Shackleford Poll: If Tiger Had Tossed A Club Into A Doral Lake...

Poll: If Tiger Had Tossed A Club Into A Doral Lake...

Several commenters here immediately reacted to Rory McIlroy's funny-but-childish club toss into a Doral lake by immediately pointing out that Tiger Woods would not have gotten the free pass that young Rory enjoyed (especially from the fawning British press!).ESPN.com's Bob Harig suggested a Woods chuck into water would have prompted "indignation" that "would have blown up the Internet." I don't think he's wrong.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Without any doubt, Tiger would have been skewered if he did this.

Agree.

Would never happen though. He simply can't make that kind of athletic move these days!

I read the Monday morning round-up on golf.com today and I agree with the consensus there.   Three points I think:

1 -  As far as press reaction and how it's covered, Rory has been more open and nicer with the press and therefore he gets coverage that doesn't beat him up for it.  The consensus that I got from the roundtable was that Rory has a lot of good will built up, while Tiger had spent his a long time ago.   This is similar to the Dan Jenkins fake interview.   The press was largely on Jenkins' side.  And I think that a lot of that has to do with the more combative relationship that Tiger has with the press.

Now as Erik and others here will state, Tiger has more on his shoulders than anyone else and he can't make everyone happy.   And he's not as open about himself like many other players.   That's not exactly the point here, you can agree or disagree with that.   There's a lot to support Tiger's side on that one.  But the point is actually that the press, who would report and comment on this, has a lot of people who do dislike him or the way that he has responded to them.   So yeah, I do think that Tiger would get it worse just based on that.

2 -  Tiger has been caught swearing, slamming clubs (throwing on occasion) and having a temper a lot over the years.   Rory hasn't.   I would hope that if Rory had a string of temper moments that they would criticize him, just like Tiger has been.   While taking against his whole career, Tiger is hardly someone who needs anger management.  However he's been showing his temper off for a number of years, so it does become the "here we go again" mantra.

What I don't get is that Steve Pate, who is famous for showing his anger gets a pass while Sergio Garcia doesn't.  True, Pate (The Volcano) is no where near the exposure of Tiger, Rory or Sergio.   However it almost seems accepted for Pate, yet Sergio (who has had his share of blowups) gets hit for his outbursts more.   Perhaps because Sergio mouths off and says dumber things sometimes?   Anyway, the fact is that it took several incidents for Sergio to get some hard core criticism.   So if doing it occasionally is an outlier, I don't think it'll get you slammed.   Do it enough where people remember, and it becomes a narrative.

Also, I think that this was swept under the rug more when Tiger was playing better.   Yes, there were comments about it, but I think the temper stuff has been reported and commented on more since the fire hydrant.   So people kind of piled on after that.

3 -  Rory owned up to it and even made fun of himself a little bit for it.   Despite what you think about Tiger, he's always been a "no comment and move on" kind of guy.   While he might make a statement if asked, he doesn't laugh at himself very well and take it on the chin.   Recently I think that's changed a little bit.   He's more self effacing and humanized with the latest troubles, and I think that's to his credit and it will help him in the long run.   But the fact is that Rory did own up to it and I saw where Trump came up to him and returned it, having had a scuba diver go get it.   I can't see someone doing that with Tiger and getting a photo of it, etc...

There really is a fourth one too.   It's the same as a lot of other issues people have with Tiger.   He's the biggest player in 20-30 years and for as much as he moves the needle, he does polarize people more than most other golfers.   Just because of that, anything he does that someone doesn't like will get a pile-on.  Or people defending him to the hilt if they support him.   Just like any President, since politics are involved, you'll get people who will criticize the President for any reason.

Quote:

Originally Posted by boogielicious

2 - You don't consider throwing a club in the water a temper tantrum?  How about walking away from a tournament and pretending he has a toothache?  He has shown a temper a number of times.  You are just cutting him slack at the moment.

3 - Tiger has made fun of himself numerous times, you have just forgotten the 24 year old Tiger.

There you have it.  Tiger is polarizing.  He dominated for a long time, and that alone alienates some people.  He's had personality and "other" issues.  Now that he's slipped, those who didn't really care for him in the first place will inevitably take it as a signal to dump all they can.

Rory hasn't been around long enough, or in the public eye during any "incidents" yet, so he gets the pass.  He may turn out to be the All American Boy, who knows?  (yeah, yeah, I know he's Irish, but that didn't fit the image I was going for   )  Lots of time yet in his career for him to accumulate some hate followers.

Now as Erik and others here will state, Tiger has more on his shoulders than anyone else and he can't make everyone happy. And he's not as open about himself like many other players. That's not exactly the point here, you can agree or disagree with that.   There's a lot to support Tiger's side on that one.  But the point is actually that the press, who would report and comment on this, has a lot of people who do dislike him or the way that he has responded to them.   So yeah, I do think that Tiger would get it worse just based on that.