When Tiger First Cheated: We Laughed

Remember when the child prodigy appeared on The Mike Douglas Show at age two, and beat Bob Hope in a putting contest by moving his ball closer to the hole?

This was a clear violation of Rule 18-2.

The ball should have been replaced to its original position along with the assessment of a one stroke penalty.

Instead, we laughed when Tiger first cheated.

We cheered when Tiger won his third straight U.S. Amateur Championship and left college after two years.

He became a professional golfer and said hello to the world.

After Tiger won the 1997 Masters, the world said good riddance to many prejudices.

We wanted him to succeed, and he did, setting countless records along the way.

He educated us along the way with new perspectives.

He represented many races as a "Cablinasian"—an abbreviation he devised from Caucasian, Black, (American) Indian and Asian.

We admired his talent as a golfer and put him up on a pedestal.

We, along with Nike and countless other business entities, created the personal persona of Tiger Woods in our own minds.

Though we might not have known him personally, we made him perfect in every single public way.

The Tiger Woods Foundation has changed the life of millions of young people.

Tiger's impact on the PGA TOUR impacted a tremendous rise in charitable giving.

By his own admission, Tiger Woods was not perfect in every single private way.

In the eye of the storm he held up his wife Elin and children, Sam Alexis and Charlie Axel as being perfect.

We cheered when he fell...

We crucified him in public and left him hung out to dry….

Familiar story?

Merry Christmas!

Andy Reistetter is a freelance golf writer. He follows the PGA TOUR volunteering and working part time for NBC Sports, CBS Sports, and The Golf Channel.

He resides in Jacksonville Beach, Florida near the PGA TOUR headquarters and home of The PLAYERS Championship at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra Beach. He enjoys pursuing his passion for the game of golf and everything associated with it. He can be reached through his website www.MrHickoryGolf.net or by e-mailing him to [e-mail]