One More on Tiger

Here's hoping that folks can stand one more post on Tiger Woods. Actually, a link to a good post by Dean Barnett over at, of all places, Hugh Hewitt's site.

I'm not sure I'm quite ready to endorse Dean's nomination of Tiger as the most dominant athlete in any sport ever, which might be a bit premature (especially with the way that Roger Federer is playing tennis right now). However, you won't hear me quibble too loudly.

However, I completely agree with Dean's assessment of Tiger's primary weakness:

IT’S TRUE THAT I’VE OCCASSIONALLY been critical of Tiger. I don’t retract any of my prior critiques. It’s said that you don’t “work” golf, that you play it. Tiger’s joyless on-course visage may ultimately overturn that old saw. I’m just about finished writing a story that I’ve spent a lot of time researching on golf course architecture. The great architects seldom go three sentences without mentioning that they want their courses and their sport to be fun. Tiger is the public face of golf to the rest of the world, and on a typical Sunday he looks like he’s having as much fun as a guy passing a kidney stone.

I absolutely agree with that assessment. After the Masters, I wrote this:

And one thing is for certain - Tiger's play was as joyless an exercise as I've ever seen, in any professional sport. Frankly, it was excruciating to watch - he was clearly pissed off nearly the entire time, and should probably give that some thought once he cools down a bit.

I suspect Tiger will take a good, long time off now and spend quality time with his family. Far be it for me to give him advice, but I will anyway - he should give some thought to this aspect of his game, because in the end it may become part of how his career is ultimately defined, just as much as it will be defined by his unmistakable greatness.