Tiger Down Under.

[flanagan]

You clearly don't care a whole lot for Tiger Woods, so it seems to me that colors your view. There's no way to quantify it, but it strikes me that Tiger's already done more for the world in general - with his TW Foundation and the way his presence on the PGA Tour spiked charitable donations (and purses) - than Jack or others ever did.

Nothing could be farther from the truth, nor does a fair reading of anything I've posted here or on other threads suggest I don't care a whole lot for Tiger Woods.

I do have an opinion as to whether it should take a large appearance fee to get him to grace Australia with his presence and I think it points up one area where I think Tiger is different from other icons of the game. Wishing he would do it differently isn't condemning him. As for Jack, there wasn't much around the world golf then to play, but he did play regularly around the world, including regularly over many years in Australia, the Canadian, World Cup, World Match Play and occasionally in Japan. So, even though it was more difficult, he made the effort, and I'm sure he did it because he enjoyed it. Don't underestimate the Palmers or the Nicklauses efforts for charities of many kinds and in many places over the decades. Not saying better or worse, and I applaud Tiger for his foundation, but he still has a long way to go to be more significant to the game on and off the course than Palmer or Nicklaus. Stating that doesn't mean I don't care for him, he may get there, I just don't believe he's there yet because he's not.

[Trav]

I'm just gonna go ahead and call BS on that. Tiger has busted his butt to get to where his is, and deserves every penny that he gets paid. If they are willing to pay it, why shouldn't he?

I'm just going to have to call BS on that.

When you're approaching $1 Billion in career earnings, while many of the folks you are visiting have lost their homes and hundreds have been killed, I think you can afford to be charitable this once and not worry about failing to accumulate enough wealth. No one is asking him to forego his appearance fees in Abu Dhabi or these made for TV events or wherever. And if anyone is worried that it sets a bad precedent for showng some understanding to his hosts in a difficult situation - well, they have more serious problems than whether they have accumulated enough wealth. And yes, some celebrities and entertainers DO go to the other side of the world to perform for free. An old golfer named Bob Hope spent his life doing that every year. Somebody said he needed to take care of his family. This should generate the same amount of sympathy as the pro basketball player who complained about having to feed his family on only $20 million a year or so. Just my $.02 - well, since I posted before, make that $0.04. Still a bit shy of Tiger.

[flap]

I learned a long time ago never mess with a mans money or his woman.