Fallen Tiger

Tiger, tiger, burning not so bright? For a while now, Tiger Woods, born Eldrick Tont, has been heralded as a beacon in the world of golf, a sport with a racist and elitist past.

In a sense, Tiger Woods became sacred holierthan-thou -- to a whole mass of people who didn't even follow sports, golf in particular, because of what he stood for. This is what the divided states of America is that even prompted boxer Mohammad Ali to drown his Olympic gold medal in the Ohio river after being refused service at a white-only restaurant and subsequently brawling with a white gang. Many others sporadically showed the ugly underbelly of America -- but only Tiger brought hope for an entire nation.

In a way, Tiger was treated almost `white' -squeaky clean, above comparison, beyond fault.
Newspapers even described him as the centre of a secular cult.

Today, Tiger Woods is the greatest in the history of golf, but after skeletons tumbled out of his closet this past week -- and the number of Tiger casualties could grow -- one can say that he is only human and has succumbed to human weaknesses.
But can one really debate the smartness of promising a whole host of women the same thing? The bizarre manner in which the `worst kept secret' of the golfing world -- one that many on the circuit were witness to and discussed over gin and tonic in clubhouses in not more than whispers -- makes Tiger's human frailties even paler. If Tiger's looking for support, he's got one in a well-known Indian author, who recently said on television that there isn't one married couple who hasn't thought of giving extra-marital affairs a try. While one cannot question Tiger's genius on the course with a 2iron, one wonders also if the change in public perception will not start to hurt performance. In Tiger's case, may be it won't.