I write this with a slight watering of the eye after watching five and a half hours of the most extraordinarily, exhilarating and inspiring golf, culminating in Tiger Woods winning The Masters for the first time since 2005 and his first Major title since 2008. It’s his fifteenth Major to close to within three of Jack Nicklaus’s record (18) and the first one that he has won without leading going into the final round. Prior to it happening, Gary Player suggested that should Tiger win, it would be the greatest achievement in the history of the game. He’s accomplished this after numerous knee operations, four major back operations, the last one to fuse two vertebrae, and overcoming numerous personal and physical issues that would have sunk almost anyone else. He even had the chipping yips and having suffered myself for many years I know what an extraordinary feat it is, just to overcome those, especially under the intense pressure of trying to win another Major on one the the trickiest short game courses in the world.
A friend of mine said to me recently “expect nothing and you won’t be disappointed”. I suppose when it comes to friends that’s not a bad thought, if a little depressing and I really hope friends don’t see me in that light. But I guess we’ve all experienced the fickle nature of friendship and how unreliable people can be, sadly. The old maxim “a friend in need, is a friend indeed” is so true. When you do find that lovely friend who can be totally trusted and relied upon to be there whenever you need them……don’t let them go! However, I’m equally certain that it’s not something that we should apply to our own wants and desires, in fact exactly the opposite. Surely in everything we do we should aim for the stars and if we fall short, so be it, but to allow the prospect of disappointment to limit our ambition would be a terrible way to live. It was intriguing to read some of the recent articles about James Cracknell after his recent success rowing for Cambridge in the Boat Race. What an incredible inspiration he is. So too Tiger Woods. He was never limited by the fear of disappointment or indeed the fear of failure. As the time-worn old saying goes it really is better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all. I wish I could persuade my thirteen year old son of that. All his young life he has been terrified of failure, not least for appearing stupid in front of friends and that fear has often limited his ambition. I wish I could find a way to make him realise that nobody will laugh if you always give of your best and if they do, they are lesser people than you. If you have any suggestions…….?
Meanwhile, imagine how Tiger Woods must be feeling now. To have overcome the ignominy of his dramatic fall from grace, the self-destruction of the pedestal upon which he had placed himself, to then return to the summit of his profession and achieve a feat that no right-minded person ever thought possible leaves one almost speechless in admiration. He’s won again against a raft of the World’s best players, many of whom grew up watching, admiring and even hero-worshipping him. I’ve known Tiger since he was an amateur, in a professional capacity. I’ve interviewed him often and walked alongside him on fairways more times than I can remember as he’s scaled the heights and plumbed the depths. He went from being approachable and friendly in the early days to cold and unwelcoming as the pressures of international fame forced him into his armoured shell. I had a notorious set-to with him in the World Matchplay Championship at Wentworth when he thought I had accused him of not trying. He and his manager Mark Steinberg spent an hour on the phone to my BBC Producer that evening complaining about the interview and demanding an apology. Ironically my bosses had all congratulated me on the interview at the time, but changed their tune after Steinberg’s accusation of gutter journalism. For the record, I actually said that I had heard others (including Andrew Cotter one of our commentators) saying that he appeared not to be giving one hundred per cent and I presumed that wasn’t the case. I confess that after that there were times when I was happy to see him suffer, in a professional sense anyway, but along with the rest of the golfing world I pay homage to a truly momentous feat and accept that he must now be recognised as the greatest golfer of all time……and he’s not done yet!
2FE
ADayInTheStrifeOf 