Sunday, October 29, 2000
Tiger Woods' aura goes beyond
the course
By Juliet Macur
The Orlando Sentinel (KRT)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — She held on
to her Tiger Woods poster with the grip of a Greco-Roman wrestler.
Her eyes searched the crowd for an opening.
Eight-year-old Briana Cunningham was determined
to position herself near Woods as he walked the Magnolia course
Saturday. She wanted—she needed—to be close to the ropes
during the National Car Rental Golf Classic. If she were close
enough, maybe, just maybe, Woods would see her and sign an autograph.
He didn't.
But her heart still fluttered as he walked
by.
“He's the greatest,” Briana said
with a shy smile. “He's my favorite.”
The best thing about Briana's obsession
with Woods is that she doesn't play golf. She never has picked
up a club. She came to Disney with her parents and 3-year-old
brother just to see Woods.
They didn't make the drive from Palm Bay
to study the fluidity of his swing or the length of his drives.
They came just because.
Just because he's an icon.
It's like people who wanted to see Elvis—even
though they didn't like his music or appreciate his gyrating pelvis.
Or people who were glued to the television to catch a glimpse
of Ali—even though they cringed at his cockiness or didn't
agree with his politics.
Tiger is just the same. He's a superstar
whose allure is nearly universal, someone so special that people
are compelled to care about him.
He is so rare. And so inexplicably magnetic.
“Tiger is so energetic and so youthful,”
said Norris Cunningham, Briana's mom, who thought golf was just
for crotchety old men before Woods came around. “It's not
just the golf. I don't really know. It's just something. He just
has something that draws you to him.”
As usual, Woods drew thousands of fans to
the course Saturday. The Woods watchers followed him from hole
to hole, literally sprinting from the greens to the tees to stake
out their spots.
That way, they'd be in perfect position
to watch Woods' magnificent drives, such as the one off the 14th
tee that rocketed over the crowd, over trees, over bunkers—nearly
over the blimp, for gosh sake—and straight into memories.
Grown men were on the verge of sobbing.
Kids said they were “like, amazed.”
“Oh, thank you, Tiger!” yelled
a man with his 5-year-old son perched upon his shoulders.
“Yes,” mimicked the kid. “Thanks,
Tiger!”
After that shot, Woods practiced a few swings.
And heard the crowd's every peep.
“You can definitely hear them (the
kids) out there,” Woods said. “It's pretty cool to see
the game changing. They game is not as old as it once was. Ten,
15, 20 years from now, these kids will be the ones playing and
enjoying the game and passing on the values that you learn from
golf to their kids. It's pretty neat.”
It's also pretty neat to see Woods make
grown-ups giddy—and kids even giddier.
It's neat to see him walk the course with
his fierce stare. Or see him flash his sly smile after an especially
cunning shot.
It's just so neat to see people glow after
he walks by.
“Oh, I really, really like him,”
Briana said as her eyes followed Woods down the fairway.
“I don't know why. Just because.”
(c) 2000, The Orlando Sentinel
(Fla.).
Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/.
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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