Sports Then and Now

Tiger Woods is going to talk on Friday, but how much will he really say?

If the media is to be believed, when Tiger Woods speaks in public on Friday morning for the first time since his infamous accident last November it will be one of the biggest events in the history of sports. One teaser even went as far as to suggest that you will forever remember where you were when Tiger spoke. Really!?

Like many Americans, I have spent the last decade and a half watching with amazement the golf domination of Tiger Woods.

It isn’t just that he has won 14 major championships and millions of dollars in earning, but he has performed with both a consistency and a flair that has captured the interest and imagination of countless sports fans.

Even people who really don’t care much for golf often have not been able to stay away from the television when Woods is in the hunt at one of the major championships.

That aura has transcended to the advertising world as Tiger has become one of the most recognized “pitchmen” in the world as his multi-cultural heritage has made him a star around the globe.

Part of what made Woods so captivating was that even though his wealth and talent were well beyond the comprehension of most people, there was also still a human quality that helped him connect with those of us who could only dream of having such talent or wealth. Read the rest of this entry →

Tearing down Tiger has become the latest sport for the world media.

I got an e-mail earlier today from the editor of one of the sports sites to which I occasionally post material. He said that the best way to immediately increase traffic for your articles was to write something about Tiger Woods. Over the last week their site has seen record traffic and they even had to add a new section on their site just to accommodate the volume of articles about Tiger.

Now I am all in favor of doing anything I can to increase visibility for the great work that a growing number of talented writers are producing on the Sports Then and Now network of web sites. However, I’m slightly conflicted by the fact that ST&N is a sports web site and except for the fact that Woods’ car accident last Friday morning caused him to cancel an appearance at a golf tournament, most of what has been covered over the last week really has almost nothing to do with sports.

Of course, I guess you could call tearing down a legend to be a kind of sport of its own. At least it seems to be a favorite sport of the media.

As a resident of the Orlando area, over the last week it has been almost impossible to watch television, listen to the radio or pick up the newspaper without reading about Woods, his accident and his alleged indiscretions. Media from across the globe have descended on the normally quiet Windermere area that Woods’ has called home for more than a decade.

This morning I was at a meeting with Gary Bruhn, the mayor of the Town of Windermere. Even though Woods actually lives in an unincorporated portion of Orange County that has a Windermere mailing address, the mayor and the city have been thrust into the spotlight and forced to deal with the residual impact of the incident. Read the rest of this entry →

Rich Beem is one of 27 golfers whose victory at the PGA Championship makred their only win in a major.

Like the musical group that had one big hit then faded off into the world of elevator music and reunion tours, the PGA Championship has more than its share of champions whose greatest moment under the professional golf sun came at the final major of the season.

Names like Jim Turnesa, Chandler Harper, John Mahaffey, Wayne Grady, Jeff Sluman Shaun Micheel and Rich Beem grace the victory roster at the PGA Championships while golf greats including Arnold Palmer, Nick Faldo, Hale Irwin and Seve Ballesteros never claimed the crown.

Of the four major championships, the PGA Championship has by far been the kindest to players looking for their first (and in many cases only) major championship.

Since World War II, 37 golfers have claimed their first major title at the PGA Championship. This compares to 33 for the U.S. Open, 26 for the British Open and 24 for the Masters.
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Bob Rosburg

In recognition of the upcoming PGA Championship, the Sports Then and Now Vintage Athlete of the Week is the golfer who 50 years ago claimed his only major championship by winning the PGA Championship at the Minneapolis Golf Club.

To generations of golf fans, Bob Rosburg is best known for his more than 30 years as a golf commentator for ABC. He is credited with pioneering the now common practice of roaming the course to report the action.

However, Rosburg was even better at playing golf than he was reporting on it.
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Tom Watson

Evidently the only person at the British Open (referred to as the Open Championship in England) who doesn’t know that Tom Watson is nearly 60-years-old is Watson himself. Playing against a field of golfers in which many are half his age, Watson enters the final round of golf’s oldest championship with a one-stroke lead.

Now there was a time when Tom Watson leading after 54-holes of the British Open surprised no one. After all, the only player with more Open Championships than the American is Harry Vardon, who last won the title in 1916.

However, just in case you weren’t sure, this is 2009, not 1977 or 1983. Watson is no longer the young golfer who won his first major championship at age 25 and all eight of his major championships before turning 34.
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Arnold Palmer was the first American in the modern era to regularly play in the British Open.

The absence from The Open Championship (often referred outside of England as The British Open) of Tiger Woods last year and the decision by Phil Mickelson not to make the trek across the pond this year harkens back to a time when it was common practice for the top Americans to skip golf’s oldest championship.

Of course, both Woods (knee surgery) and Mickelson (family illness) have legitimate reasons for not competing in the only major tournament not played in the United States. However, had it not been for a decision nearly 50 years ago by popular American golfer Arnold Palmer to compete in The Open, it is possible that the list of great Americans not playing in the tournament would be significantly longer.

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