Today the boys and I went up to the AT&T National "Hosted by Tiger Woods." As anyone who knows me knows, I've never been a Tiger fan. I respect the fact that he's a great golfer, but I don't like the fawning over him by the media and I generally don't root for him. The boys, being young boys, are bought in to the Tiger mystique, just like their support for the Red Sox and Patriots (although I'm happy that they also like other players). So, Tiger was teeing off at 8:12. We got out of the House around 7:30 and were in the parking lot at 7:50, but the line for the shuttle buses was insane this year. We waited 30 minutes to get on a bus and then had a 20-ish minute ride to Congressional. That was a failure on their part this year.
We wandered around the 4th green at first, then wandered over to the 2nd Green. Based on the groups coming through I figured out that Tiger's group would be home in a while, so we sat there, with a great location behind the green where we could see the tee shots on this 235 yard uphill par 3. It was a tough hole, and our strategy worked. We had a great view when Tiger's group came through, even though 9 million people descended on us. Interesting comment, everyone hit a wood, even Tiger had to hit a 5 wood.
After that passed, we moved down to the tee area and watched Ricky Barnes tee off. It was getting to be late morning, so we headed down toward the clubhouse/range area. We got some lunch and sat behind the range. The boys wanted to hunt the elusive autograph, so we bought them the AT&T National flags from the souvenir shop and set up at the set autograph area where the players come out of the scoring tent after finishing their rounds. Liam scored a lot (bottom flag), as even the players that were moving quickly took note of cute/small kids. And candidly, pretty much every player took the time to make their way down the line and sign ever person's (95% kids) hat or program or flag. I'm talking multi-time major winners like Lee Janzen, Masters Champion Mike Weir, and guys you've never heard of. Nice guys like Stuart Appleby and JJ Henry, Rich Beem as the rain started to fall, Hunter Mayhan, recent US Open champ Lucas Glover (in silver) among others.
So, where do you think I'm going with this? Yep, there was a singular exception to this behavior. Tiger caused a massive crush of people because he walked right by 90% of the kids, signed maybe a dozen autographs, then moved on. For the cameras and the contest winners that got taken inside the ropes, he was all smiles, but for the real people, the real kids, he was a total dick (douche bag? jack ass? ass hole? I have more). So, he may be a superior golfer, but he's a dick of a person. Take the time to sign autographs for the kids at "your" tournament you pompous dickhead. And I'm watching just now his interview on the Golf Channel just moments before this and he keeps talking about "helping the kids" through his foundation. So, as long as they are kids somewhere else that he can just throw money at but not actually deal with in front of him. Sorry, but he's a phony. I'm fine with him being a single-minded champion, but let's not pretend for a minute that he's a great guy (reminds me of an interview where Arnold Palmer was talking about Ben Hogan; he said he was a great player but made a point of saying he wasn't a "great guy").
Anyway, moving along, we wandered to the back nine and after following Rocco Mediate and Tim Herron for a bit, we parked ourselves up against the ropes behind the 11th Green. Again, the strategy was to wait as a couple of groups came through until Anthony Kim (playing with Davis Love and Jim Furyk) came through. It was good. The 11th is a brutal par 4, and we saw a bunch of good groups. Fred Couples, Chris DiMarco, Boo Weekly. Lots of bogeys, lots of putters slammed. Fun stuff. And the Golf Channel caught us on camera when they were focusing on AK.
We wandered back toward the 14th Green and caught those groups again, then needed to start heading back toward the shuttle buses on the front nine. On the way back, just as we were past the autograph area, I realized that Rocco Mediate was coming through, so we ran back and, unlike el Tigre, Rocco was very nice about signing the kids' flags.
The bus back to the parking area was blissfully free of lines (although he did take a wrong turn). A good time was had by all.
As a final comment, with a couple of exceptions, these guys are generally big (i.e. tall) and more and more athletic. There is clearly some gym time being put in.
Dude, where have you been. It's well known he doesn't do autographs, even for kids. He's too busy trying to be the best player ever. Besides, imagine the nightmare throng that would descend upon him if he stopped for even a second...it would be 20 minutes later to get away! Now, of course, it wouldn't be like that, perhaps, if he wasn't so elusive, but...you never know. At the Masters, he didn't even use the main walkway to the driving range, he went through the bushes with security...literally! Your story, sadly, is no surprise!
Posted by: Lee Anne | July 04, 2009 at 11:58 AM
TIGER IS THE ONE WHO STARTED THE ATHLETICISM - GOLF WAS FOR BEER DRINKING BUDDIES BEFORE HE CAME ON THE SCENE - HE WORKS OUT SO THAT HE IS AS FIT ON THE 18TH TEE AS HE IS ON THE FIRST - THE REST OF THE GOLFERS ARE NOW TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH HIS PHILOSOPHY.
Posted by: Grandpa Jack | July 04, 2009 at 12:12 PM
@ Lee Anne -- I understand that he usually doesn't sign them, but that doesn't change my opinion. He can and should take those 20 minutes to spend with the fans that support him. The others do. Mickelson does it. That's why everyone loves him. He can be focused on being the best, and I don't begrudge him that, particularly on the way to the range before a round, but this is after the round.
@Jack -- certainly he is one, but not alone. David Duval significantly upgraded his fitness 10 years ago. Actually, Tiger has beefed up a lot in the last 2 years. Much thicker through his chest. I think that 90-95% of them have caught up to him in that respect (and the handful of guys who are still lumpy were visibly sweating and laboring in the heat while the young guys looked nonplussed. And the young guys are all that way. It was also noticeable that most of them are big, like 6'1"+
Posted by: scott | July 04, 2009 at 03:20 PM