Tiger Woods: Should He Spend More Time on His Golf Game Than His Image?
Tiger Woods has spent his time recently trying to work on his image as we near the anniversary of the news of his scandal that made news most of this past year.
Since then he's struggled on the golf course and hasn't been the same type of player that dominated the sport of golf for years. The timing of this has been noted by a lot of people in the media and as Tiger's golf season has all but come to an end, it begs the question, what should he be focusing his attention on, his golf game, or his image?
Inside I give you five reasons (marked yes) as to why he should be working on his image and five reasons (marked no) as to why he should focus on the game of golf.
What do you think he should be doing and do you ever think Tiger will rebound and pass Jack Nicklaus for most major championships won?
5. Yes: Reports and Rumors Over Last Year
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For so long, the media and gossip rags and speculation has dictated the story about Tiger Woods and his image.
Now, Tiger is taking his image back into his own hands and he's going to tell the story about the type of person he is and he can form his image however he chooses. He's painting himself as a person who reaches out and connects with his fans and is a loving, dedicated father.
It's not a bad strategy at all.
5. No: You Can't Change the Past
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No matter what Tiger Woods says or does, nothing will ever change what we found out about him last year.
Sure, you can change the conversation, but at the end of the day, we will always remember Tiger Woods and what he did with all of those women when he was married to his wife. Nothing will ever make us forget those stories.
He's wasting his time if he thinks he can fix that.
4. Yes: Lost Sponsorships
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Before the scandal last year, Tiger Woods had numerous sponsorships with multiple companies and made millions upon millions of endorsement dollars.
Now, Tiger still has endorsements, but he's nowhere near the cash cow that he used to be in years past. Gone are the days of Tiger being a wholesome pitchman that you could sell to middle America. If Tiger wants those days back, and prove that people will buy things he's associated with, he has to improve his image.
Tiger's being very calculated about this and this family man image he's cooking up doesn't hurt his chances at future endorsements.
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4. No: Doesn't Seem Genuine
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We've seen Tiger Woods and his behavior before. What part of this seems like this is all coming from the bottom of his heart.
I think people would rather see Tiger be genuine with them and I don't think many people think that what Woods is doing is something he felt like doing, but it something he felt he had to do to avoid more bad press when the year anniversary of his incident came about.
I think what he's doing is phony and I think a lot of people see it that way too.
3. Yes: Changing Relationship Between Athletes and Fans
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In today's day and age, there's a different relationship between athletes and their fans.
With Twitter, fans can get added insight to what their idols are like and athletes can communicate with their fans like never before. It turned Chad Ochocinco into a bigger star than he already was and has done the same for a lot of players.
It's not shocking that an athlete like Tiger turned to something like Twitter to interact with his fans, especially after they supported him when he came back to golf.
3. No: Major Wins Record
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Tiger Woods still believes he can break Jack Nicklaus' record for most majors won in a career. Now it's time to go out on the course and make it happen.
Going on Twitter won't fix it and neither will this media tour that he did trying to get himself some good publicity. He's really said nothing in any of his quotes so it's just time to focus on golf and fix the holes in his game from last year.
If winning the most majors is his goal, he needs to focus on that, not his image.
2. Yes: Distance From Fans in Past
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Tiger Woods has never been an athlete who's really been hands on with his fans.
In the past, the golfer has always seem at a distance and a person that we never really knew much about until this scandal really broke. I think that's why he got all of those endorsements. We didn't know who the real Tiger was so he got this wholesome image.
Now that he's reaching out, we'll start to understand who the real Tiger is. Evidently one that loves wearing shorts during phone interviews.
2. No: Scandals Pass in Time
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There have been plenty of athletes and celebrities who have been involved in a scandal during their time in the public eye.
And in time, all of them pass and people put much less emphasis on them. Ask Kobe Bryant. How many people bring up his rape accusations when speaking of him these days? Not many. If you try and move on from them and not remind people of them, they go away.
The same will happen for Tiger. We don't need this media blitz to try and make us forget. Go out on the course and win a major and that will go much longer towards making us forget about it. It's sad, but it's also true at the same time.
1. Yes: One Year Anniversary
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In less than a week, we'll be at the one year anniversary of the car accident that launched one of the biggest scandals in sports history.
Tiger Woods and his people thought it was best to cut off all of the negative press that would come with it and do this media blitz and get his name out there in a positive light. He's talking to fans on Twitter, he's doing interviews with Mike and Mike and he's writing pieces about being a father. It's all to try and get people to focus on the good, not last year's bad.
It's a smart move that Woods and his people had probably discussed for a while.
1. No: Lack of Wins
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Tiger Woods didn't win a single tournament he played in this year. Something that never happens to someone of Tiger's skill.
He just didn't look the same at all on the golf course this year, and it's evident that he has a ton of work to do on his game to get it back to where it once was when he was dominating the field and winning major championship after major championship.
He's spent the past year trying to improve his image, now it's time for golf. It's time to ignore all of that and work on the golf swing.
Conclusion
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In the end, Tiger Woods is a golfer, plain and simple and that's where his focus should lie, not with some image rehab.
Love him or hate him, you'll watch if he's in contention on Sunday and you'll check to see how he does in tournaments. That's just how it is, regardless of how you feel about what he did to his wife and family. He had the worst season of his career last year and he needs to turn it around. Once he does, the focus on the scandal that proceeded this slump will start to be forgotten.
No amount of public relations can smooth this over the way making people forget about it on the golf course can.
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