Tiger's Immediate Post-Masters Interview - Good, Bad, or Ugly?

[newtogolf]

Originally Posted by Slim

Sorry to piss of any Americans on here.. but he is rude! No question

Look at Rory Mcilroy's interview. 21 years old and extremely mature and polite.

Theres no excuse for rudeness.

Rory is still on his honeymoon with the media.  Tiger has had enough bad experiences with the media, especially when he's emotional, to know that brief, succinct answers are his best bet when he's annoyed.

[Slim]

Couldent agree less with that statement.

Any bad press he has had, he brought on himself. IMO he has permanently scarred himself. He seems like he has a real dark side whenever i see him.

Almost as if he is acting up for the cameras... showman almost

[Slim]

Originally Posted by newtogolf

Rory is still on his honeymoon with the media.  Tiger has had enough bad experiences with the media, especially when he's emotional, to know that brief, succinct answers are his best bet when he's annoyed.

And no i dont think that is the case. I feel when Rory is speaking to the media, he is addressing the fans, not just talking into a camera because he has to.

[Kieran123]

Why compare Rory with Tiger?

Tiger has been in the media spotlight since he was 3 years old.

Once Rory gets sick of it, I am sure he will stop with the fake cheeriness.

Tiger says it how it is and if you can't handle that, I feel sorry for you.

Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter both often react the same as Tiger to stupid questions....it's a good way of letting the person asking the question to never ask something stupid like that again.

[caniac6]

I think Tiger is a nice guy when things go well, and not so nice when things don't go well. I think the true measure of a person is how they act when things don't go well. Phil has dealt with the media a long time, and he seems much more gracious in all situations. I guess it just comes down to different personalities. Some guys are just nicer than others. I like to watch Tiger play, and I hope he plays well, but,given the choice, there would be a lot of other pros I would rather play with.

[Deryck Griffith]

I find it interesting that everyone jumps to criticize Tiger but never EVER criticizes the interviewer.  The questions were basic and the answers to those questions will of course be obvious, short and basic.

What everyone forgets to realize is that Tiger wants to win.  AT ALL COSTS especially at Majors, Period.  Especially, at this point in his career when he's aging and running out of time in his his 19 major goal.  He tasted this one and failed while knowing that he has the ability to WIN.  So IMO, he has every right to be as upset as he wants to be!

We all know this and people "in the business" who conduct these interviews should know this to and get off of their high horses!

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by caniac6

There would be a lot of other pros I would rather play with.

How do you know how Tiger acts during a Pro-am?  Based on what I've heard, Tiger is a joy to play with at Pro ams.  Why do all the other players on tour comment on how great it is to play with Tiger?  From what I've heard from Pro interviews, Tiger is a class person to play with.

This comment is an example of everyone missing the big picture in all of this.  Tiger WANTS to win.  End of story.  He didn't and was upset.  So what.  He has a 19 major goal and is losing time.  I would be pissed to!

[boogielicious]

Maybe Tiger should be polite like Ian Poulter.

[caniac6]

All those guys want to win. Some guys show a lot of class when they win and when they lose. Tiger may well beat Jack's record, but Tiger will never be the gentleman that Jack was. As far as not wanting to play with Tiger, I can only judge him on the way he conducts himself when I see him on TV. He may very well be a good guy, but that is a side of him not many people see. In a game that puts a great deal of importance on ettiquete, slamming clubs,and bad language shouldn't happen around groups of spectators. He expects people to be polite to him,and he should hold himself to the same standad. Like I said before, I hope he plays well again, but I sure would like to see behave better.

[MiniBlueDragon]

Originally Posted by caniac6

He expects people to be polite to him...

He does? I must have missed that memo...

If I'm not mistaken, just as I am it's likely he treats people as he's happy to be treated. If someone asks me a dumb question as an example and I reply in a negative way I have no issue whatsoever with someone doing likewise should I ask them a stupid question.

[PinkMagic]

I have no problem at all with Tiger's answer. You rarely get an in-depth answer from the sideline interview.  Not much of a story here IMO.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by caniac6

All those guys want to win. Some guys show a lot of class when they win and when they lose. Tiger may well beat Jack's record, but Tiger will never be the gentleman that Jack was

Jack wasn't alwasy the gentlman that he was today.  Early in Jack's career, he was an edgy semi self centered golfer.  Arnie was always the loved one from the beginning...

[caniac6]

I doubt Jack was like that at 35 years old.

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

Jack wasn't alwasy the gentlman that he was today.  Early in Jack's career, he was an edgy semi self centered golfer.  Arnie was always the loved one from the beginning...

[Clambake]

Originally Posted by Deryck Griffith

This comment is an example of everyone missing the big picture in all of this.  Tiger WANTS to win.  End of story.  He didn't and was upset.  So what.  He has a 19 major goal and is losing time.  I would be pissed to!

I understand with many of the great athletes it isn't as much wanting to win as they truly deep down hate to lose.      Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, and Larry Bird were very strong in their opinion of this.   I recall an interview with Tiger once where he said words to the same effect.     A lot of the elite athletes don't really feel the elation and joy that we could experience when winning - they simply expect to.    But they don't expect to lose, and that frosts them far more than any enjoyment from winning, and in their mind they devalue themselves as a person.

In many ways, it must really suck to be Tiger.   He expects so much of himself and so truly hates to lose that he beats himself up for doing so, and over the last couple years he's been doing that a lot.    He has basically defined himself as a person as someone who wins golf tournaments, so losing constantly means he's probably very miserable and that bitterness comes through strongly in his interviews.

[Dave H]

Why do people care so much that Tiger doesn't give the best interviews? Maybe he's just not comfortable in those situations, or maybe he just doesn't like them, or maybe he's tired of being scrutinized more than anyone else, or who knows.

If you ask me, Tiger should just continue to be himself as he sees fit. It's who we all know he is, why try to be anything different? He's a competitor, and it's pretty obvious by now that for him to be in "game mode" he wears his competitive emotions on his sleeve and those come out in post round interviews too.

If he gives such crappy interviews, why do they keep interviewing him?

[mitchl17]

As other people have already mentioned, there was still a chance he would be playing.  The game wasn't over.  If you ever watch a sport when they do interviews during the game (like hockey interviews during intermission) you might as well just have a tape recorder with a cutout of the player, because they have the same cookie-cutter answers every time.  This is expected, they are fully focused on playing, not giving a stupid 90 second interview.  I'm sure all of these guys, like Tiger, are great guys to be around in most other situations.  If anyone else gave the same interview it wouldn't be an issue.

[Deryck Griffith]

Originally Posted by Dave H

Why do people care so much that Tiger doesn't give the best interviews? Maybe he's just not comfortable in those situations, or maybe he just doesn't like them, or maybe he's tired of being scrutinized more than anyone else, or who knows.

If you ask me, Tiger should just continue to be himself as he sees fit. It's who we all know he is, why try to be anything different? He's a competitor, and it's pretty obvious by now that for him to be in "game mode" he wears his competitive emotions on his sleeve and those come out in post round interviews too.

If he gives such crappy interviews, why do they keep interviewing him?

I don't get it either!  The guy is an individual like the rest of us and in our everyday lives, we know what to expect from each and every person.  Don't we?  So how is it that after all of these years, people still seem to focus and get "surprised" at Tiger's interviews after a tough loss?  It's a loss and he hates to lose.  In other sports, people get just as upset during a loss!  Why should golf be soo special.  The guy wants to win and win badly!  How is that a bad thing?  We need more people on the PGA tour who have the same burning desire to win!!!

[f5joe]

I saw the interview in real time.  My take was that the interviewer was intimidated by Tiger.  Tiger was still in the heat of battle ..... hoping for a playoff.  He wasn't very happy but put on for the networks.  Tiger's easy to read, so hence the criticism.  Overall, he was still involved.