Big shots have Thai-ger Woods fever - but not
everyone
By ROBERT HORN / Associated Press Writer
BANGNA, Thailand (AP) - A jet-lagged Tiger Woods had barely
unbuckled his seat belt after a 20-hour flight when a television
crew broadcasting live on four of Thailand's five channels burst
into the first-class cabin.
Right behind were politicians, bureaucrats and business executives
falling over each other for a chance to shake hands with Woods.
The 21-year-old golfing sensation, whose mother is a native
Thai, arrived in Bangkok this week to compete in the Asian Honda
Classic, and landed right in the middle of what the Thai press
calls "Tiger Fever."
In his short stay, Woods will receive a royal decoration, be
feted by Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh and be asked to
help promote the Asian Games, a regional Olympic-style competition
Bangkok will host in 1998.
"Thailand has treated us very well," Woods said Thursday
night. "I don't know why, but I feel like I'm home. I hope
I will be back soon."
Members of Woods' entourage say that despite his public graciousness,
the hype is wearing the golfer out. At Wednesday's pro-am practice
round, he quit after 13 holes because of heat exhaustion, jet
lag and weariness.
But he recovered as the tournament started, and all traces
of illness were gone by Friday. Woods seized a two-stroke overall
lead, shooting a course-record 64 on the par-72, 7,016-yard Thai
Country Club course. The crowd roared as he sank his final birdie
on the 18th hole.
The Thai government makes no bones about whipping up "Thai-ger
mania," even though most Thais don't golf and had not heard
of Woods until this week.
Thailand's ruling class - politicians, generals, businessmen
- love golf. So do expatriates. Of the 4,000 people who turned
up Friday at the Thai Country Club to watch Woods, perhaps a quarter
were Japanese.
But most Thais are subsistence farmers whose only experience
with golf is when their land is expropriated to build links. Public
courses are few, as are the chances for most people to learn the
game.
"Our government's reaction is too much," said Thaweep
Thiensai, 18, whose views echoed those of many Thais interviewed.
"They want to give honors to someone who is basically a foreigner,
while they do nothing to support our local athletes."
Thaweep's favorite sport is takraw, a popular game where players
kick a rattan ball over a net.
Maj. Gen. Charouck Arirachakaran, secretary-general of Thailand's
Olympic committee, told The Nation newspaper that Woods was no
Somluck Kamsing, a boxer who won Thailand's first gold medal last
year in Atlanta.
"As far as I am concerned, he is only a half-Thai,"
Charouck said. "He takes part in every tournament as an American
national, and there is little positive publicity Thailand can
derive out of it. Only his mother is Thai."
Woods' parents met in 1967. Earl was a lieutenant-colonel in
the Green Berets; Kultida was a secretary at the joint U.S.-Thai
command in Bangkok.
Tiger Woods was born in 1975 and raised an American. His mother
she brought him up as a Buddhist - the golfer showed off a religious
amulet to reporters Thursday - and believes the religion gives
him "inner peace" on the course.
Part of Woods' popularity in the United States comes from his
role as ground-breaker for black youths - his father is black
- in a sport dominated by whites. In this Southeast Asian country,
Woods would have seen a different kind of discrimination.
Under Thai law, if a Thai woman marries a foreign man, she
loses her right to buy property and their children assume the
father's citizenship. Had the Woods stayed in Thailand, they would
have had to remain unmarried for their son to get Thai citizenship
without huge bureaucratic hassle.
A proposal to grant Tiger Woods honorary Thai citizenship in
light of his athletic achievements has drawn criticism from the
parents of other half-Thai children. Some complain of double standards.
Woods said at a news conference that he would be pleased to
accept citizenship as "a special honor from my family,"
but a government spokeswoman denied Friday that such an offer
was being made.
For Woods, who received a $480,000 appearance fee, being in
Thailand seems to be reward enough.
"This tournament is special, because it's in the land
of my mother's birth," he said.
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