The Golf Channel pre dated Tiger Woods' popularity.
True, but it was an extreme niche market, made up mostly of lame 'lesson' shows and early versions of infomercials.
The other reason is, he is a Dick. If you say or do the wrong thing he'll freze you ot like he did Fluff Walden and Butch Harmon.
Two sides to those stories. Tiger has a good reputation on tour as a professional, a decent guy, and someone who is great to play with. This is confirmed by a friend of mine who has covered three Masters tournaments and two US Opens. He says you ask around and the consensus on Tiger is almost unanimously positive.
You know who isn't very popular among his peers? Phil Mickelson. Phil has a nickname, among golf writers, and fellow players. It's "FIGJAM". Look it up.
Stephen Ames played a charity game with another friend of mine in Ontario. He hits this six iron stiff to about 15 feet. My buddy says "good shot". His reply? "Maybe for you", and keeps walking. Now THERE'S a dick.
There's a lot of reputed 'dicks' on tour - but you don't often hear Tiger's name among them.
The boys at CBS are the biggest Tiger whores in the world. As much as I love Faldo, Mchord and Fehrety they are there for one reason. To make people tune in and see the greatest human in the world ply his trade. The thing is there are lots of other great players in the world, but because they aren't Jesus with a Swoosh on their bag, hat, shirt and shoes we rarely ever see or hear of them. Look at that shot Harrinton made out of the bunker on Friday it was otherworldly. Did anyone see it? Probably not. But if Tiger had done it My God it would have led the evening news on CBS.
Ratings skyrocket when he's in contention. When he's not, they plummet. Do the math. BTW, they re-played Harrington's amazing 3-wood about a dozen times before ending coverage for the day. Golf Channel ditto.
I watched yesterday's round wire to wire - and there were stretches where you didn't see any Tiger at all. They also did a great job talking up Yang's previous successes - which included an Asian Tour event where Yang beat Tiger. They had quite a few closeup analyses of Yang's swing and ball contact as well. Just like they did the other day with Padraig. Just like any other telecast.
For years all we heard was look at how far Tiger hits the ball, he is the longest ever. Now Harrington blows it by him and Yang was at least as long and nobody ever mentions it.
Um, yeah. Harrington wasn't "blowing it by him". What the hell were you watching? Tiger is 26th on tour in driving distance. Harrington is below the tour average. 'Nuff said. Yang was about as far as Tiger a couple times - because Yang hit Driver and Woods hit a 3-wood. Or Yang hit driver and Woods hit a 3-Iron. Duh.
It wasn't just Tiger's distance that made him a star - it was the seemingly unlimited bag of shots he could execute on command - sweeping draws and fades of varying degrees, the 'stinger' shots, and what has become the undisputed best short game and recovery game ever.
I don't worship at the altar of Tiger, and he's far from perfect (as quite evidenced sunday
), but he also is in a fishbowl under a microscope each and every time he plays. Those reactions after bad shots happen all the time, with lots of players. But the cameras not always on them.
Criticize him, sure - but a lot of what you said has no basis in fact.
