Mark Kiszla of the Denver Post writes that Tiger Woods is a ‘poor sport’ and a ‘sore loser’.
Miss a shot and Woods tosses the offending club in anger. It is a wonder he has not taken a divot out of the shin or forehead of caddie Steve Williams.
Is that how Jack Nicklaus or Ben Hogan or Bobby Jones believed in playing a game for gentlemen? Should we care?
The competitive fire in Woods’ eyes burns so hot they can burn a hole through the chest, and Tiger is so intense he has been known to walk past his own mother on the golf course and be blind to her presence.
On the opening day of the Masters, a sea of red numbers on the leaderboard posted by everybody from Chad Campbell to 50-year-old Larry Mize turned Woods green with envy.
After an inconsistent round of 70 in which his frustration showed when he slammed a club after airmailing the green on the final hole, Woods was asked what it was about him and the first round at this prestigious tournament, where in 15 tries he has never posted a score in the 60s.“Yeah,” Woods said Thursday, barely concealing his disdain, “that’s how I won it four times too.”
Kiszla goes on to write about how competitive Woods is and whether or not we as sports fans should care whether or not he can be kind of prickly when he’s playing.
Personally, I could care less. I think Tiger has been such a phenomenal presence in the sports world over the years that writers are trying to drum up new storylines. That’s not to say Kiszla doesn’t make good points in his article, but it almost seems nowadays that writers are finding ways to criticize Woods’ game anyway they can. The bottom line is that most great athletes have egos the size of Saturn (the planet, not the car company) and they buy into how good they are. Tiger is no exception and considering how competitive he is, it’s no surprise that he’ll toss a club after a bad shot or give a snarky comment from time to time. Most of the great ones hate to lose and Tiger is no exception.
