‘Timing is everything’ as they say. With the collective eyes of the sporting world focused on Augusta National, The Masters and those big names in golf is there a better time to release a book on the most famous golfer of all time?
And with Tiger Woods playing well and making a spirited comeback up the ranks of the world’s elite golfers the timing couldn’t be better for another book on Tiger Woods.
There have been dozens of books on Woods and he (with Lorne Rubenstein) just released his own last year to commemorate the twentieth anniversary win at The Masters entitled “The 1997 Masters: My Story”.
But this new book isn’t Tiger in his own words but it certainly tries to be his story.
In “Tiger Woods” authors Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian offer us an intimate portrait of Tiger from his birth in Cypress, California through his isolated childhood and his evolution into the most famous athlete in the world.
A massive amount of research was preformed by Benedict and Keteyian over three years including 400 interviews with 250 people and they digested nearly every video, book or article ever written on a man that always put a premium on his privacy. Of course they tried to interview Woods but according to the authors there were too many restrictive guidelines demanded by Woods and his people so this book while exhaustive in its detail has no current input from Woods himself.
What we are presented with is a profound, detailed profile of a man who rose to heights no one came close to in the world of golf, celebrity and endorsements but through self inflicted wounds took the greatest fall from grace the world has ever seen.
Tiger was born to be a champion, born to change the world and not just on the golf course. His over-bearing, controlling father, Earl Woods programmed Tiger to be a golfer as soon as he was born. Earl claimed he would be as impactful as Ghandi and Mandela. The elder Woods would drive golf balls into a mat in his garage with a baby Tiger looking on as his mother, Kultida fed him in his high chair.
Their research shows that while Tiger was gifted with golf skills beyond his age he was an introverted, anti-social stutterer with few friends as a child. Over protected by his mother and used by his father, Woods never developed any real social skills as a youth. Evidenced time after time by the authors he failed to establish true friendships and when he finally was able to make friends and girlfriends they were mistreated by him and his parents.
Benedict and Keteyian paint a picture of a man that was truly starved for real love. Earl was an philandering alcoholic who loved what Tiger could give him: money, fame and a platform. Kultida’s love was that of a “mommy dearest” flavor and she is credited with giving Tiger his ruthlessness.
As Tiger grew older and became the wealthiest athlete in history and arguably the best golfer ever he was following in his father’s footsteps. Even with a picture perfect life with a model wife, beautiful children and untold riches he spent his time chasing one woman after another to satisfy some unceasing need.
At times I was in awe of Woods and his skills and dedication and then shortly found myself repulsed by his narcissistic, sociopathic behavior. It goes beyond the PGA Tour tales of Tiger being a bad tipper and his dismissive attitude towards others.
While Benedict and Keteyian give us careful, detailed story after story of Tiger and his greatness both on the course and his troubles off it at times I felt they were speaking from his own perspective a bit too much. Could anyone ever know what was going through his head?
The Tiger they present is a tortured man. We see a troubled soul buried beneath a finely tuned body that when it finally started to breakdown caused even more issues for Woods. The book covers every aspect of Woods’ life and the serious troubles he had to deal with.
The Woods that these authors portrayed is not the one that so many corporations paid millions of dollars to be the face of their company with an image of excellence and character.
While his parents prepared him to be a golfer with unparalleled ability he came into adulthood ill equipped to form relationships where trust and love were required.
It’s a lonely place when you aren’t able to truly love and be loved. That’s how Woods is portrayed here.
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