Greetings Golfer,

Tiger Woods. Obviously the man can play golf. No one disputes that. But he is involved in a lot of disputes.

People get pretty wound up about Tiger. The other day, a guy posted on YouTube a recap of Tiger’s shot that went into the water during the last round of the Players Championship. The poster believed that Tiger took an improper drop. The comment section went crazy! Not angry at Woods – but angry at the YouTube poster.

Most of the angry comments were not even rational – just ugly name calling. I have a hard time understanding that kind of hero worship. I respect loyalty – but this is different. This is blindly defending a person they’ve probably never even met, and then reacting by foaming at the mouth – maybe they need rabies shots.

Earlier in the Players Championship, while playing in a twosome with Sergio, Tiger pulled out his club while Sergio was in the middle of his swing – the crowd roared and Sergio hit a poor shot. After the round, Sergio complained about Tiger’s action, and Tiger replied that the Marshal had told him that Sergio had already hit his shot. The other day, two Marshals denied telling Tiger that Sergio had hit his shot. And the next day, two other Marshals announced that they did tell Tiger that Sergio had hit his shot. What do you think really happened?

Let’s go back to Tiger’s drop on Sunday. The YouTube poster believes that Tiger’s shot immediately went over the water and that Tiger shouldn’t have dropped so far up the fairway. Tiger’s playing opponent – Casey Wittenberg – agreed with Tiger’s drop, so the Rules Officials didn’t need to get involved – all you need is the agreement of your playing opponent. So… what if Sergio had been Tiger’s playing opponent on Sunday when Tiger hit that ball in the water?  How much of a “dispute” do you think that would have turned into?

Cheers,

Tom Abts
GM and Head Golf Professional
tabts@deerrungolf.com