The three pillars upon which Tiger Woods Inc. rests are his status as perhaps the greatest golfer ever, his persona as an upstanding citizen and his philanthropic activities.
Only one of those pillars is damaged. Tiger remains perhaps the greatest golfer ever. His many charities and the Tiger Woods Foundation remain standing. Infidelity has made a lie of his life as an upstanding citizen. His image as a good husband has been rightly trashed. However, lest we forget, there is much more to Tiger than the headlines. The roof is tilting at Tiger Inc. but it isn’t falling down despite what the media would have us believe.
The timeline for his bad behavior starts (so far) after his father, Earl died. I suspect that he is holed up because he is overwhelmed with the shame of disappointing Earl. Without his father he lost his moral compass.
I hope that he is equally ashamed of how he has let down his wife, Elin. Tiger has always accepted responsibility for his performance on the golf course and learned from his mistakes. This gives us reason to hope that he will accept responsibility for cleaning up his act and making things right with Elin (if it’s not too late). The good news is Tiger has always ended up better from his struggles.
Through it all, Tiger is maintaining his right to privacy. I think he has that right. The idea that a public figure is required to spill his guts is one dreamed up by the media. I hope he holds fast.
Tiger has been found out as a dirtbag but let’s not throw him under the bus. Let’s wait and see if he can get his bearings and change himself as well as he changes his golf swing. Even Tiger deserves a chance.
