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 “Anywhere with my dad,” Woods said a few months ago. “It doesn’t matter where. It just doesn’t matter. It could the smallest municipal course or the most exclusive country club, as long as it’s with my dad. It’s not about the golf. It’s about being with my pop and enjoying the day.” The elder Woods has been battling cancer for years and it appears that he’s losing the war. It’s tough for any child to watch a parent suffer, but Woods, who is fiercely guarded about his private life, must deal with his grief publicly. At the Players Championship in March, Woods flew to Cypress before the start of play to visit his father, who is “trying to hang in there, which is a very positive sign,” he said. “The situation for our entire family is obviously not easy,” Woods said. “But hey, it’s just one of those things you have to deal with. Everyone has to deal with that at some point in time in their life and, unfortunately, right now it’s our time.” Woods has hinted that he will take time off from golf when his father’s health worsens. He took five weeks off at the beginning of the year and said he felt refreshed. “It puts things in perspective real quick,” Woods said. “You hit a bad shot and you want to get upset with yourself because you know you can hit better shots, but you know what, in the whole scheme of things, it’s just a golf shot.” For Woods, however, a golf shot will always be linked to his father. It was Earl who introduced Tiger to the game, swinging a club in the garage while his infant son watched from a crib. Over the years, the lessons on the golf course became connected to lessons on life. “It started with quality time conversations between Tiger and I when we were on the road at [junior] golf tournaments when he was about 13 years old,” Earl said a few years ago. “These conversations continued through the years. The crux of the thing was I told him you’re going to be the first non-white superstar in golf. How are you going to handle it and what are you going to do?” Lessons about caring and sharing were instilled at that time, and Woods started the Tiger Woods Foundation in 1996 to give back to the community. The Tiger Woods Learning Center that recently opened in Anaheim could be a lasting legacy for Tiger, but none of it would have been possible without Earl. “Please forgive me, but sometimes I get very emotional when I talk about my son,” Earl said years ago at an awards dinner. “My heart fills with so much joy when I realize that this young man is going to be able to help so many people. He will transcend this game and bring to the world a humanitarianism that has never been known before.” The bond between Tiger and his father is invaluable to both men. When that bond physically breaks, it will be a sad day for Tiger, but he will know that the man who nurtured him also taught him lessons that will be passed on to Tiger’s children and children all over the world. John Reger has been covering professional golf since 1995. If you have a question or comment, e-mail him at cascribe@aol.com. |
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