Let Sleeping Dogs Lie Files: Tiger and His Stanford Regret

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During Tiger's rebranding/Foundation 20th media tour, he understandably didn't have much to talk about given the state of his game. This unfortunately led to the strange comment of only having one regret: leaving Stanford with two years of eligibility remaining.

This opened the door for this analysis of the many reasons Woods had no choice but to flee Stanford. From GolfDigest.com's John Strege, who closely covered Tiger's junior and college career and said the comments "ring hollow".

1. The NCAA’s influence. It began when he was a high school sophomore and had accepted an offer of an honorary membership at Big Canyon Country Club in Newport Beach. The NCAA was concerned that Woods might be jeopardizing his college eligibility. The NCAA eventually ruled that that there was not a rules violation.

Once Woods started at Stanford, several NCAA conflicts or potential conflicts arose, among them: Writing diaries for magazines from his first Masters appearance, warranting a one-day suspension; using, in the same Masters, balls and equipment not provided by the university in potential violation of rules. “If you look at this situation objectively,” his father Earl said, “this is the perfect opportunity for Tiger to say, ‘kiss my yin, yang’ and leave school.”

Woods also was suspended briefly for having lunch with Arnold Palmer at the Silverado Resort and allowing Palmer to pay for it. “I don’t need this. It’s annoying,” he said.

Tiger was also mugged by someone who knew his name, reason enough for most of us to get out of Palo Alto!

The SI/golf.com gang kicked the topic around in this week's Tour Confidential and if you can handle the constantly wiggling web page, the discussion is interesting. From Gary Van Sickle:

VAN SICKLE: Tiger isn't delusional, he's utterly competitive. What's delusional is that he regrets leaving Stanford, where he was mugged at knifepoint on campus by someone who knew his name, and that he could've possibly remained eligible for NCAA or amateur golf after his first two years and all that went on. Other than that, it was close to the vest and, to be honest, kind of a snooze despite Rose's best efforts.

"Possibilities abound for South Shore-Jackson Park golf course"

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The Chicago Tribune's Teddy Greenstein considers the possible South Shore-Jackson Park-Obama-Woods-Keiser-Rolfing project on the South Side and gives it an endorsement, seeing plenty of potential "greatness," assuming green fees for the locals do not go up substantially.

The project has been a dream of Rolfing's that has taken an intriguing turn with the possible inclusion of Tiger Woods and now, the Obama library. I hate seeing the dreadful TPC Harding Park redesign--a massive cost overrun boondoggle with dreadful architectural results--as a precedent setter, but Greenstein notes the green fees have at least held steady:

That's what officials did at TPC Harding Park, the San Francisco course that was transformed into a facility worthy of the 2009 Presidents Cup. Senior residents of the city can play the 18 holes from Monday-Thursday for $39, about one-fourth of the standard rate.

Rolfing also wants to design a "short course" in the vein of what Harding Park has — nine holes ranging from 140-405 yards

Tiger No Shows Galore But Makes Time For Colbert, Rose!?

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It’s a sorry state of affairs, and I want to sympathize with Tiger's swing and injury issues, but celebrating the 20th anniversary of his fine Foundation and the not-so-fine launch of his rebranding with appearances on Colbert and Charlie Rose? Strange timing.

It's not a great look that he committed before pulling out of last week’s Safeway and inexplicably passed on Arnold Palmer’s funeral, yet Woods can make time for talk shows? Given the amount of money he has made thanks to Palmer’s breakthrough efforts for athletes or the intelligence gleaned by his operation from IMG as a result of Palmer and Mark McCormick’s pioneering ways, the appearances seem poorly timed (at best).

If you want to set the DVR, here is a preview often October 20th appearances from Joel Beall at GolfDigest.com.

Jason Day: Tiger Won't Be Back Until Next Year**

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Jason Day texts with Tiger Woods and has visited him and says he senses an eagerness from Tiger to return, but doesn't see it happening anytime soon.

Robert Grant, reporting on the sidelined world No. 1's comments about the sidelined former world No. 1. **

"I think he misses being out here, which is understandable because the competition is so addicting," Day said.

"He saw Phil Mickelson playing well at the (British) Open Championship, and that got him going. But he knows he can't push it.

"I never really had any faith in him coming back this year. The state of his game, I'm not sure. His back is so sore. I think we'll see him sometime next year, but I'm not sure when," he said.

Day went on to suggest winning will be tougher than ever due to the competitiveness of today's tour.

**Apologies for not catching this, but the author unfortunately chose to lift these remarks from Brian Wacker's Golf Digest feature on Tiger's low-profile existence in the greater Jupiter area. A story worth reading given the latest suggestion that Tiger tried to cram for his first tournament back and WD'd upon actually testing his game on a course.

As for dating the story October 18th and giving the impression of original reporting, the Golf Australia story should not have been posted and distributed as news.

Not April Fool's Files: Tiger Rebrands To Not Create A Dependency That Would Undo Longevity!

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It's been way too long since we've been blessed with a unique blend of authentic, frontier gibberish-speak.

But then we also didn't see Tiger Woods picking the Monday after his Safeway enter-and-the-WD to launch a rebranding and business expansion. Maybe he just felt that threatened by the Great White Shark transitioning redirecting to a single-color logo as he continues to pursue his love of hurricane-induced fitness, chainsaws and shirtless golf tips (and that's just in the last week!).

Elizabeth Segran of Fast Company got the exclusive lowdown on TGR, Tiger's new Magic/Lebron/Jack/Arnold-like empire of brands complete with a new logo "made up of three triangles that look like a tiger's stripes and also resemble a W."

Key word, resemble.

The story includes plenty of photo gallery fun and no shortage of prime B-speak. But why, oh why a rebranding now?

Though Woods's overall brand has been tarnished by highly publicized personal-life scandals, TGR will give him a platform from which to launch the next stage of his career. He had been thinking about building this kind of umbrella operation for several years now, but only began nailing down the details last December, shortly after his 40th birthday. Woods and key executives from his existing businesses started strategizing ways to create a brand that would take advantage of his position as one of the world's most recognizable athletes, but would not necessarily be directly tied to golf. They brought in Sub Rosa to help define what TGR would stand for and how it could scale across a wide range of industries. "If chapter one began when he was first on national television playing golf, now it's Tiger, the enterprise or Tiger, the portfolio activator," says Kempler. "He has a really clear mind-set about what his personal brand means."

Portfolio activator. I'm just going to give that gem some time to breathe.

Ok, continue on sir...

Sub Rosa was tasked with incorporating these ideas into the TGR narrative, so that as the brand scaled and entered new markets, it would be instantly identifiable as an extension of Woods. But they also wanted to create a business that could exist apart from its namesake, like, say, Paul Newman's food empire. "How can Tiger's global fame and recognizability both empower the new brand, but not create a dependency that would undo longevity?" says Kempler, describing the kinds of conversations he's had with Woods.

Translation: when you move on the Big Cat's Big 18 In The Sky, we want people to be able to keep making money off of your name, because we know how much you love that.

And there was this story ending...

Of course, Woods could, at the age of 40, still have many years ahead of him as a competitive golfer. Given his famously intense training regimen and diverse business interests, how will he manage everything? "I pride myself on being efficient," he says. "I also don't sleep much."

The story also speculated Woods might use the Nike equipment demise to start a club company. Mike Johnson considered that and the many other nuggets from the story in this GolfDigest.com assessment.

With the golf club business stagnant, it’s not clear how Woods could make a golf startup buck the current trends. That said, it’s also not clear how Woods could hope to negotiate a golf endorsement contract anywhere similar to the deals current top players like Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy are bringing in, let alone the last deal he signed with Nike in 2013. So starting his own golf club company could have a certain appeal.

Still, Woods hasn’t tipped his hand that he’s exploring other golf equipment deals yet. In footage from a charity outing at Pebble Beach last week, he was still clearly using Nike clubs. And while he’s still apparently a few months from competing again, that’s not enough time to start a new golf club company.

But the Nike deal is set to expire 2018, which gives Woods time to explore his own equipment brand.

Tiger: "It was the ultimate capitulation."

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As John Strege notes, the combination of rain, an already oversaturated product re-starting way too soon, and Tiger's WD has the new PGA Tour season dragging.

But as he always does, Tiger still overshadows the week. The SI gang kicked around his WD in this week's Confidential, with Alan Shipnuck declaring the end nigh and the WD the ultimate capitulation.

I also thought this from Gary Van Sickle is a key point for those trying, a week later, to understand how someone enters a tournament on Friday and WD's on Monday.

Johnny Miller said he wasn’t convinced Tiger would play give how gingerly Tiger got in and out of the carts at the Ryder Cup. Back surgery isn’t knee surgery, and knee surgery is no snap. Maybe Tiger is so used to being able to cobble together a game in a few days that he forgot that everything — his age, his body, his desire — is different now.

Roundup: Tiger Takes Safe Way Out At Expense Of Credibility

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I've read your comments and taken in the Tiger Woods/Safeway Open WD stories from as many golf writers as possible.

It appears we all pretty much agree...

A) Tiger Woods may be afflicted with injury-induced golf yips that have not gone away and are not close to going away. What part of his game they afflict is not clear and not really important.

B) Tiger has had some strange and irresponsible moments, yet committing with last Friday while planning a weekend "cram" session to find a final something appears irresponsible even for someone who wisely made clear all along that this was a maybe start.

C) Tiger continues to allow surrogates to peddle stories about his comeback and he's making them look bad with such erratic behavior, statements and a fear of teeing it up on a big stage.

D) Passing on Arnold Palmer's funeral should have been a sign...

E) Jesper Parnevik was either full of malarkey, saw some nice range work, or was getting some sort of revenge. Or all of the above.

This is all rather sad except for Woods committing when he was apparently not even slightly sold his game was ready to go. He had bought himself leeway when he announced his return and still managed to bungle this.

How much of a role the expected Mickelson and Steph Curry pairings played is not known. But someone so rusty could not have been looking forward to the added pressures in his comeback attempt.

Tim Rosaforte reporting the news on Golf Channel.

Tiger's statement with the "vulnerable" word.

Steve DiMeglio of USA Today called the announcement, which also included a WD from the Turkish Airlines Open a month from now, "stunning".

He also had this from agent Mark Steinberg. Given where locker room talk has gone the last week, this might not have been the imagery I'd have peddled if I were his ten-percenter...

“He was really looking forward to competing, to playing, to being in the locker room again,” Steinberg said. “He really missed being in the locker room. At the Ryder Cup he was in the locker room and he felt great being in there. He was ready to go. But when he ramped it up the past few days, hole by hole he realized his game was just not responding in the way he wanted it to.”

**Steve Flesch noted that the locker room stuff is nonsense (shocker I know) given that Tiger really has never socialized with this peers.

ESPN.com's Bob Harig called Tiger's blunt admission of his current deficiencies "jarring," also offering additional explanation from Steinberg about future starts. The explanation isn't adding up.

Steinberg said Woods felt he didn't believe it was "appropriate'' to make his return at the Turkish Airlines Open, a European Tour event. It was out of "respect for the PGA Tour'' that he is skipping that tournament abroad next month, not some doom and gloom scenario that keeps him from being ready then.

Of course, there are other PGA Tour events after that and before the Hero World Challenge in December in the Bahamas, where Woods hosts the annual tournament for his foundation.

Johnny Miller was among those quoted by John Strege, reporting from Silverado Resort, where players were most shocked and saddened. Johnny had a feeling this was coming.

“I just had a feeling. Everybody in the world was texting me, offering me congratulations [on Tiger playing Silverado]. I wrote back, ‘I’ll believe he’s coming when he tees off first thing Thursday morning on the first tee.’ My gut is that he wanted to come, but the hoopla, even on the Golf Channel the last couple days, he must be looking at that thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh. What am I getting into? I’d like to be home, taking my kids to school, running my restaurant, nothing like having to posting a score.’

“He’s got to suck up the pressure of it all, the tension, and go back in there and mix it up. It’s hard to do, because once you get away from the tour, life can be so sweet when you’re not so judgmental. The hardest thing about golf is the score. The greatest thing about golf is the score. If you post the scores you win. It’s the greatness of golf. Frank Sinatra at 70 probably couldn’t sing a lick, but he didn’t have to post a score.”

All of Johnny's interview on Golf Channel's Golf Central coverage is worth listening too.

Stanford buddy Notah Begay was left on Golf Channel to defend the indefensible.

The two spoke on the phone Monday, and Begay believes that Woods' decision - which came just three days after he formally committed to the event - is the product of one last self-assessment of his game.

"The hurricane didn't help, and he had some concerns about the sharpness of his game," Begay said.

"Everyone knows there's going to be rust. Everybody knows there's going to be shots that he's going to call on that might not come off the way he wanted. But after talking to him this morning, he just didn't feel like his game was where he wanted it to be to be competitive."

Randall Mell says as far as WD's go, this one was a stunner and bad form.

His using the word “vulnerable” is yet another sign that his struggle with uncertainty is growing. Why commit to the tournament Friday if there was any doubt?

Woods WD is really bad form, hurting a tournament and all the fans invested in the excitement he created committing, but it’s also a revelation as to how deep his doubts really go. To WD this late knowing the backlash it creates against him says a lot about how his psyche is more tender than his back now. 

Golfweek's Jeff Babineau offered the kindest, most sympathetic assessment.

So to be safe, he turns to a stage hand and asks that the curtain not go up. Some in the audience will understand; others will not. Regardless of emotions, all will have to wait for another day.

Know this: Plenty of folks will take this latest setback and take the opportunity to write off Woods, to tell you he’s done. This will only fuel him. He takes more notes than anyone. The naysayers have little idea just how stubborn this man is.

AP's Nancy Armour was more blunt, suggesting Tiger "might not play another competitive round of golf again."

I hope that isn’t true. His star power and success are great for the game, attracting people who wouldn’t otherwise watch a golf tournament. Even if he never matches Jack Nicklaus’ major total, he’s one of those rare athletes you can’t help but watch.

But it’s time to acknowledge reality.

More ominous than Woods’ announcement Monday that he won’t be playing this week’s Safeway Open after all was his withdrawal from the Turkish Airlines Open. That’s a tournament that doesn’t begin until next month — Nov. 3, to be exact.

Karen Crouse in the New York Times:

Woods, 40, appears to be experiencing performance anxiety, and really, who in his position would not feel a little like the emperor with no game? In the statement on his website, Woods described his game as “vulnerable and not where it needs to be.”

His candid assessment called to mind a line from “I Said Yes to Everything,” the memoir of the Academy Award-winning actress Lee Grant. In it, she wrote, “The problem when you are a star, when the money rests on you as an actor, is that your freedom to fail is gone.”

Ewan Murray in The Guardian wrote that "Tiger Woods’s career outlook has taken its latest bleak turn."

James Corrigan in the Telegraph says the "news was the equivalent of a large nail being driven through an ever-expanding balloon."

Derek Lawrenson went another way, asking if we have "ever seen a more shocking example of sporting stage fright?"

According to Golfweek's stat guru, this week would have been his 75th start since 2010, in that time he has 7 WD’s.