The Day Has Come

Posted Mar 11 2009, 04:06 PM by Cathy Erickson
I can't believe I'm going to do this...I'm going to write about Tiger Woods.  As an advocate for the 999+ professional golfers who aren't Tiger and for not hesitating to share my frustration about people who can't seem to stop talking about him (aka: guys with the "man-crush" - I won't mention any names), it seems to go against my nature to give more writing space to a man that's been analyzed to death in the past month (and now that some of my friends know about my little writing secret, I know I'm going to hear about this).

But I'm oddly curious about how he's going to do this week.  I'm wondering how he'll react to whatever number he posts on Thursday (or any day for that matter).  Tiger has always been good with interviews and reporters (Michelle Wie should take notes), and I wonder if he's already formulating his answers - it's not like he doesn't know the questions that will be thrown at him, regardless of what place he ends up.  Will he use the built in reason that he's "not completely healed" if he's not at the top of the leader board?  If he beats up the course and the field, will he tell us he's as good as new?  I'm looking forward to his reactions as well as seeing his game on my TV again.
 
And then I wonder, has he really dedicated himself back to golf or will the pull of family and life outside the ropes affect him - will we be able to tell?  For almost a year now he's lived a completely different life, and I wonder if he'll miss that as he steps back into the golf spotlight.  Or maybe he's spent the past year missing golf like crazy and teeing it up this week will get the blood pumping in his veins again.  I suppose it could be a combination of both, and I'm interested in finding out.
 
I wonder if he feels the pressure the whole golf world is putting on him and his "comeback".  Does he care about the pressure?  Has he ever?  If he doesn't, I feel it for him.  There are a lot of people who have put all of their money in Tiger stock, and I'm not just talking about his sponsors.  Tournaments, fans, and even the local public course reap the dividends when Tiger's stock is soaring.  If he doesn't produce, will the floor fall out of the golf market?  And what in the world will the media talk about if Tiger isn't being his amazing self?  The golf fashion crisis? Wait, they already have while he was recuperating!
 
I suppose I need to be honest about why I'm thinking about Tiger right now...despite my reservations, he's on the fantasy golf team this week.  We (my brother and I) have been on the verge of winning for a few weeks now, and I'm counting on Tiger to not disappoint (and Steve Stricker!). Huh, I guess this is really all about me and not Tiger after all!!
 
A lot of eyes will be on Tiger this week, and mine will be two of them.  But don't go thinking I've got a crush on him - I'll leave that to the guys.