Tiger Woods: A fallen star, and officially a failure at marriage
I once asked Tiger Woods to describe, in 25 words or less, what it was like being Tiger Woods. Being Tiger Woods, he finished 24-under.
“Sweet,” he said.
That was in October 2003. It happened after Tiger’s first round at the WGC-American Express Championship in Woodstock. There weren’t many folks there that Thursday, and essentially everybody on hand was following Tiger. (Department of weird coincidences: One of those in Tiger’s gallery was Damon Evans, who would become Georgia’s athletics director the next year.)
Tiger Woods would become engaged to Elin Nordegren the next month. They would marry in 2004 in Barbados, with the guests including Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan and Bill Gates. Tiger and Elin would have two children. Life seemed … well, sweet.
As of today, Tiger and Elin are no longer man and wife. Not nine months after he ran into a fire hydrant backing out of his driveway on the morning after Thanksgiving, the divorce has been finalized. And if you’re chuckling and saying, “Tiger’s free to chase women and not be labeled a cheetah” … ask yourself this: Do you think even Tiger Woods would today describe his life as “sweet”?
He has lost a wife. He will surely be rendered an absentee father. Once the idol of millions, he’s now a fallen star — indeed, maybe the biggest fallen star in the history of sports. He has not won a tournament this calendar year, and there were years when Tiger would claim a half-dozen trophies. (Indeed, he won that modest event in Woodstock.)
He’ll surely win again, but we will never again regard him the same way. He has gone from being unbeatable to being the butt of jokes and now, as of this Monday in August 2010, he’s legally just another failed husband.
Even if this damage was all self-inflicted, the temptation is nonetheless to feel a bit sorry for him. Because none of us will ever know how it is to Have It All. And none of us, thank goodness, will ever know how it is to throw so much away.
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243 comments Add your comment
Mark
August 23rd, 2010
10:13 pm
Geez, way to kick a guy when he’s down, Mark.
You don’t know anything about their personal life, and its none of our business.
I couldn’t be pulling for him, harder.
Tomb
August 23rd, 2010
10:28 pm
Just goes to show the penis is the most powerful device God ever created
Tomb
August 23rd, 2010
10:30 pm
Just goes to show the penis is the most powerful thing God ever created
Dirty Harry Reid
August 23rd, 2010
10:44 pm
Hope Tiger is flipping burgers soon! What a complete idiot!
woody austin's putter
August 23rd, 2010
10:46 pm
I am the same age as Tiger and have followed him for a long time. He is a tool. I’ve watched him scream and cuss and throw clubs all over the place. If any of us acted like he has on a golf course(let alone of the course) we would probably not be asked back. What a phony. He still doesn’t get it. All me myself and I in every interview. Jerk still has zero humility.
GUATAMA BUDDHA
August 23rd, 2010
10:54 pm
`
Tiger is a silly name for a grown man.
gypsy
August 23rd, 2010
11:07 pm
wonder how many of the haters here are Christians??? some of you are hilarious…Mark you’re included man!!
i wish all of you and Tiger…peace!!!
fan
August 23rd, 2010
11:29 pm
Bradley, really? You are compelled to say this stuff, why? What need are you satisfying by celebrating a mans failure? Another scummy journalist.
StingerSplash
August 23rd, 2010
11:39 pm
No need to feel sorry for Tiger. He brought this all on himself. Much in the same way that karma has proven to be a beeotch for Jay Mariotti, just on a grander scale.
Woods has long been a lout and a heel. He’s had a complicit media on his side covering his tracks, all afraid to lose access that doesn’t exist if they let the world see just how he really is. Therein lies the joke — sycophants afraid to lose access Woods wasn’t going to allow in the first place.
Though it’s poor form to speak ill of the dead, his old man was no prize, either. What separates him from Todd Marinovich’s dad? The protege’s success?
Funny how the late Mr. Woods would jingle change and create other distractions during his son’s backswing and now even the muffled noise of a shirt being buttoned 100 yards away leads to goon Stevie Williams being set loose to break thumbs in the crowd.
The living great champions — Nicklaus, Palmer, Player — all have something Woods does not possess and all his endorsements can never acquire.
It’s called class.
Enjoy the tail-cuttin’ at the hands of the Euros in Wales, Mr. Woods.
doc
August 23rd, 2010
11:54 pm
destin dawg, you can only say what has been talked about. how do you frigging know? do you real think that was the first clinton had or the only trist that jfk had and mlk was also a real womanizer it is said. these men were moral leaders for their nations or movements, one with the sclc behind it.
entitled folks treat others in a way that is inconceivable to most folks. lebron has only begun to be talked about in these terms. are you going to deny mj, a divorce, magic aids and wilt was it three a day man? among the top ten ballers in the nba in women and the sport. pat ewing hanging at the gold club here in atlanta, forget that too?
destin dawg please get real or wake up to it. your kidding right in your response? if not, i guess i better stop laughing.
so many pga golfers curse, drink, bet, play around it is part of the game and culture. these guys are not choir boys and most make a living by gaming for money on the side. the pga has straightened up the image but there were enablers for tiger. most recently there was a swingers club with a top two golfer suggested to be part of it. puhlese end the naivete’.
rolodex
August 24th, 2010
12:29 am
Tiger Woods aka Mr Privacy – thought he like privacy for principled reasons – no – it was cover for schtuping trashy women and hookers – - – Tiger Woods has no class – No.1 in arrogance, immaturity, stupidity and bad character.
Robards
August 24th, 2010
1:18 am
Mark, I doubt he’ll marry as often as Rush (4) or Larry K (8 or so), but I’m guessing Tiger will be fine. Elin, however, did very, very well (whatever the final number turns out to be).
Jedi Falcon
August 24th, 2010
3:55 am
Thanks for the news captain obvious. A little slow at the AJC again i see
hutch
August 24th, 2010
5:35 am
I feel bad 4 him. I hope he sees his kids when he can. Aftr, all this mess, I hope he can get back into playing great golf… like I know he can!!
B.M. Parks
August 24th, 2010
6:15 am
Here we go again…all you moral police and hypocrites! Most people are very unhappy in their marriages and they stay together because they worry about opinions. Elin would never find a man like Tiger! Ask Mrs. Kobe Bryant, you don’t leave the goose that lays the golden egg!
Judge Schmales
August 24th, 2010
7:28 am
MB, you’re coming off as a bit of a Monday morning QB. when did the “failure” take place? was Woods a “successful” father and husband until he got caught? it seems to me that people of Tiger’s ilk do not rank the success or failure of a marriage as others do (for example, sports writers, tabloid journalists, etc.). there are many men who cheat discretely, and keep marriages/families intact. are they to be judged as “successful” when it comes to marriage? I am not defending Tiger Woods, but to each his (and her) own.
Marvin Mangrum
August 24th, 2010
7:32 am
We have walked fairways along with him, we have tried way too many times just to get anything from him, he is without a doubt the most pompous rear to ever be a golfer, a person, a human. We watch as you writers go on about this looser like hes a God, we watch as TV does the same, it would be funny, haha, if it were not so sad. Trying to make one of the worst people ever into a superstar! Im afraid that winning a gazillion dollars doesnt do that!
4 Jacks
August 24th, 2010
7:34 am
The guy is classless. Did you hear him say it had been hard on the children? Well , duh, are you that frigging stupid? Why didn’t you think about the children when you were running around with your 20 or more skanky women. I feel for Elin and yhe children and find it just terrible that a no class POS like this foul mouth spoiled punk will break records held by men of class like Jack Nichlos. As far as I am concerned Mr. Pavin should not select him to represent this country as I would not want this low life to represent me in anything. The man has no class at all.
Shug
August 24th, 2010
8:11 am
Oh he’ll get over his troubles and so will everyone else once he wins another tournament.
Get ready for the “greatest comeback story in history,” “we never should’ve doubted Tiger,” or “nobody focuses like Tiger when his back’s against the wall.”
Call me Hater
August 24th, 2010
8:12 am
The greatest thing a father can do for his children is to be nice to their mother.
Sid
August 24th, 2010
8:18 am
Lol, the comment about Vick…………I can’t totally disagree but Vick hopefully wasn’t having sex with those dogs.
I think we could debate which of the two was the most stupid, and yes, that award goes to Vick. Fortunately for Tiger screwing around isn’t a federal offense.
dap01
August 24th, 2010
8:29 am
He would have had more affairs but he had ESPN sticking out of his behind.
I am tired of hearing about Tiger being 22 shots off the lead and no one even mentioning the actual winner of a PGA event.
dap01
August 24th, 2010
8:30 am
Money can’t buy class. Money can’t buy character.
Sid
August 24th, 2010
8:39 am
Judge Schmales
August 24th, 2010
7:28 am
*********************************************************************************
Excellent riposte. And yes, wives cheat too.
Tiger bought into all the hype, he was godlike, insuperable. I don’t believe that he ever thought he could lose his marriage, he wasn’t in touch with reality. There was no way he could be with all these women and not be denuded eventually. Remember Elin, men want a lady on their arm and a whore in the bed.
Rickster
August 24th, 2010
9:31 am
I think I prefaced my original post just fine. Despite his success on the course in tournaments won, etc. Tiger will never be the champion that Jack & Arnie are.
They don’t cuss loudly or throw golf clubs when they hit a bad shot. They respect the game. They don’t make “lift the trophy, kiss the trophy” commercials that make a mockery of winning.
Tiger may be the greatest golfer ever – but if I want an example of how to carry myself as a champion, I’ll take Jack or Arnie – heck, even Ben Crenshaw – over Tiger any day.
Sarah
August 24th, 2010
9:36 am
a divorce doesn’t make you a failure at marriage. The guys screwed around on his wife and that’s bad for her – not for us. His golf game is screwed up because he gave up drugs – that’s bad for him not for us. Why do we take these things so personal? Tiger will rebound his game once his body adjusts to clean living. He’ll marry again most likely. Even if he doesn’t the world keeps turning.
Joshua
August 24th, 2010
9:48 am
I am as flawed as everyone else on this blog (because we all are). But my point is this. When you have no one to remind you that you are human, you begin to think that even your flaws are perfect. And because of that pride, your fall is that much more dramatic. Now think about this. If he had come to himself at some point along the way and decided not to go this route (marriage and the whole nine) he still would have been Tiger Woods. The difference is that he is now but a flicker of his former glory. I hope and pray that he returns to himself. Because Golf suffers when he does.
Joshua
August 24th, 2010
9:49 am
BTW Tiger doesn’t do Roids people.
Jules
August 24th, 2010
9:53 am
I don’t feel sorry for him at all. He had everything a man could (or should) want and he threw it all away because his head got so big he thought he was “All That”. At the end of the day, he is just another guy who couldn’t go the distance. All he deserves now is his cheap little prostitute.
BC
August 24th, 2010
10:01 am
This is probably what he wanted all along but I am sure he would have rather had this play out much differently. How can you be happy with marriage and sleep with 12-15 other women? I am sure he is smiling inside after all is said and done. I do feel sorry for his wife and kids though.
Mark W
August 24th, 2010
10:06 am
Tiger was in love with HIMSELF,still IS….thinks he is GODLIKE, still DOES….have some humility Tiger….50% of us men have been divorced, is humilating for a while….it has made me a much better husband for my second marriage, you eventually move on, ….he is so involved with his self-importance, what he claimed he would do, be nicer, more appreciative of fans,etc..was all BS….people will give others second chances, but you have TO EARN people’s respect…he has failed as a husband the first go around, he will not be the first nor the last…get OVER YOURSELF
Mr. . Thomas Anthony "The Taxman Cometh" Jones, SR
August 24th, 2010
10:23 am
Bradley your jealously and racism and bigotry is pathetic! See you in Hell!
Batyah
August 24th, 2010
10:30 am
Since Tiger is considered a ‘failed’ husband, I wonder if his ex-wife is considered a ‘failed’ wife? *smh*
david
August 24th, 2010
10:39 am
He should marry Rachel. She is a bombshell.
Black Like Me
August 24th, 2010
11:13 am
White men are truly amazing. Get over your racism, hatred, jealousy, morality and superiority complex. There is no excuse for you being so unhappy with yourselves and showing it by dumping on Tiger. LOL!!!!
tyrace
August 24th, 2010
11:35 am
first off that chick game up.she get 750 million for having to kids. this chick use to be the nanny for a golfer that was barely making ends meet. Tiger should have not gotting married to that homeless lady in the first place.OJ should have left old girl in the pizza parlor were he met her.
OSCAR
August 24th, 2010
11:39 am
You should sorry for cancer victims. Sorry for Tiger, give me a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GB
August 24th, 2010
12:58 pm
The only thing more sickening than Woods and what he did, are the folks who uphold him in it.
Tiger Rules
August 24th, 2010
3:56 pm
Tiger’s golddigger walked with $500 million for nothing except having a bunch of personal servants around to do all her work for the last few years. Her boyfriends will bleed her dry and her money will be gone quickly—book it.
Peter
August 25th, 2010
8:32 pm
Hey Truth.if Tiger maybe had ONE affair, or ONE mistress, or strayed once, then confessed to doing wrong……..then maybe the Jesus thing would work.
Tiger is a bloated Head Jerk………..period.
He was doing sluts across America, while his PGA buddies kept all quiet.
He married a beautiful woman as a prize for himself………the Gold digger comments are ridicules.
Fore!!
August 26th, 2010
6:48 am
Well i really sorry for Tiger woods n his wife life is sweet n wholesome But after all God did not make us into IBM comp softeware we are human n stuff happens if tiger had said in news confernce he had sex with these girls are ladys some are not like one who has to blab to some News place on Tiger.Anyway what happen is done just maybe Tiger woods re-think his blunders someday n get head back in Golf n win more golf titles n all this be forgotton.Life is hard tellin u children about being no longer married is hard to…..think of the children more and hope they do also…The end!
A.T.
August 26th, 2010
11:54 am
@Peter – his PGA buddies kept quiet because they are doing the exact same thing only they haven’t gotten caught yet and they don’t get anywhere near the attention he does.
Oh btw, the greatest golfer to ever play the game is leading the Barclays so you sad, sad little Tiger haters can start moaning again!
ck
September 1st, 2010
11:55 am
I don’t think he’ll ever win another tournament.