Fore!

Tiger Woods draws a story. Tiger Woods in a major tournament draws an attractive story. Tiger Woods in a major tournament played in Augusta, Georgia, draws an even more attractive story. But Tiger Woods losing in said major is the biggest story possible to be written. Right?

What is the story, though, one may wonder. Let's begin on January 4, 2008, in an article on Tiger's official website, an article that highlights Tiger's accomplishments and paints a rosy picture for the upcoming 2008 season. In a comparison of Tiger's 2000 campaign in which he won 3 of 4 majors and 9 total PGA tournaments to his 2007 campaign in which he won 1 major and 7 total PGA tournaments, Woods realizes his need for a continued consistency for future success. Looking ahead to 2008 and the possibility of a Grand Slam (winning all four majors in one year), Tiger states, "I think it's easily within reason."

Taking a step back, that statement, albeit bold, doesn't seem too obtuse. Here's a golfer with a career .290 win percentage (61 wins in 221 tournaments entered not including European Tour victories), a golfer who has only missed five cuts in his entire career, a golfer who has won 13 majors, and a golfer who has earned the title of the world's first billionaire athlete. Not too shabby of a guy to make the claim that winning four tournaments in a season is "easily within reason."

But according to Jay Mariotti, vociferous and uber-opinionated Chicago Sun-Times columnist, Tiger's runner-up finish this past Sunday at the Masters was the ultimate gaffe in light of his comments made back in January. In his April 14 column, Mariotti begins by defining Tiger's loss as a "piece of history we should tell the grandkids about." He assigns a value beyond rational thought to a 3-shot deficit and 2nd-place finish in the Masters. Mariotti calls Woods's victory talk "fantastically presumptuous" and "gloriously wrong," making it seem like Woods made a statement as bold and as daring as Anthony Stewart did when he "guaranteed" victory before his Steelers were to take on the then undefeated, 12-0, Patriots.

By throwing Woods under the steamroller, Mariotti essentially paints Woods as a prophet without a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Come on, Jay, this was simply a confident statement from a proven golfer with a track record doused with W's and dollar signs.  For Mariotti to state, "there was no reason" for Tiger to say what he said is outlandish. I can cite even more staggering numbers to back Tiger's thoughts made over three months ago, but I'm sure throughout the remainder of the 2008 season, Woods will give plenty of fodder for Mariotti to fill his mouth. Not to mention the four wins he already has this season in only SIX tournaments prior to the Masters.

Mariotti waits until the ninth paragraph to even make mention of Trevor Immelman, the winner of the Masters. Lost in the extreme, off-putting, Tiger-centric language of Mariotti is the story of a cancer scare survivor (it was fortunately just a benign tumor attached to his rib cage), a protégé of Gary Player, a "hard-working, vintage-swinging" South African, and a golfer that happened to be the only Masters champion since 1976 to lead the tournament after all four rounds. Instead of waxing moralistic about Tiger's "Grand Sham," Mariotti should have done himself a favor and chilled out and focused on the results at hand. 

Yes, people make mistakes. Yes, people with superb athletic talents and a propensity for victory make mistakes. And yes, people can be proven wrong. But Mariotti can't let that go. He needs to ruffle feathers. That's what he gets paid to do.

Mr. Mariotti can't, or probably doesn't, want to see through to the fact that Tiger was the only player to finish in second place. Sure, he probably could have drained a few more putts (he made what looked like a 75-foot putt for birdie on No. 11 Sunday to give life to a too-little-too-late comeback) and chips. But for Mariotti to claim, "If only he [Woods] had putted better than you and I at the miniature-golf course…he would have been positioned to seize late misadventures by Immelman," is beyond rational comprehension. No other golfer on the course seemed to be making many putts; the "Sunday" pin placements were brutal and the greens broke in ways that even a course designer could not plot on a schematic. Regardless, I'm so sure Mariotti made par this past Sunday at the local mini-golf establishment, which is something Tiger can claim to have done at Augusta National after a final round 72.

Mariotti makes his living offering opinions. Tiger makes his living playing golf. When Tiger offers an honest thought about the state of his game and the potential for many wins, one single loss, no matter how damaging to the original claim, should never meet the undue scrutiny offered here by Mariotti.  I'd just love to see Jay try to do what Tiger does for a living. Scratch that, I'd just like to see him try and get it through the windmill. This attack on Tiger was a double bogey at best.

Best Line: "What in the name of Jean Van de Velde was he [Immelman] doing on No. 16, aiming for the flag on the par-3 hole and paying for his decision by splashing his ball in the water." A well-executed reference to Jean Van de Velde, famous for his implosion at the 1999 British Open when he rolled up his pants and took off his socks to attempt a shot near water. He ended up blowing a 3-stroke lead on the 18th hole and eventually lost in a 3-way playoff.

Worst Line: "While we applaud him [Woods] for manufacturing drama that otherwise wouldn't have existed in April, do note that unkept promises usually aren't part of a sports legend's resume." Ok, give the guy a break. He's the best golfer in the world, and will go down as the best in history. One minor, non-committal statement should not define Woods's legacy. Let his game continue to do the talking, Jay. You seem to know a lot about that.