The Real Truth: Why Tiger Woods Should Not Win Another Major

Most of you will find these comments either absolutely ignorant or in some way biased.  Tiger Woods win no more majors!  How dare you say.

Yet for some time I have been getting this feeling that he will not win another major.

The reasons strike at the heart of what is good about golf, and bad about Tiger.  And they say nothing about money or fame.  For these, Tiger is assured the No. 1 position, perhaps of all time.

But what is enduring and lasting is not money.  It is reputation.  If you are without reputation, your position in history is tainted.  And for all of his wonderful play, his enduring reputation will forever be mass adultery on a scale unknown from any married player in any sport. 

If those of you who support Tiger Woods point to his defense of a "sexual addiction" or to a whole host of other excuses, most notably the fact that other athletes do the same thing, please provide me with medical acceptance of the one, or evidence of the other by married athletes.  There are of course worse excuses, like that his wife did not perform well, or that she was hard to live with.

The life of a sneaky, unembarrassed mass adulterer is one that leads to inevitable problems.  It leads to social opprobrium, and properly so, especially when children are involved.  The idea that despite the adultery, a man or woman is entitled to sympathy for their wrongful—at times, disgusting—acts, is beyond the pale.

Of course, adulterer as victim does have one saving grace.  In order to get massively self-absorbed, egotistical people back into a relationship, the better advice is to treat them as the victim.  This gives them support when needed and at times allows the relationship to continue.

But in the end, the adulterer ends up quiting the relationship.

Woods benefitted from an adoring public, amazed at his feats. 

Today, his skills are diminished.  Sure, he can still hit the ball.  But where brute strength and outstanding coordination are required, the thirties are the heart of decline.  You can point to Jack Nicklaus as an example of a winner in later years.  Yet his majors came very sporadically after his mid-30s.  Of his 18 majors, only four were won after he was thirty-five.  And that was during a career when he was largely healthy, put far less stress on his body, and had no major injuries—all unlike Tiger Woods.

If there is only one reason Tiger will not win another major, it will be mental issues.  Golf is a game of mental strength, and Tiger has had to devote more to outside tribulations than to the game itself.  And the animosity toward him is substantial.

You may say that all of this is because he is Tiger Woods.  That he was and is still subject to prejudice.  That his fellow players are more of the "serve chicken" variety (as one competitor said he would do when he returned the next year after Tiger's first win at The Masters) than the open-arms type.  That it is the country club crowd who are against him.

But morality, especially in this day and age, is essential to our future.  And if you choose to root for Tiger to win another major, as I did for years until his outlandish behavior, then you are but a part of our morality problem.  Do not root for those who are immoral.  Root for those who can say "no" to life's temptations and serve as a better example.

On the other hand, hold no animosity toward Tiger as a person.  Just as an athlete.  And root for no other majors for this man.