Tiger Woods is alive and well, even though he's not scheduled to make his triumphant return to the PGA Tour until sometime next spring. Meanwhile, during an interview on CNBC's Power Lunch this afternoon, Eldrick touched on the typical fare: he's recovering well, loves spending time with his family, can't wait to play tournament golf, blah blah blah.
He also managed to get in a plug for EA Sports AND Gillette, and name-drop both Derek Jeter and Roger Federer. After dispensing with the pleasantries, however, host Bill Griffeth got all journalistic, asking Tiger his thoughts on the whole sordid LPGA mess. Awkwardness ensued:
Griffeth: Let me ask you something before you go, here ... Golfweek broke it on Monday, the New York Times put it on the front page today -- you probably saw that -- the LPGA is now going to require all of their golfers to be conversant in English next year, or face suspension. Good idea, bad idea?Ah, yes, the ol' "I was out of the country" excuse. That used to work really well before the advent of the telegraph, and later, the phone and a little something Al Gore likes to call the internet.
Tiger: I don't know, that's the first time I heard about it. I was just in Dubai and I just got back, so ... um, that's the first time I actually heard about that, so...
It gets better:
Griffeth: The influx of foreign golfers on the LPGA -- you know how important sponsorships are to golf, more than any other sport ... and the LPGA is concerned that those women who don't speak English don't interact with the sponsors and that hampers their ability to gain those sponsorships. Is this the way to solve that problem?And everybody had a good chuckle.
Woods: Oh, I don't know. Like I said, that's the first time I heard about it, um, it's obviously very interesting, um ... it's the LPGA ... I guess that's how they think they should handle it.
Griffeth: I didn't think you would answer that one, either, but I thought I would try anyway.
Look, I have no issue with Tiger being apolitical, but jeebus, it's not like we're talking about Kelly Tilghman here. He dismissed her ridiculously offensive comments because they're friends, and he believed she meant nothing harmful by them. Fine. I get that.
But this LPGA issue doesn't leave much room for ambiguity. Oh, and in a related story: TIGER WOODS IS ASIAN.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-27-2008 @ 8:22PM
Ken said...
Way to go Tiger. Don't let any distractions get in the way of accomplishing your goal. Stay focused, get healthy, and get back on the Tour and win as much as you can. Especially the Majors. Your the world's best golfer, and with some time , probably the best ever. Your not a politician or a messiah. Let the others squabble.
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8-29-2008 @ 4:55PM
mystercarlyle said...
Taking nothing away from Tiger's golfing ability, but he speaks as if he was running for office. If he really wants to have an impact beyond the ropes, he needs to express himself on the social and political issues that are important to Americans.
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8-27-2008 @ 11:40PM
Lakergregg said...
Hey this guy should be President, he answers questions exactly the same as Obama.
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8-28-2008 @ 9:01AM
Diane said...
I don't blame Tiger Woods for refusing to comment. Every word he says is twisted and turned by the media until it ends up as something he never actually said at all.
Tiger didn't create the English-language requirement - that was the work of the incompetent LPGA governing powers - and he can't solve the problem either. My guess is that this ridiculous decision will be declared unconstitutional long before it's supposed to take effect.
Will the European tour now require that all players speak the language of the country they're playing in? Will the Japanese tour do the same?
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8-28-2008 @ 11:18AM
DAvid Beaubien said...
The LPGA is wrong. It is there way to eliminate competition, and make sure they get the persons they wish to see win. The persons they wish to win, need to play better. It is wrong to change rules to help them win by eliminating competition from better golfers.
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8-28-2008 @ 12:15PM
Matt said...
Do you really think they made this rule thinking they were going to "eliminate the competition"? Absolutely not. The LPGA is fully expecting that the Korean (and other foreign players to cannot speak English) will learn the language and no punishments will be handed out. Learning English will not only benefit the LPGA by having its star players be accessible to the media and public, but it will help the players as well. If you want to excel in the American Sporting world, you have to speak English, period.
If Lebron James didn't speak English, would he really be the media superstar he is today?
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8-29-2008 @ 12:38AM
may said...
Hey Matt, We are all here to see how well they play not how well they can converse in english. This is a golf game and not an engilsh class. This is stupid. Who cares if they won and couldnt speak english? They can just not comment at all. Why dont LPGA only limit themselves to "American Citizens LPGA ONLY"
8-28-2008 @ 1:23PM
Atoman said...
Asking a PGA player's opinion about a LPGA policy decision is a classic "News from nowhere" tactic journalists use when there is nothing newsworthy going on in their ballywick. The LPGA decision does not affect Tiger in any way whatsoever, nor can he affect any changes in the LPGA, so why should he risk spouting off about it, even if he did have a private opinion? He is smarter than the average bear and way too smart to fall for that kind of crap question. Griffeth should switch to professional fishing as a career. He wastes a lot of people's time with these kinds of nonsense questions and I imagine annoys a lot of good people in the process of asking them. He knew Tiger wouldn't answer such a stupid question. So why did he bother to ask it? He's dumber than the average bear, that's why.
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8-29-2008 @ 1:35PM
tigerwoodsfan said...
You're wrong here. Tiger Woods CAN influence the LPGA decision in more ways than one. However, I do agree with his decision not to get involved. I'd rather see him focus and achieve his goal of breaking Nicklaus' record. But I hope (and expect) he'll be more vocal once he has accomplished (cross my fingers) that feat. As to the LPGA new rule, it must be a good one, because, if the government had that rule, George Bush would not be in office now.
8-28-2008 @ 8:45PM
Lawrence H said...
The 'English speaking' players are getting smoked out there by the 'foreigners', and they don't like it one bit.
I can hear the locker room scuttle butt from here, 'she doesn't even speak English'.
Maybe the english speaking women players should get off their asses, work harder, play better golf-then we'd hear more acceptance speeches in English. There's about 10 US players in the top 50 rankings in the world in womens golf. Coincidence of timing? Hardly.
Great golf = great TV ratings = revenue. Simple formula.
What utter, catty, distasteful nonsense.!!
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8-30-2008 @ 6:43PM
obama said...
TIGER YES U CAN YEAS VAN YES U CAN.
NO WAY NO HOW NO MCAIN
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9-17-2008 @ 6:52PM
M n M said...
good. the LPGA should be only in English, that's the language of America. It's an American tournament. If Spain had a women's golf tournament, which they might, I don't know, I would expect it to be in Spanish, since that's the language of Spain. Same thing if it were in Mexico, or France. How come if it is in America is has to be in a bunch of different languages? If women from other countries want to come here and play, then they have to learn English, that goes for everything too.
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