Opinion Tiger tiger burning dim

There was a time (it seems like long ago) when he still had a sense of humour. It wasn’t particularly goofy or unpredictable,but it did show up every once in a while,at moments when Tiger Woods disconnected from his public image of a golfer making history,and just made a few jokes. As Ron Sirak once wrote,Woods would be walking down the fairway after a perfect tee shot,his stoic gaze seeming impossible to penetrate,when a little kid would scream from the sidelines,“Hey Tiger!” The steely expression would suddenly melt,and his face would break into a spontaneous smile.

The Tiger Woods story,over the last two weeks,is no longer the tale of a legend who rose up against the odds,grabbed the world by the scruff of its neck,and charmed his way into its heart,breaking barriers as he went along. Now he isn’t only a mortal but even “morally inferior” to the majority of his followers — someone who couldn’t practice the values he preached; a fallen role-model whose lead we wouldn’t want our children to follow; and,most importantly,a target for the salacious gossip that keeps us going in this era of celebrity bashing. But Tiger Woods,make no mistake,is not Brad Pitt. He is more about his art than his image. What troubles me as a follower of his golf for more than a decade,is that his off-the-course behaviour has somehow gotten linked with what he stands for when he is starting off,in his trademark red T-shirt,on the fourth morning of a Major. The hush that descends on the first tee at that time has to be seen to be believed. The swing is flawless,the direction perfect,the distance unmatched,and the line often uncharted.

Tiger Woods is hockey’s Wayne Gretzky and motor-racing’s Aryton Senna rolled into one; weightlifting’s Vasily Alexeev and swimming’s Michael Spitz; long-distance running’s Emil Zatopek and cycling’s Lance Armstrong; cricket’s Don Bradman; basketball’s Michael Jordan; and boxing’s Mohammad Ali. As a man of mixed race,he became an unlikely icon long before Barack Obama. In fact,when the senator from Illinois had just started winning the Democratic primaries,commentators wanted to know if he could be the “Tiger Woods of politics”. And when we wanted our children to be like Tiger,it wasn’t like how he lives his personal life,but how he plays the game.

The world was once mesmerised by the human element he brought to a polite sport that bordered on boring because of its lack of personalities. We loved him for celebrating a perfect approach shot by pumping his fists,for screaming after sinking an unbelievable birdie putt,for making the masses connect with an emotion that was stark and unfettered. Why,then,are we astonished that he is capable of flaws,and of human frailty?

Surrounded by a wave of righteous indignation at a time when the only people concerned about his private affairs should be his wife and children,Woods has decided to take an indefinite break from golf. He is perhaps not in the frame of mind to play anyway,but it’s important that he eventually gets back on course,for golf alone can save him from the abyss he’s fallen into.

Tiger Woods,with 14 Majors in 13 years,had made a date with history long ago. Now,with his inexorable march to Jack Nicklaus’s 18 titles stopped midway,we don’t know if he will eventually keep it. Neither do we know if he will be remembered only as a man who went astray,or as the greatest sportsman of our era. Recklessness has its consequences,and the evil that men do lives after them.

I’m less concerned about how the “story” reflects on him,more about how it reflects on us. Is it only he who needs to sort out his life,or is it we who need to get one?

kunal.pradhan@expressindia.com