Friday, July 22, 2011

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

In the sports section and on ESPN, the breakup between Tiger Woods and his longtime caddie Steve Williams is getting almost as much ink/airtime as his marital breakup. Yesterday, you couldn't turn on SportsCenter without seeing Stevie digging into his boss with something approaching zeal, if not downright glee.

Now, Thomas Boswell has weighed in with some armchair psychoanalysis, painting a contrast between the Tiger/Steve relationship and the relationships that Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson enjoyed with Angelo Argea and Bruce Edwards, respectively. Boswell reaches this conclusion:

Argea and Edwards had relationships with their stars that showed the solid mental health and self-knowledge of the players as well as the best personal qualities in the caddie. Tiger and Stevie were the opposite.

Well, OK...but if memory serves, Jack eventually fired Angelo, and I don't really remember it being such a big deal at the time. And besides, the only caddies that people really remember are the ones on the bags of the superstars. And even then...quick, can you name the caddies on the bag for Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Gary Player? If you gave me a few minutes I could probably come up with the name of Phil's caddie, but it's not there sitting right on the top of my head.

What does all this prove? If nothing else, that Tiger Woods is still the most famous golfer in the world, by a long shot. He hasn't played a round in months, and he can still make the sports section.

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