Tiger Woods

Don Wassall

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Phil has won three tournaments already this year, but he needs to win one of the three remaining majors. Woods also played poorly last week before missing the cut this week. Mickelson, Woods and Singh each have three wins so far in '05, while Els has won three times internationally. Thetalk about the "Big Four" is actually living up to its hype so far. I'll be rooting for Mickelson and Els to win the U.S. Open, followed by Sergio, Goosen and Adam Scott.
 

Colonel_Reb

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What is the big four Don?
 

Don Wassall

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It refers to Woods, Mickelson, Singh and Els, a takeoff on the "Big Four" of the '60s which was Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, and Billy Casper. They dominated the major tournaments in their day.
 

Colonel_Reb

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Oh, I see. I'm not the biggest golf guy in the world, so I'm learning every day.
 

Don Wassall

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How 'bout this pathetic Tiger-pandering?


"I don't suppose Ted Purdy's finish Sunday at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship will go down with the great final rounds in golf history -- David Graham's flawless final 18 at Merion in the U.S. Open, Ben Hogan at Oakland Hills, Gary Player's closing 64 at the Masters or Tiger Woods in just about any major he won. It is, after all, the Nelson -- a nice tournament played in honor of a nice man but ultimatelyjust another Tour stop and not a major championship."


-- Gary Van Sickle, Inside Golf http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2005/writers/gary_van_sickl e/05/16/inside.golf/index.html


I guess Mickelson's great final round at Augusta all the way back in 2004 has already been consigned to the memory hole. How about Tom Watson's final roundat the '77 British Open when he won a tremendous duel over Jack Nicklaus? Nicklausdoesn't even rate a mention-- the '86 Mastersbeing just one overlooked example-- but Tiger's final round "in just about any major he won" all rank with the great final rounds in history. Edited by: Don Wassall
 

Colonel_Reb

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I can think of a better way of saying what SI stands for, but I don't think it would make it past the censor Don!
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Don Wassall

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This is from a British paper. I don't know if the incident that happened to Woods when he was five years old is true or not, but what strikes me is his bogus explanation for him still being the only black golfer on tour -- "I thought there would be more of us out here. It is a matter of getting enough players to play the game."


I would say roughly as many black males as white males play golf, as a proportion of their respective populations. Many blacks are infatuated with golf, especially since the rise of Woods. Just look at all the black athletes who play golf -- "try to play golf" is a better way to describe it for most. Yet not one other blackis among at leastthe top 500 or so golfers.


According to the logic behind the reigning propaganda,blacks, who supposedly dominate the "tougher, more athletic" sports like football and basketball, should be able to monopolize the "much easier" sport of golf with ease.


TIGER: MY RACE-HATE NIGHTMARE


Tiger Woodshas revealed the racist abuse he suffered as a child -
and how the applause from the black staff at the Masters 1997 still
brings him close to tears.

The world No.1, who has a black father and Thai mother, has always
been reluctant to speak openly about race issues during his career.

But in a new book with basketball star Charles Barkley published
before tomorrow's US Open, Woods speaks frankly about how the colour
of his skin has affected his life from the age of five.

And as the Masters champion continues his Grand Slam bid in
Pinehurst, North Carolina, he recalled how his first Major title win
eight years ago was completed when the entire black service staff at
Augusta came out to applaud him.

"I start getting choked up just thinking about it," Woods said. "I
started thinking about everything these people had faced in life,
all the ugliness and all the prejudice and all the obstacles they
had to deal with.

"I was thinking that they could have a lot of bitterness and
feel, 'Why him? Why not me?' But they didn't. They don't.

"I became aware of my racial identity on my first day of
kindergarten. A group of sixth-graders tied me to a tree, spray-
painted the word 'n****r' on me, and threw rocks at me. It was
certainly an eye-opening experience, you know, being five years old."

Even after becoming the most famous sportsman in the world, Woods
remains the only black player on the US Tour. It is a situation the
30-year-old would like to see change.

"I am disappointed," he said last night. "I thought there would be
more of us out here. It is a matter of getting enough players to
play the game."


[url]http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/golf/tm_objectid=15631709& method=full&s[/url]
iteid=94762&headline=golf--tiger--my-race-hate-nightmare -
name_page.html
 

Bart

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That tree story sounds like total bull. I would bet legions of white people catered to him as a child on the golf courses. You would think the last thing he would do is seek a white woman for a wife. Edited by: Bart
 

Colonel_Reb

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I think he's almost as full o' shet as he is full o' himself. That's an obviously made up story. No way, I don't care where you lived, no 6'th graders would do that to a black kindergartener or any kid at school. Where would they get the materials from, and on the first day of school. Yeah, right! Edited by: Colonel_Reb
 

Bart

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PINEHURST, N.C. (AP) -- Ten years after he joined the PGA Tour, Tiger Woods still stands alone. And not just because he's so good.


Woods was supposed to open the sport up to black kids in America and around the world. Yet a decade later, he remains the only black golfer on the tour. This week, he plays at the U.S. Open, being run by the USGA, which talks about bringing minorities into the sport but doesn't have a single one on its executive committee.


``Am I disappointed? Yeah,'' Woods said when asked about the dearth of blacks at the highest levels of golf. ``I thought there would be more of us out here.''


Meanwhile, looking among the gallery Wednesday at Pinehurst No. 2, it would be a stretch to say things are truly integrated. In a state that is 21 percent black, there were maybe two black fans for every 100 white ones who roamed the grounds.


Oh the horror! Not enough blacks in the gallery, time for a new forced bussing program
 

SteveB

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That's pretty funny. These writers would have a heart attack if they went to the X-games, a surfing championship, freestyle skiing event, NASCAR race, IRL race, motocross race, or a hockey game because there would be zero blacks. It's not like they being forced out.
 

Don Wassall

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A local station has a half hour sports discussion show among four media people every Sunday night after the 11:00 news. The last item tonight showed a clip of Woods scraping the green with his putter very hard after missing a putt during the second round on Friday. The green was clearly damaged for several feet. After he retrieved his ball Woods briefly went over the damaged area with his putter but that didn't help much.


The host correctly said Woods should have had a two-stroke penalty for doing that, also that it was disrespectful to the game and to those players still on the course behind him. I mean, dead-drunk weekend warrior golfers never pull that kind of stunt on the course. The others basically said that he has become hard to root for because of his act and the punk posturing of his caddie. But then they all agreed that there is a different set of rules for Woods because he's a superstar like Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson and he's the tour's "meal ticket" and everyone is there, including the TV cameras, to watch his every move.


I followed the U.S. Open a lot on NBC and The Tiger Network (also known as the The Golf Channel), and I saw nothing about this temper tantrum and malicious act, which any white player of any stature would have been roundly condemned for. Guess they were too busy beating up on Goosen for not being demonstrative enough. If my local station hadn't shownit for some reason I undoubtedly would never have known about it.


There was one priceless moment during today's coverage. After Woods missed a crucial -- and very makeable -- putt on 17 he stood there with a disgusted smile of disbelief on his face. He's usually sullen on the course, but as they showed the replay of the smile, Dan Hicks rhapsodized, "And there's the smile that lights up the world of golf." Hicks finishedhis pandering just as thereplay ended andNBC went back to a live shot of Woods -- just as he was letting loose a big loogie right near the camera! It was ahumorous demonstration of the gulf between the illusory image given Tiger by the media and reality.
 

Bart

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Don, do you recall the posts you made about Tiger not being all that cool under pressure? He didn't look very steady at all down the stretch, did he? He had chances but blew em big time.
 

Don Wassall

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I wouldn't say he lost his cool this time, just that he couldn't sink crucial putts. But his putting was poor the entire tournament. His driving was spectacular, like it was when he had that really dominant runin the majors several years ago,and his iron play for the most part was very good. If he had been able to putt at all he would have won by several strokes.
 

White Shogun

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Did Tiger's cursing and dragging his putter across the green stir up any controversy in the golfing world? I don't follow golf but was surprised when I found this story on Foxsports and ESPN:

http://msn.foxsports.com/golf/story/3695506

I guess there is supposed to be some type of penalty for such behaviour but, since it was the first time, no penalty was imposed.

Is it normal for golfing officials to overlook this kind of behavior? Have any similar incidents occured in the past, and if so, what actions were taken by the pro-golf organizations?
 

Don Wassall

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The coverage of the Western Open by The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today consists of this headline: "Woods Fires 66, Trails by Six."
 

White Shogun

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Are there any other black major pro golfers out there besides Tiger Woods?
 

Don Wassall

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As far as I know there are no other black golfers on either the men's or women's tour and hasn't been since Tiger joined the PGA in 1996. It's curious because there at least used to be a few on the men's tour -- Lee Elder, Jim Thorpe and Charlie Sifford come to mind.

The media never mentions its party line of the mid-'90s anymore -- that the presence of Tiger was going to quickly lead to black dominance of golf.
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White Shogun

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Maybe the better question to ask is, "Are there any other caublanasian pro golfers?" as that is how Tiger himself describes his heritage.
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I watched the interview on 60 minutes last night.


They mentioned that a country club rejected them. Estimating that Tiger was 10-15 years old at the time f the incident, that wouldve been circa 1985-1990.


I wonder what country club it was that rejected Tiger and his mom?


What was the reason they gave for rejecting them?
 

Don Wassall

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If true, they don't have to give a reason. It's a basic right, now nearly almost extinct, called freedom of association. If I try to join a black fraternal organization and they don't want me, they have the right to reject me without stating a reason. John Daly and other pro golfers learned to play on public courses, which don't have the right to prevent anyone from playing based on race.
 
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I guess this is a valid point. They dont have to give a reason.


Interesting that you would mention historically black fraternal organizations. The first historically black college fraternity was founded in 1908 because blacks werent allowed to join the white fraternities during that time.I personally know members of this fraternity and this is part of their history


http://orgs.jmu.edu/alphaphialpha/history.htm


The Prince Hall Masons were founded because of similar restrictions. I personally know members of this organization as well because I am currently seeking knowledge


http://www.princehall.org/


I personally know white members in both of these organizations.


With that said, the process that I know of to become members in these organizations is to get recommendations from current members to initiate the membership process. A member wont recommend you unless he feels that you are membership material and is willing to vouch for you. I have only given 4 letters of recommendation in the last 10 years for my fraternal organization.


Back to the original question however, I wonder what were the circumstances of Tiger Woods and his mom's rejection to play at a country club golf course and why did they feel it was racism?


[url]http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/23/60minutes/main1433 767.shtml[/url]
 

Don Wassall

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From my reading of the interview, Tiger was never discriminated against when it came to playing golf, but after "some" tournaments he and his mother weren't welcome inside the private club on whose course the tournament was held. "Some" could mean two, it could mean quite a few. My guess would be that it was closer to two than many times out of the hundreds of tournaments Tiger participated in.


Was that right? If white golfers and their parents were welcome inside a club after a tournament and Tiger and his mother weren't, then no that would show a high degree of small-mindedness and a mean spirit. Did it happen that way? Can't tell for sure from the interview.


What is clear is that Tiger never had a problem playing in whatever tournaments he wanted to, that he shook off the racist attitudes displayed by some people, and didn't let it hold him back from attaining his goals. Very admirable.


And the vast majority of people in golf and in the media have welcomed him and his success with open arms and he has been wise to focus on that rather than on the negative. He's so wealthy now he can start his own "Asian only" or "black only" clubs if he so chose, and he does have that right in this country just as whites can still have white only clubs and associations, though the right has been greatly constricted through lawsuits and a very expansive interpretation by courts of the Commerce Clause.
 
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