Here it is, all 19:37 of fresh Tiger-licious Tiger Chat, pre-Players Championship version, 2009.
We had Larry Dorman of The New York Times asking Tiger an interesting question -- and eliciting a pretty good response -- about how the Stadium Course in 2009 compares to the 1994 version upon which Tiger won his first U.S. Amateur.
Golf Digest Magazines'/Golf Channel's Tim Rosaforte asked Tiger to address David Feherty's manic-funny post-Quail Hollow interview at 16:05, then followed up by asking how a growing family might be changing Tiger's perceptions of travel. Tiger responded genially to the first and, by his standards, was downright expansive on the latter, speaking for 50 seconds, as such matters clearly are personal territory.
The pre-tournament and post-round conferences were once the sole terroir for the working golf press to harvest quotes and anecdotes, insights and innuendo. Now they're on the Internet sooner than you can transcribe them. And that's increasingly, if not exclusively, the trend at major championships and as the Tour works its way from California to Florida across the Sunbelt and north. What could be better for a golf fan? What could be more enervating for the print golf press?
The golf press -- mostly the newspaper variety whose thinning ranks have been well chronicled -- once had these as their private office. Now that cable television and more-robust video-enabled websites have brought them onto our flat screens and laptops, the utility of the press itself might be parsed. Only the sharpest writer, shaping an expert essay, or working a wholly original angle, is going to trump nearly 20 minutes of pure Q&A with Tagger.
Let's back up first, and give credit where it's deserved: The conferences are the most orderly and efficient way for the working press to do its job, and they'd probably go away if the press weren't attending in person or via teleconference.
Second, if you're expecting Tiger to be expansive, exhaustive or emotive, dream on. Fans can now see what golf journos learned long ago: You've got the wrong guy in the wrong place. (Sean O'Hair, not so much.) Part of it may be Tiger's natural reserve, part of it may be the barrier he necessarily builds between himself and those who offer marginally little aid on his long march to his stated goals.
Third, why would the golf print journos willingly conspire in their own demise contribute to their own marginalization? Why would they take a role -- albeit passive -- in creating content for other media that they can't control? (Oh, right, this is the $64K question of the modern media age and, as the answer goes, is beyond our pay grade.)
There you have it. These conferences are interesting if you're a golf nut or Tiger fan, the next-best thing to on-course drama. I enjoyed Tiger's comeback to Johnny Miller's suggestion -- conveyed by a questioner at 1:25 -- that he leave the driver out of the bag, but I'm realistic that Tiger, who loves the needle, was probably holding back, well aware that his portfolio of corporate sponsors -- and probably his own personal style -- dictates a corporate comeback. A more candid Tiger might have replied, "Brilliant idea, Johnny. That's why you spent the last third of your career as a television announcer and I'm counting majors on my fingers and toes."
To that observation of Tiger's surrealistically cool hand: He shuts down the untoward and leading questions the way he knocks in six-footers. Where others with less skill flail, he's the consummate pro. For instance, see how he handles the inquiry on his visit to the Oval Office (at 10:34), defusing the question and disarming the questioner while guarding a personal relationship with the President. Next.
In that same vein, there is an unidentified writer (at 17:40) who researched and likely traveled to Ponte Vedra Beach to earnestly ask Tiger, now 10 years on, to revisit two early squirm-inducing articles that constitute literary footnotes in Tiger's career. For you mavens, the writer asked about Gary Smith's Sports Illustrated article in which Earl Woods spoke of Tiger's transcendent appeal beyond golf and Charles Pierce's GQ story where Tiger told some politically incorrect and unfunny jokes.
Tiger answers the questions head-on, not expansively, and puts the issues to rest. Can you imagine how this writer wound up in this position. (Writer to editor: "Well, Tiger's people are saying he'll take questions on the Tuesday of the Players championship. Guess I have to fly to Jacksonville if I'm going to pose my tough questions." Editor: "Well, that's a long way to go for access, but if that's our only shot...")
Then there Tiger's take on the vanishing palmetto bushes at TPC Sawgrass (at 6:34), something I thought interesting as it's been 15 years since I set foot on the property. Just as insightful -- and on a human level, no less -- were the feelings he shared about Sean O'Hair at 13:48.
So, it's great stuff, but for those watching closely how the old golf press paradigm is being reshaped, it means one more media middleman is going to have to work that much harder to bring us something fresh, be it via the web or home delivery. -- Robert Lohrer
Sounds like it's getting tough to press on, so lead on, MacBlog!
Just make sure we get the lion's share of Tiger talk.
Posted by: Tom Quinn | May 07, 2009 at 10:50 AM