Monday, October 30, 2000
Tiger Woods shows his human side
By Juliet Macur
The Orlando Sentinel
(KRT)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Everyone had excuses for Tiger Woods.
“It's that thing,” one woman said, pointing at the blimp
whirring ever so gently above Disney's Magnolia course. “That
blimp's too loud. It distracted him.”
“There has to be something wrong with the ball,” one
man said at the 18th hole, when Woods' 12-foot putt hit the edge
of the hole and spun out. “Ooh, that's a bad, bad ball.”
With the way Woods has played this year, it's dumbfounding to
see him miss putts, hit poor shots and play on a level less than
holy. It's inconceivable that he failed to win the National Car
Rental Golf Classic after being in contention to win through the
final round.
Not only that. Woods finished third. First, UCF beat Alabama.
Now this?
It's sad. It's true. Orlando's own Tiger Woods shot a mediocre
3-under par 69 on the final day to finish three behind winner
Duffy Waldorf.
Woods wasn't perfect, as we've come to expect. Goodness, he even
bogeyed the par-three 6th hole. It ruined his streak of 110 holes
without a bogey, a mind-numbing feat.
He was fallible. He was beatable. We're just not used to seeing
him lose a tournament this way. He's only lost like this a few
times this year. Most of the time we see him collecting his paycheck
or giving interviews on how he won yet another one.
That's the Tiger Woods we have filed in our brains. The guy with
the wide, blinding smile that graciously says, “Who me?
Goodness, did I win again?” The guy who's so great under
pressure. The guy who's so talented and lucky.
This time, though, Woods didn't get a trophy on the 18th green.
Instead, he drove away in his snazzy Porsche, probably before
Waldorf realized he'd won $540,000 — enough money to put
several of those Porsches in his driveway.
Before speeding away, Woods congratulated Waldorf for shooting
62. He said Waldorf deserved to win after that great performance.
As usual, Woods didn't react like a typical pro athlete. He didn't
whine or pout. As always, he was a winner, even when he didn't
finish first.
“The fact that I was able to grind it out as well as I was
able to do, not having my game, I'm proud of that,” Woods
said, forcing a smile. “Because some days, it's just not
going to be there. You can't win them all.”
Ah, but we all know Woods wants to win them all. He admitted,
“I am not thrilled that I didn't win.” No kidding.
You can see how Woods reacts after a bad shot. He's fiery. When
he pushed his tee shot on the 13th hole, he smacked his bag with
his club, then muttered things to himself that would make your
grandma blush.
And that's just after a bad shot. How about after a bad day? Or
a final round with five putts that grazed the hole or fell inches
short? After that, Woods probably drove to his house in Isleworth,
slipped on his hairshirt and flogged himself after dinner. Then
hit some balls and fell asleep with his putter.
Sure, he's intense. But he's classy, too—after a win, a loss,
a bad game or a lost opportunity.
Just remember: everyone made excuses for why Woods lost Sunday.
Everyone but him.
(c) 2000, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).
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Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Information Services.
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