Tiger Woods: Grading His Attempts to Win His Fans Over... Again
Tiger Woods' life was hit with a wake-up call when he crashed into a fire hydrant just over a year ago.
What followed such a minor crash became one of the biggest freefalls among modern sports figures.
No longer was Woods the pinnacle of the sports world, he had been reduced to the likes of mere mortals.
His mistakes went from non-existent to monumental. As expected, Tiger responded.
So how effective has he been?
Denial
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By far the worst tactic Woods could have used.
Two days after the accident, his hollow internet statements lacked any kind of personality to back them up.
Woods could have very easily avoided the questions or the criticism to come by not commenting at the time.
Although he has been criticized for his secretive personal life this was a time where privacy could have been respected.
At this point, Tiger would have been best served by thanking his fans for the support but postponing further comment. Calling many of the then rumors "false" and "malicious" only set him up on a tee.
Admitting...
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Just three days after the denial of those rumors, Tiger Woods admitted to his "transgressions."
Real specific.
The statement was yet again was from behind a computer monitor.
Tiger had refused to talk to anyone at this point.
As simple as it was, calling a sports reporter to release a statement would have been more effective.
Why?—Sometimes admitting things is not enough, especially at his level with the media.
Calling and telling a reporter would have shown he was willing to talk about it to an extent. Instead, Tiger stayed in his bunker, stirring even more controversy. Another gaffe by the new Tiger Woods.
Public Apology
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It took over two months to get a live comment, but on Friday, February 19, 2010, Tiger Woods spoke.
His publicized apology was a major step in trying to rebuild his image, however, it still revealed a great number of flaws in his strategy.
Woods was very scripted, and he often read instead of speaking the apology.
While it was not as hollow as the internet statements made before, there were not too many times where you could hear the sincerity in his voice. Even the look in his eyes was a somewhat dead stare.
The other unfortunate circumstance in the speech was that his now ex-wife, Elin, opted out of attendance.
This was a huge hit to him, because if his wife could not stand by him, then how could Woods expect the world to do so?
This proved that the therapy he had been attending was becoming a futile attempt, if that, to save his marriage. Overall, it was a step forward compared to his first two responses, but Woods still lost some ground in the process.
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The Return
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Woods' choice of the Masters as his event to return to the PGA was no coincidence.
He knew that at this tournament, he had more power over the media than at any other tournament.
He could in many ways manipulate what was going to go on.
The requirements at the Masters for press conferences are minimal, and in going beyond those requirements, Tiger showed that he was finally willing to converse with the press.
The conferences were not a tell-all, but they revealed the attempted makeover of his personality.
There were very few reporters bold enough to ask Woods questions relating to his marital status, and when they were asked, Tiger brushed most of them aside.
The benefit of Tiger's return was not only his presence, but his performance.
No one expected him to come out and win the Masters after all of the issues, and to come in the top five was an accomplishment.
It also allowed for his golf, not his life, to be the topic of discussion. The Masters gave Tiger Woods some needed breathing room from the press.
A lot of time passed from his return to the creation of his Twitter account, so here's a summary of what happened in between—
Tiger struggled all year with his golf swing, and he split with Hank Haney, choosing Sean Foley as his new swing coach.
Even this move was a small PR victory. His third professional swing instructor since joining the PGA Tour, Foley, unlike Harmon and Haney, had other students.
Woods was no longer the "chosen one," entitled to whatever teacher he pleased. Instead, Woods placed himself on the same level as his opponents.
On to Twitter, however. On November 17, Tiger joined the Tweeting world, saying "What’s up everyone. Finally decided to try out twitter!" While this move may seem a little odd for Woods, this move sums up Tiger's theme of the year—change.
Never, never, would the "old" Tiger Woods let you in on his everyday activities, until now. The joining of Twitter made Tiger a more likeable person. Any person could click follow, and bam, you now have some insight into Tiger Woods' life. For example, here's the picture he posted of himself working on his video game: http://yfrog.com/gz01x7j
Something like this is exactly what people want. They want to know Tiger is human and has a life outside of playing in golf tournaments and practicing golf for a rumored eight hours a day.
Mike and Mike
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For the first time since the scandal erupted, Tiger Woods called in for an extended phone interview.
He placed the call to Mike and Mike in the Morning, and for the next 25 minutes(including commercials), spoke with the hosts.
In this, Woods gave a little more than he had until then, but his theme was the same—move on to the next thing. While he recounted a few of the questions regarding the scandal, the interview showed Tiger is focused on the future.
It's a great theme, because although many will say that he is trying to avoid questions, this interview was conducted only seven days before the anniversary of the crash.
The time has come to allow the dust to settle and allow Tiger Woods to focus on being a golfer and being a father. Woods has consistently praised his fans for sticking with him and said he would rather be with his kids than anything.
It is this attitude that has brought his image back, to some extent.
The Grade?
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If I had to grade Tiger Woods' performance over the past year, I would give him a B-.
Basically, for the past eight months, Tiger Woods has come a long way.
His etiquette on the golf course has improved, and we have even got to see him smile while playing. His workman-like attitude for the game of golf has shined through, and the public can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel for what has been a terrible period for Tiger Woods' career.
However, those first four months featured terrible decisions.
Denying, then admitting, then hiding, then coming out to apologize lost Tiger fans that he will never get back.
Overall, Tiger is on an upswing, and I predict the next step in his recovery is a return the No. 1 ranking in the world.
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