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| Tiger and his father late Earl Woods in the early years |
Unless you've been caught up in a cave over the last 3 or so years, there is one individual that continues to be a lightning rod in the American sports and social landscape. That person of course is Tiger Woods, current world number one in golf.
Recently, European golfer Sergio Garcia took his "rivalry" with Woods to a different level when asked about meeting with Woods at the U.S. Open, to which he (Garcia) responded, "We'll have him around every night. We will serve fried chicken."
There is no question as to what Garcia intended to do with such an ill-advised comment. Going into the annals of the shameful history of the United States where race is concerned, Garcia wanted to essentially "put Tiger in his place" as numerous others have tried to do (in so many ways) since Tiger announced his coming of age in 1997, with his dominating Masters' victory at Augusta.
Most golf experts have always stressed the importance of Tiger to the game's bottom-line.
The reality is that the golf fraternity never wanted Tiger to be part of the "family". In fact, they never invited him. Tiger essentially crashed the party and did so without any apologies or reservations in 1997.
The truth of the matter is they would prefer he just leave, but there is just one problem; his presence generates so much money for the game, hence the need to keep him around, even though they just can't stand the sight of him.
That is where comments from the likes of Garcia, Montgomerie and the European Tour CEO all come from.
No Colin, Garcia's unfortunate slur is not "a mountain out of a molehill" and it is shameful that you would see it that way. Perhaps, Colin Montgomerie would like us all to go back to the times when it was "kosher" (to quote Montgomerie) to be both callow and imbecilic at the same time, much like George O'Grady's philistine display.
As has always been the case, one would expect Tiger to ultimately accept Sergio Garcia's antiquated apology and move on to perpetually owning him and every other hypocrite on the PGA and European Tour, as he always has.
It becomes rather easy to see what Tiger's enduring motivation is every time he steps on the golf course.
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