All the King's Horses: Woods at 2010 Masters
It doesn’t matter if you cursed Tiger Woods for being a cheating dog, or wanted to high-five him for having more women than bogeys, he’s coming back to golf. Woods, widely known as the best player in the world, is planning to emerge from his scandal-ridden exile at the 2010 Masters, where he has won four green jackets.
There is one key perk that goes along with playing at Augusta, making it his best choice for a return. In a sport where the fans can literally reach out and touch you, Augusta controls their ticket distribution and media passes like no one else on tour. This is as close as Tiger can get to a protected environment for his return.
More important than the fan reaction to Tiger is the player reaction. If you’ve spent anytime at all in a locker room, you know how cold and how cruel competitors can be. And just because golf is a “gentleman’s” sport, don’t think it’s all tea and crumpets in there. The number one target in golf is going to need more mental preparation and strength than ever.
If the fans, press, and fellow competitors weren’t enough, Tiger has one more huge mental opponent staring him down - himself.
No one can beat us up about a mistake like we can ourselves, especially if it involves stupid errors in judgment - or the new buzzword, indiscretions. Has Tiger made amends with himself? Regardless of whether anyone else has forgiven him, has he taken the steps to forgive himself so that he can move on?
Golf is a very cerebral sport, and Tiger has been credited as one of the best thinkers the sport has ever seen. Of course, that was prior to his Humpty-Dumpty fall. We’ll soon see if all the sex doctors and all the swing coaches can put Tiger back together again.
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