It was definitively a big surprise, no one expected to hear, read or listen to it. Yesterday world's best golfer, Tiger Woods, said he was stepping out from competitive golf until further notice after living 2 intense weeks of constant media harassing and public embarrassment.
Woods is considered by many as the best golfer ever. He's won 97 times all over the world.
Friday, November 27th was marked the beginning of the storm. Tiger had a car accident around 2 in the morning and was reported to be badly injured; later the reports were changed and apparently he has some lacerations and bruises and was resting at his home in Isleworth.
One day later TZM announced that Tiger's injuries were inflicted by his wife after finding out that he was cheating on her. Things got messier and in a 15 day period Woods was accused of having more than 10 mistresses; obviously the information was obtained from the so called "booty calls". Finally this devastated the public image of a man who was a champion on and off the course. His family and the way he was believed to live put him as an honorable man and people thought he was a great husband and father, with no flaws at all.
Media continued to look for more dirt and harassed Tiger as if he was a Hollywood star, the even camped outside Isleworth expecting to get an exclusive. All of a sudden there was a complete media avalanche surrounding one of the most influential men alive. Woods appeared in dozens of magazine covers, most of them gossip publications who teared apart his privacy and continue to do so as if they were lions chasing a zebra. Finally Tiger published an apology on his website.
Many thought his letter was a mistake, since they alleged he should have done it at a press conference, which finally provoked more criticism, infidelity accusations, and rumors who talked about a sex video. The only battle the golfer won was a British court order banning publication in Britain of any photo or video showing him nude or having sex.
His sponsors were by his side until PepsiCo announced that Gatorade Tiger Focus wouldn't be produce any more. Executives said latter that the decision was taken before the scandal, though.
Yesterday, after hundreds of speculations about his return, it was clear that his career was going to stay on the freezer until further notice according to his website:
"I am deeply aware of the disappointment and hurt that my infidelity caused to so many people, most of all my wife and children. I want to say again to everyone that I am profoundly sorry and that I ask forgiveness. It may not be possible to repair the damage I've done, but i want to do my best to try."
Woods hasn't been seen at his home in Florida and it's been said that he left the property some time ago.
Those are the first lines of a letter that was published yesterday around 5 o'clock and that establishes the athlete's desire to regain his wife's trust and public respect, since he's determined to become a better husband, father and human being.
Will he come back? maybe, but first he needs to clean his public image and conceive a strategy to comeback as cautious as possible 'cause his problems won't just go away thanks to his career hiatus. The PGA will wait for him with arms wide open, and so will Nike, one of his biggest sponsors, at least that was said by Tim Finchman, Tour comish, and a Nike spokesperson.
Today golf feels kind of incomplete but at least knows that no one is perfect and that appearances are deceptive.
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