The Masters Story They Forgot to Highlight

I spent the better part of this weekend doing three things:

• 1) Watching The Masters–that’s a golf tournament held in Augusta, Georgia for all you non-golfers–that I have watched for many, many years long before golf became somewhat socially cool or there was anyone named Tiger on the tour.
• 2) Trying to control myself and not actually publish a blog post over the weekend
• 3) Yelling at the TV every time the announcers fell all over themselves about Tiger and his “time off.”

Side note: I actually had to text my golf friend Toni and call my mom to say that I’ve never cheered so loudly for someone to lose. Yes, I’m admitting it here and yes, the sermon at church was about forgiveness.

So please forgive me.

I swear I was really trying to exhibit better self-control and not blog about this again. Mostly because he doesn’t deserve ANY. MORE. PRESS.

And we all know the giant readership here on my blog could affect his career.

Then I remembered it’s my personal blog and I can blog about whatever I want. As I like to say to blog clients when I’m getting them started–remember to chant this to yourself whenever you need to…

My Blog. My Rules.

Before I go off on my Tiger rant, I want to acknowledge the REAL story at The Masters this year.

The real story of a golfer who took time off is the story of Phil Mickelson. He’s a golfer who spent some time away from the game to be by his wife’s side when she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year. Seems to have his priorities in place. I can’t imagine their struggles thus far and his mother was diagnosed a short time after his wife was.

Go Phil Go! Such a fabulous victory on every level. It was our honor to watch you win!

I wish I could say that they highlighted his amazing game and his personal story at every opportunity during the tournament.

Instead, we had to hear about Tiger’s amazing game after his 5 month hiatus. Or whatever we’re calling it these days. We had to witness every moment of his fake smile as he engaged with the fans for the first time in years. I’m pretty sure he had an invisible earpiece in with his P.R. team telling him things like…

“Show some teeth as you walk to the green. Smile for the gallery.”

“Offer to sign their hat or pat a little kid on the head.”

Frankly, I didn’t buy any of it. He was gritting his teeth. It was all a big act. The calm *new* Tiger who has embraced Buddhism and is working on controlling his temper was nowhere to be found when he hit a bad shot on Saturday and yelled “SUCK” and uttered a profanity loudly.

He entered The Masters with his well-oiled P.R. team making sure he was in a gilded cage and protected environment where he calls the shots – golf and otherwise. The only thing authentic about him is still his colossal arrogance.

Now here’s my favorite part of the weekend coverage!

Billy Payne called him out on it.

And then I read a bunch of criticism of Billy Payne and why he shouldn’t have said anything. Especially at the beginning of The Masters.

WHAT?

How do we get to the place where we’re all okay with acting like we don’t have all the sordid details about his total lack of discretion over and over again.

Who said we had to handle him with kid gloves? Why are we avoiding the elephant in the room and walking around on eggshells after his disgusting behavior?

Virtual High Five to Billy Payne

Instead of criticizing Billy Payne, why don’t we celebrate that he was brave enough to call him out in a very professional manner and he was dead on with his comments.

Furthermore, I read at least five articles that made it sound like this was the only thing Payne said.

A few minutes research shows how wrong that is. His opening remarks contained 1874 words and only 284 of those words were directed at Tiger.

Oh, but they were 284 lovely, respectful, truthful words.

Sentences in bold are my personal favorites.

“Finally, we are not unaware of the significance of this week to a very special player, Tiger Woods. A man who in a brief 13 years clearly and emphatically proclaimed and proved his game to be worthy of the likes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. As he ascended in our rankings of the world’s great golfers, he became an example to our kids that success is directly attributable to hard work and effort.

But as he now says himself, he forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility. It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.

Is there a way forward? I hope yes. I think yes. But certainly his future will never again be measured only by his performance against par; but measured by the sincerity of his efforts to change. I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing, but would settle for his smile. I hope he can come to understand that life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring joy to the lives of other people. We at Augusta hope and pray that our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner, but this time, with a significant difference from the past. This year, it will not be just for him, but for all of us, who believe in second chances. ”

You can read the full transcript here.

Good Guys Can Finish First

And once again, let me say CONGRATULATIONS to Phil Mickelson.

It’s always nice to see the better man win!

Now, I’m going to practice restraint and not write a ranting blog post about Jesse James.

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