Monday, February 14, 2011

Spitting image



Golf is a game for gentlemen, but this is taking it a few steps too far.

During the final round of the Dubai Classic on Sunday, a round in which he plummeted down the leaderboard with a 75, Tiger Woods was caught spitting on the 12th green. To say the commentator in the video overreacted would be a gross understatement, but Woods was fined an undisclosed amount by the European Tour for the incident.

Via his Twitter account, Woods apologized for the incident, writing, “Just wasn’t thinking and want to say I’m sorry.”

For a guy who used to be deadly on Sunday, Woods is a shell of his former self. So forgive me if I cut him a little slack for spitting on the green while he shoots his way out of contention. Was it a dumb move, knowing the cameras rarely pan away from him? Of course. But maybe his head was somewhere else as his winless streak continued.

It just seems that this guy can’t catch a break, and even the smallest details turn into worldwide stories. Do a Google search for Dubai Classic, and you'll have to rummage through five pages before you find out who actually won the tournament.

(It was Alvaro Quiros).

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Golf is a game that no one watches unless Tiger is playing.

Would we even care about the Dubai Classic if Tiger wasn't playing in it? Even though Tiger hasn't won since coming back, the sport desperately needs him to play.

The TV ratings for the PGA Tour when Tiger wasn't playing were dismal, and now that he's back people are not surprisingly more interested in the sport again. People are so interested in Tiger that sports writers all across the country are analyzing a man spitting on a golf course. Golf is a game played outside, and one of the simple pleasure in golf is that you can spit anytime you want.So Tiger got carried away, but that's beside the point.

Even the players are glad Tiger's back. When you have the current top two golfers in the world (Westwood and Kaymer) saying that they hope Tiger starts to play well again, then you know how important he is to the sport. The only reason these two golfers are given any attention at all is because they are ahead of who, Tiger.

Rules are rules and Tiger admitted he broke them, but we can't bash this guy for spitting or even more importantly for losing because he simply is the sport, and if any one else had accomplished what Tiger has, they would probably spit on the green too.