Earlier today it was reported that Tiger Woods hired former presidential press secretary Ari Fleischer as his new PR guy, in an attempt to help him craft his strategy for returning to professional golf. Immediately rumors started swirling around as to which tournament will be the lucky winners. Many people have been speculating Arnold Palmer’s tournament at Bay Hill, a tournament in which Woods has won six times. Others are saying the Tavistock Cup, a somewhat “friendly” competition between two high-profile golf clubs in the Orlando area, which have many elite PGA players as members. It’s also being reported by a couple sources who are close to Woods that he’ll in fact be skipping both of those tune-ups and going full-tilt-boogie right to The Masters. The strategy of that makes sense. Augusta is an extremely controlled environment from a press and crowd perspective. You aren’t going to get the beer-helmet wearing, “GET IN THE HOLE!!” type of golf fan there. Ones that would most likely serve as potential hecklers to Woods. This, I imagine would make Stevie Williams job a lot easier then. At least for now.
I know I said I was giving up writing about Tiger for Lent, but I seriously wasn’t expecting him to be back for The Masters. So here I sit with some yolky substance on my face yet again.
Whether Tiger is back for Bayhill, Tavistock, or The Masters, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that he’s back, and let the wild ride begin. Everybody is waiting to see how he’ll be welcomed. By the press, by the fans, and fellow players. One thing is for certain, the landscape has changed for Tiger. Lets see how he handles it.
