For an icon like Tiger, image is everything

December 2, 2009

The most ennobling of Tiger Woods 14 major victories were his first, which demonstrated that one need not be a middle-aged white guy to win at golf, and the last, which proved one need not have an ACL.

Of the two, Woods has called the latter the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines my greatest ever championship, the best of the 14. Its easy to understand why, as it introduced an element sorely lacking in the genteel game: physical heroism.

Woods literally limped his way to triumph. All told, he played 91 holes, including an 18-hole playoff, with a torn anterior cruciate ligament, ruptured cartilage and a double stress fracture in his left tibia. You see athletes routinely overcome severe injuries in boxing and hockey and football, in basketball and even baseball. But never in golf. This, then, was another first. Tiger Woods had established his virtue as a good old fashioned tough guy.

Which brings me to Tuesdays non-event at the Sherwood Country Club. Traditionally, Im informed, the Tuesday practice round has been among the few days when Woods becomes relatively open and garrulous. After all, the Chevron World Challenge is his tournament benefiting his foundation.

But Woods was nowhere to be found, of course. He has issued a statement on his Web site saying that he was unable to play as a result of injuries sustained in a one-car accident last week.

In fact, said injuries would keep him from even attending, though he somehow managed to fulfill his duties as a host last year while recuperating from major knee surgery.

I am extremely disappointed that I will not be at my tournament, he said.

Really?

Disappointment? Sounds more like relief.

You can pretend that this is all about a vehicular infraction that warranted a $164 fine. But its really about Tiger Woods. Who is he?

If youre like most people, all you really want is the truth. And all youre getting is spin.

Woods was treated and released from a local hospital the morning of the accident. His injuries have been described as facial lacerations. In other words, the guy who hobbled his way to a major championship just 18 months ago cant play at his own tournament for his own foundation.

I think its going to take away something from the tournament for the first couple of days, said Padraig Harrington. … Tiger Woods is the biggest player in the game, hes going to be missed.

By the same token, Harrington defended Woods right to be absent: He was in a car crash and he was injured. Thats a fact … He was unconscious for six minutes, I hardly think he was fit to play golf. I think its reasonable for him not to be competing.

True enough. Still, hes not exactly Ben Roethlisberger. Theres no report of a concussion or any neurological damage. So you have to ask: is this about injury?

Or embarrassment?

He can play hurt. But he cant risk the chagrin. Thats how it is with icons.

Even if Woods could limit the questions which he probably could, after a sufficiently passionate opening statement hed still be seen. And thats his problem.

Hes not a fighter going to a press conference with a pair of sunglasses. Hes Tiger friggin Woods. The heroic hobbling is one thing. The scratches on his face another entirely. Did he sustain them in the crash? Or did his wife put them there?

Theres lots of questions that will never get answered, said Harrington, who allowed that its pretty legitimate for people to be curious while offering that he finds most big news stories about 25 percent true.

If a quarter of this story is true, it wont hurt Tiger even a little bit as a golfer. But it could do irreparable harm to the icon.

The scratched face would be an indelible image. And image is everything in the icon business. You can limp your way into legend. But you cant be human.