Home > Furman Bisher > Archives > 2009 > February > 20 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USNever has golf needed someone as much as Tiger
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The earth can start turning again. Gentlemen, start your drivers. Warm up your irons. Tim Finchem can exhale at last. Charlie Axel Woods’ father is coming back to work again.
Using the trade name of Tiger, he sent this invigorating message: “I’m now ready to play again.”
Doing his best to put a mask on his joy, Commissioner Finchem said, “We are pleased that Tiger is returning and look forward to watching him compete next week.” Or any week, for that matter.
Never has a performer in any game been so sorely missed. Some of the Tour tournaments looked as if they were being played to a gallery of weeping pines and stoic oaks. No roping off the spectators. No spectators. In some sports, the game might have been called off on account of inclement attendance. Think of how those players had to feel, Paul Goydos, John Mellinger, Charlie (nice name) Hoffman, Richard S. Johnson, all those guys who showed up to go to work in the morning and found out nobody cared. Things got so bad that when a kid named Dustin Johnson was leading after three rounds at Pebble Beach, they sent everybody home.
(Well, actually, it was the Crosby weather. Rained like the devil, the wind blew flags out of the pin, and the seagulls were flying in reverse.)
Now those vacant spaces along the fairway will be filled again. Break out the ropes, even in some place in Arizona named Marana. They’ll be playing the Accenture World Match Play Championship there next week. This has not been one of Tiger’s hottest events. He has won it three times, but in other years he has lost to otherwise unacclaimed players with names like Peter O’Malley, Chad Campbell, Nick O’Hern (twice) and last year, Aaron Baddeley was a short putt from putting him away. But blew it. Then Tiger came back and blew Stewart Cink off the course in the championship match.
Balancing the budget is not an object with Tiger and his brood. He leads the world in on-course earnings, $93 millions and change. Winning is. Any tournament he plays and doesn’t win is a tournament squandered. To lose to him has become a popular way to go. You’ve never see a more ebullient loser than Rocco Mediate after the Open at Torrey Pines last year,
That was Tiger’s last fling, gallantly stumping around the course like a wounded warrior. Eight months have passed and the body and spirit are revved up to hit the trenches again. And, as the PGA Tour goes, not a moment too soon. The Fed Ex Cup has not had the curative effect Finchem had in mind, especially after the embarrassment of the Tour Championship at East Lake last year. Sponsors are dropping out in unceremonious style. Alvin Stanford and Bobby Ginn, whose names were on tournaments on three tours, are up to their clavicles in legal entanglement. Buick and Chrysler, two long-running sponsors, are now pawns of Congress. Things are in a cussed mess.
Welcome back, Tiger! Not a moment too soon.
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By Ken Stallings
February 20, 2009 6:38 PM | Link to this
Furman, I’m curious if you have read the speech which Tiger delivered at the foot of the Lincoln Memorial on the January 20th Presidential Inauguration? His speech was a very eloquent salute to the military and paid a poignant tribute to his own father’s military career.
I have rarely read such deep thinking words from an athlete. The speech is archived on Tiger’s own website. Just bring up www.tigerwoods.com and then search through his news section for January of 2009. It is well worth the effort.
Point is Furman, I’m thinking you are right about golf needing Tiger. But, after reading that speech, I’m thinking the needs transcend golf.
By Sandy Hicks
February 20, 2009 11:04 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher,
I met you for the first time today at my Grandmother’s funeral(Betty Hicks). I was wondering if you if you could tell me some stories about my grandparents relatioship with you and your wife. After the ceramony, you and your wife were telling me great stories about your friendship. I was wondering if you could contact me and tell me stories that I’ve never heard about my them. My grandparents were everything to me and I would like to share these stories with our family. My grandfather was always talking about you. It was very nice meeting you.
Much respect, Sandy Hicks (Austin-now that I’m married) :)
By VeryOldDawg
February 21, 2009 2:08 AM | Link to this
Is Bobby Knight interested in the tour?
By Be like Munson
February 21, 2009 7:05 AM | Link to this
Tiger’s return would be a great time to announce your retirement, eh?
By Rush Smith
February 21, 2009 9:14 AM | Link to this
Furman,
How about a column about sports during the great depression. You are one of the few around that lived thru that era and still have your facilities intact. With today’s worsening economy and reports of cutbacks, unemployment and budget shortfalls, it would be interesting to hear how folks coped in the 1930s (especially with regard to sports events) and what you predict in the present climate.
Enjoy your column-you have been blessed with some “good genes”.
Rush S (Anniston Al)
By furman bisher
February 21, 2009 11:15 AM | Link to this
Be Like Munson: Really? I’m not tired. I’m happy. I love writing. It’s a pleasure when it pleases people, but distressing when someone such as you indicates that I’m not pleasing you.
Rush Smith: Heaven knows, my best asset is the genes passed along by my parents. Good, solid, smalltown American people. God blessed us all. Ken: You are right, Tiger’s appeal doesn’t stop at golf. He is one of the most admirable athletes—-citizens—- in our midst.
By furman bisher
February 21, 2009 11:16 AM | Link to this
Be Like Munson: Really? I’m not tired. I’m happy. I love writing. It’s a pleasure when it pleases people, but distressing when someone such as you indicates that I’m not pleasing you.
Rush Smith: Heaven knows, my best asset is the genes passed along by my parents. Good, solid, smalltown American people. God blessed us all. Ken: You are right, Tiger’s appeal doesn’t stop at golf. He is one of the most admirable athletes—-citizens—- in our midst.
By Rob
February 21, 2009 5:28 PM | Link to this
I haven’t missed him at all…the competition without him has been very interesting.
By HolySpiritVoip
February 22, 2009 12:38 AM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher,
Please ignore the comments of Be like Munson. It’s a pleasure to read a column pertaining to sports in which the writer is not dependent on the subject’s quotes in order to create the column.
Although not a native of Atlanta, I’ve enjoyed reading your columns the past 11 years in the AJC in print and online.
By Bill Wade
February 22, 2009 1:35 PM | Link to this
Mr Bisher,
I have read and enjoyed your work for so long I don`t ever remember a sports page in the AJC without. As we mature in life, there are people and places we hold dear. They represent that which we cherish most in our past and present. You are one of those people and your work is something I always admire and look forward to. Thank you for continuing to define the sports world through common sense and virtue. When God decides to take you home, you will be sorely missed and forever appreciated. Write on!
By wxwax
February 22, 2009 6:29 PM | Link to this
Like a man who was doing fine before he slipped the first needle of heroin into his arm, the pre-Tiger TOUR never knew what it was missing. Purses and ratings were smaller, sure, but the PGA TOUR was healthy enough. But now that they’ve experienced intoxicating Tiger highs, neither the TOUR nor its fans can kick the habit and go cold turkey. And so when Tiger’s not playing, things don’t merely go back to being pre-Tiger. Fans go into a wretched withdrawal and head for the trees like a Phil Mickelson tee shot.
I’m a huge Tiger fan, but I sometimes wonder if he hasn’t actually been bad for the PGA TOUR?
By Oneiron
February 23, 2009 10:20 AM | Link to this
Tiger Woods is the best - but it’s annoying all the adulation from the media, even when he’s ten back in a tournament, he’s shown on every shot, but the leaders are shown less. Last year’s Masters was a prime example, if you weren’t aware of what was going on, you’d have thought Tiger was leading, not Immelman or Snedeker.
By Bill
February 23, 2009 10:35 AM | Link to this
The Golf Channel’s man crush on Tiger is sickening. To call his comeback the biggest ever is an insult to Ben Hogan. Personally I hope Phil, Vijay and others beat him all year.
By Ken Stallings
February 23, 2009 11:01 AM | Link to this
Ben, respectfully if you are angered by what reporters and commentators on the Golf Channel said about Woods, then wouldn’t it be logical to direct your wrath and them vice Tiger?
I guarantee you that if you were to ask Tiger, he’d very quickly agree that Ben Hogan’s comeback dwarfed his. That’s one of the things I like about Tiger Woods. He sincerely admires the golfing greats of the past and consistently expresses his respect for them.
By wxwax
February 23, 2009 1:56 PM | Link to this
Well said, Ken Stallings. For such a public figure, he sure does comport himself well.
By cliff zeider
February 24, 2009 10:24 AM | Link to this
Hey, The golf channel has it nose up Tigers rear. cz
By cliff zeider
February 24, 2009 10:25 AM | Link to this
Hey, The golf channel has it nose up Tigers rear. cz
By Rod Worth
February 24, 2009 2:47 PM | Link to this
Mr. Bisher, just wanted to let you know how much I have enjoyed your columns over the past 40+ years. Your recent remembrances of listening to Russ Hodges broadcasting baseball games on the radio reminded me as a kid growing up just outside D.C. listening to Arch McDonald broadcasting the Senators games and his use of a little gong to denote base hits as he read a ticker tape of their road games’ progress. Do you remember Stan Spence, Sid Hudson and of course Mickey Vernon?
By Stewart Banner
February 26, 2009 11:24 AM | Link to this
Thanks for all your great writing over the years. RE: UGA basketball coach search- if the school really wants to make a big splash and bold statement, it should not go after Bobby Knight, but rather the other all time winningest coach- Pat Summitt.
Best regards, Stewart Banner
By JP
February 26, 2009 5:29 PM | Link to this
Mr Bisher,
Can you please fire that idiot Terrence Moore? Atlanta would really appreciate it.
By Harris
February 27, 2009 9:43 AM | Link to this
Come on Furman. You’ve been too good a writer for too long to fall in line with those who believe Tiger is the ONLY great player on the tour today. Yes, he is probably the best pro golfer in history (so far), but too many talking heads and short-sighted Sports writers and talkers have push the idea that Tiger should always win everything. That kind of thinking in not only an insult to all the other pro golfers, but falls into the same category as the people who watch Olympic gymnastics, see the American girl take the Silver Medal by .003 points, and say “WE LOST!”. I thought you were above that.
By AT
February 27, 2009 6:10 PM | Link to this
Harris: I know what you mean but I don’t think Furman is saying that at all. This is simply about the return of arguably the greatest golfer ever to play the game. Yeah the media love fest can get annoying at times but why shouldn’t he get the most coverage? He has earned it. You have to be living in a fantasy world to think golf is a part of most Americans weekly viewing habits like the other major sports. But when he is out there, people watch, people who don’t know the first thing about golf, stop and watch! That is something special that only Tiger can generate. No one said he should win everything but when he is playing, casual golf fans like myself want to see and hear about him. And Tiger works harder than 98% of the guys out there, so he sure as hell deserves everything he does win though doesn’t he?