was felled by "Tiger fever."
"Only his mother is Thai," groused Gen. Charouck
Arirachakaran, head of Thailand's Olympic committee, noting that
Woods is an American. "There is little positive publicity
Thailand can derive out of it."
Today, however, most Asians seemed thrilled with Woods no matter
what.
An editorial in Japan's Asahi newspaper called him not only
a first-class golfer, but a first-class human being.
Another editorial in The Australian, a Sydney-based newspaper,
cautioned against putting too much emphasis on Woods as a racial
symbol.
"Let the young man be," said the newspaper. "It
is a huge weight to have to carry, and his words demonstrate he
knows it. Surely, the best thing would be to concentrate on Tiger
Woods' sublime swing, not his color."
Suntorn, the golfer, was looking forward watching Woods in
the future.
"As long as he doesn't have woman problems or money problems,
he should be around for a long time to come," Suntorn said.
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