Anytime I am surfing around on the internet, golf headlines always seem to catch my eye more than any other headline. When the headline involves Tiger Woods, it catches my attention even more. It has always been this way. Although I admit, it may have gotten worse since his little mishap turned PR nightmare on that infamous Thanksgiving night, but I have always enjoyed a little Tiger story. Let’s face it, he became my favorite athlete when he burst on the scene and remains my favorite athlete now.
So while I was bumping around today on the internet, an article drew my attention. An article on FoxNews.com by John Tantillo described how in a recent Harris Interactive poll, Tiger Woods is still the #1 most liked athlete in the United States among adults 18 and up.
Now the article didn’t state anything about the poll being just among males, females or both. All it said was “adults” 18 and up.
Now what does this mean? I think all it means is that Tiger Woods put a big ding in his personal image and created a PR nightmare for his marketing team. More importantly he ruined his marriage and will have to explain to his kids one day why he and mommy live separately. But Tiger Woods’ on course reputation is still spotless. Sure he hasn’t fared too well so far this year, but he has gone through many win-less streaks in his career. And he always comes back and goes on a tear. Of course the circumstances are different this time. He may not recover and people may start questioning whether these issues have affected his entire golf game. But if he comes back and breaks the record of 18 majors, then people will forget entirely about his infidelity.
But like I stated above, the poll does not state male or females who were polled. I am a 29 year old male. The major sponsors who are still on board and continue to pay Tiger Woods tens of millions of dollars a year, are trying to reach my demographic, males 18-34. So are men in this age range going to look past the cheating and continue to support Tiger? The short quick answer is yes. Look at the poll. But someone like my mom, with whom I have this conversation with whenever Tiger Woods comes up in conversation, hates him and will never root for him again. And this was after going to the U.S Open a couple years back at Torrey Pines with her and seeing her get so excited when he walked two feet by us on the putting green. Is it the same way for all women like my mom? Is it the same way for men over the age of 50? I don’t know. Me personally, I don’t condone what Tiger Woods did. It was despicable. But I also don’t need to forgive him, he did nothing to me. I just want to root for him when he is on the golf course.
Golf Girl says
I believe it’s more about avid golf fans vs casual fans/observers than men vs women.
If a woman is a true fan of the sport, she is just as likely as a young man to support Tiger Woods and look forward to the day he regains begins playing well again.
Many writers have enjoyed making this a story about women scorned. As if women should relate to the statuesque, silent, married-to-a-multi-millionaire Elin Woods, just because we’re women. Well most of us don’t relate to her at all. Most of us don’t relate to the ambitious, unscrupulous barmaids and VIP hostess Tiger transgressed with either. So in general, women fans don’t take what Tiger Woods did personally. If they were very “casual” fans … like I’m guessing your Mom was… or fans of “what Tiger represented” (ie. a benevolent, highly disciplined, family man) then yes, they might well be disappointed by what happened. As far as older men, the older one is, the more likely one is to be shocked by sex scandals… any kind of sex scandals…because just a decade or two such things were never made public under any circumstances.
The thing that surprised me most was that when I was asked my opinion on the scandal… which I was many times by journalists from all over the world who were seeking the “female perspective” … and I answered that I felt “his personal life had nothing to do with me, and I was just looking forward to seeing him play well again” most of them reacted with disappointment and didn’t publish my opinion but went out and found a woman scorned. And I have a feeling it was sometimes their mom. :o)
Front9Back9 says
Thanks Patricia for your input!!