{"id":500133,"date":"2026-03-28T13:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500133\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T13:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T13:33:10","slug":"golf-fans-always-forgive-tiger-woods-but-his-fall-is-both-sad-and-bad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/500133\/","title":{"rendered":"Golf fans always forgive Tiger Woods, but his fall is both sad and bad"},"content":{"rendered":"

Of all the weekends in the calendar year, this may be the greatest. Our clocks go forward, days get longer, summer is on the horizon and the Masters golf tournament is around the corner. There was a story the other day about the 2026 gnome which will be the best-selling item in Augusta National\u2019s much loved merchandise shops. Heaven help me, I read that story.\u00a0<\/p>\n

I read, too, my colleague Rick Broadbent\u2019s story about the release of the Amazon Prime documentary, Rory McIlroy: The Masters Wait<\/a>. There are indeed new insights. McIlroy and his Sunday playing partner Bryson DeChambeau had a contretemps on the 9th green over who should putt first. This was important as the player putting first had the chance to put pressure on the other. Each thought his ball was further from the hole and therefore had the right to play first.\u00a0<\/p>\n

DeChambeau suggested flipping a tee. McIlroy said no, saying instead that they should call a rules official. It was then that the American backed down. McIlroy putted first and made it. Under pressure, DeChambeau missed. A three-shot deficit became four. DeChambeau was done. His tournament over. I remember two young American fans standing alongside as that little drama played out. They rooted for Rory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And then, late on Friday, to remind us that there\u2019s no escape from bad news, another police mugshot of Tiger Woods<\/a> appeared on our news feeds. The latest trouble follows on from a road accident not far from his home in Jupiter Island, Florida. It was early afternoon on Friday, driving his black Land Rover, that Woods tried to overtake a truck pulling a wide trailer. The Land Rover clipped the back end of the trailer and rolled on to its side, skidding quite a distance before coming to a stop. He\u2019d been travelling at high speed in a 30mph zone.<\/p>\n

\"TigerSkidmarks near Woods\u2019s overturned vehicleMartin County Sheriff\u2019s Office\/AP<\/p>\n

Woods was able to climb out through the passenger\u2019s door. Neither he nor the lorry driver was injured. Arriving at the scene, police found Woods to be \u201clethargic\u201d and showing signs of \u201cimpairment.\u201d They were satisfied he\u2019d not been drinking, something confirmed by a breathalyser test. Woods refused to provide a urine sample and was charged with driving under the influence (DUI), property damage and the refusal to provide urine.<\/p>\n

A friend remarked on the sadness of a sporting icon dragged so low. It isn\u2019t just sad. It is also bad. Nine years ago, police found Woods asleep at the wheel of his still-running Mercedes on Military Trail in Jupiter. The car had two flat tyres and a damaged front bumper. Woods had five prescription drugs in his system. After being arrested, he was given 20 hours of community service and ordered to attend a workshop at which victims of impaired drivers talked about how their lives were damaged.<\/p>\n

\"FILES-US-POLITICS-JUSTICE-TRUMP-MUGSHOT\"Woods\u2019s mugshot from 2017, after he was found asleep at the wheel intoxicated by prescription drugsPalm Beach County Sheriff\u2019s Office\/AFP\/getty<\/p>\n

The police dropped the DUI charge and Woods pleaded guilty to reckless driving. He later attributed his mistake to \u201can unexpected reaction to prescription medications\u201d. That didn\u2019t sound like contrition, neither did it seem that Woods had accepted responsibility. This was the second road accident in a list that would eventually rise to four. <\/p>\n

\"TigerWoods is driven from Martin County jail after he was released on Friday nightJoe Raedle\/Getty<\/p>\n

The first happened in November 2009. A minor incident in the driveway of his home after an argument with his wife at the time, Elin. Tom Callahan, the sports writer, perfectly described the fallout from that. \u201cGolf never needed a shower more than it did after Tiger Woods careered off a fire hydrant into a tree, shaking loose a multitude of cocktail waitresses, lingerie models and porn actresses, none of whom accused him of gentleness,\u201d Callahan wrote. \u201cForgetting morality, Tiger had done the absolute last thing anyone ever expected him to do. He made himself ridiculous.\u201d Damning, but perhaps not wrong.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three months later, Woods apologised at a televised event at the PGA\u2019s headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Florida. \u201cThe issue involved here was my repeated irresponsible behaviour,\u201d he began. \u201cI was unfaithful. I had affairs. I cheated. What I did is not acceptable, and I am the only person to blame. I stopped living by the core values that I was taught to believe in. I knew my actions were wrong, but I convinced myself that normal rules didn\u2019t apply. I was wrong. I was foolish. I don\u2019t get to play by different rules. The same boundaries that apply to everyone apply to me. I brought this shame on myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know who wrote that apology, but it sure as hell wasn\u2019t Woods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He knew us far better than we knew him. He understood time would pass and memories dim. Back on the golf course, he would do things to win back many of those he\u2019d lost. Of all the victories, his 2019 Masters was the most loved, the most celebrated. Golf fans were eager to forgive him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TigerWoods\u2019s miraculous win at Augusta in 2019 is among his most celebratedAndrew Redington\/Getty<\/p>\n

Two months later, at the US Open at Pebble Beach, Woods wasn\u2019t in contention but his gallery dwarfed everyone else\u2019s. I fell in with Robert Drlicka, a Texan, who said he\u2019d travelled 1,700 miles from Austin to support Woods. Robert wore a straw hat with a tiger on top, the words \u201cNever Give Up\u201d printed on the side. I asked what drew him to Woods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you hit your lows,\u201d he said, \u201cyou struggle for a little while. And then you just have to get up. He\u2019s telling his body to do things it doesn\u2019t want to do and that is fantastic. That\u2019s a lesson for all of us.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"ADrlicka said we could all learn from Woods\u2019s resilienceDavid Cannon\/Getty<\/p>\n

Woods last played the Masters in 2024. Because of a rain delay on the first day, he had to play 23 holes on the second day. It was windy and cold. For a 48-year-old who\u2019d had multiple knee and back surgeries, who has lived with a lot of pain through his adult life, that day was a tough walk. If you looked, you could see he was limping.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the par-three 6th hole, I stood high on the bank behind the green. Alongside me was a young man, mid-thirties, with his hands on his girlfriend\u2019s shoulders. He talked a lot faster than Woods walked. \u201cYou see where Tiger\u2019s ball is?\u201d he said to his girlfriend. \u201cYeah,\u201d she replied. \u201cI\u2019m telling you, he could chip this in.\u201d \u201cReally?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\"TheWoods made the cut at the Masters for the 24th time in a row in 2024Mike Blake\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Woods reached the green, pulled a wedge from his bag and holed the chip. Good pace, it was going nowhere but into the cup. My neighbour on the bank was beside himself.\u00a0\u201cI said he would chip it in, didn\u2019t I? F***ing great shot, awesome shot.\u201d His girlfriend approved. Maybe golf wasn\u2019t boring after all.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Through 23 holes on that Friday, Woods chipped and putted beautifully, easily making the cut. His 24th consecutive time to do so. Another record. Afterwards, he wasn\u2019t exactly flattered by our mentioning this. \u201cWell, you can\u2019t win the golf tournament unless you\u2019re here for the weekend,\u201d he said, more to appease us than anything.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"name\"Playing at the TGL indoor simulator championship on Tuesday, Woods said he wanted to be in the Masters field next monthReinhold Matay\/AP<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone through different phases, at first sitting somewhere near the back but in the hall with those unenthused by his dominance. For almost a decade he was too clinical, too machine-like. Like a poker-faced card player, he laid his hand on the table and swept up the winnings. Things changed over the past 15 years as Woods relaxed a little, offered us more of himself and became easier to like.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Appreciative of what he gave us on the golf course, now we can only wonder why he never employed a full-time driver and how he got himself into this latest situation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Of all the weekends in the calendar year, this may be the greatest. Our clocks go forward, days…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":500134,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-500133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500133"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500133\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500134"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}