Deconstructing Tiger: it’s still all about the Green

As the Masters began this week, the inevitable media circus around Tiger Woods’ return to golf since crash-gate / text-gate took a weird and disappointing turn, albeit one that isn’t completely unexpected or even understandable.

On Monday, Woods’ presser at Augusta left many feeling that Tiger had possibly honestly turned a new page in his professional life: he said he’d be more gracious with the fans, more respectful of the game. He’d implied in his few public appearances since his world came crashing down around him that he’d come to realize that love and family were more important to him than golf and money. For long-time Tiger detractors like me, these were welcome words. There’s never been any denying his greatness as a competitor. I just always thought that he a) acted like a spoiled brat on the course, flinging both clubs and expletives around after each wayward drive; and b) didn’t appreciate the fact that his fortune and fame were due to his fans adoration of him, not solely because of his amazing talent (nobody knows who the world’s best chess player is). But even more than that, I could never root for Tiger because he seemed so inhuman – the clinical way he approached the game; there was no real joy in victory, just warrior-like howls of being the killer and not the killed. Maybe this whole episode in his life had given him a new perspective. Maybe Tiger, finally, had become humble – and therefore, human.

But as play began on Thursday, a few things occurred that made it seem like not much had really changed at all. Yeah, he smiled at a few more kids and joked a little more with his playing partners. But once he heard the cheers from the galleries off the first tee and on the 9th green (after an incredible rescue shot out of the pines), he reverted right back to his old ways: strutting around with that cold, cocksure attitude around Amen corner, and slamming clubheads and f’ing an offline approach to 14.

But even more unsettling was a strange, eerie Nike commercial that came out that day. It features a close-up of  silent, stoic, sober, somber Woods with a voice-over from his late father Earl. If you haven’t seen it yet, here it is:

Now,  it’s fine that he’s again acknowledging that what he did was wrong, and that he’s going to try to learn from his mistakes. It’s not the message that’s the problem here, it’s the execution.

And the hypocrisy.

Tiger went out of his way in his first staged statement in February that his family – including his mother – was off-limits to the media and the public, as the ordeal was a “private matter”. OK, fine. But, now, it’s OK for him to exploit his dead father for commercial purposes? This ad isn’t about golf, it’s about everything that’s been going on his life.

And it’s about Nike. There’s a swoosh on his hat, on his shirt, and then one flashes on-screen with the last frame. Specifically, this is about Tiger showing his loyalty to Nike more than the other way around. It’s his way of thanking them for not dropping him like nearly all his other sponsors. First day of the most anticipated Masters ever (because of everything surrounding him), and he drops a bomb in the form of an attention-grabbing ad with the swoosh plastered all over it? (Don’t think for a second that Tiger isn’t the one who called all of these shots). He’s basically saying with this ad: I’m going to stop at nothing – not even the memory of my dead father (who he always claimed unending respect for) – for things to get back to the way they were. I’m still going to be the face of Nike. I’m going to make millions of dollars for us again. I’m going to be the same old Tiger you always knew: money first, fame second, everything else – including family and fans – third. This was just a bump in the road, a minor detour off our original course. Nike and Tiger Woods will once again be Kings of the Sports Marketing world. I’m going to go back to dominating the way I always did, and I’m going to do it my way. The public will forgive if I appear remorseful, if I say the right things, because this is the land of second chances. The fans will forget once I start winning again, because everybody loves a winner.

To be honest though, I think,  in all probability, Tiger Woods is an extremely conflicted individual right now. He’s in his mid 30’s now, still a brand new father,  so he’s maturing in a new way anyway. Mentally, he knows what he did was “wrong”. He knows he needs to change his behavior.  But, on a psychological level, how on earth does he actually do that, when everything he’s done in the past that has led him to achieve that all that success, was completely antithetical to those things? That supreme confidence that it took to hit on models (including his wife) and the unadulterated arrogance to slap around porn stars? That’s the same confidence and arrogance that first lead him to become the world’s most dominant (and richest) athlete. Because if he’s not that, then what is he? That’s his whole identity, it’s what he’s always known. How does he stop being the “Tiger”? Imagine for a second if he’s not blessed with this unparalleled talent – and he’s just Eldrick, the nasal, kinda nerdy guy. No human male who has achieved any level of success can instantly and voluntarily change the way he goes about his business  – not until he knows exactly how to make that transition without it affecting the bottom line. And that can’t happen in four short months, therapy or not. What if he “changes” and, as a result, everything else changes too? If you’re a young successful male, that’s unacceptable. If you’re Tiger Woods, it’s pretty much unthinkable.

So he’s putting forth one face, but he’s really trying to get everything back to the way it used to be. The Nike ad this week is perfectly emblematic of that. I don’t blame him (nor do I feel bad for him). He knows he should change, he’s just incredibly frightened by not only how to do that, but what might become if he does. Now that’s human.