Anand Datla

Tiger needs golf more than it needs him

Tiger needs golf more than it needs him says Anand Datla in this special report on Tiger's comeback

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Tiger Woods

By Anand Datla

 

The widespread enthusiasm about the return of Tiger Woods to competitive golf is an indicator of the depravity that has gripped this glorious sport. The dip in television audiences has rattled the community enough to imagine that just his return is a panacea to their problems.

 

Golf is a global sport with an elite audience and for a game of such a following it is incredibly ostrich like to believe that the return of Woods on tour is the only cure needed.

 

The American hasn’t won a major since his determined effort at the US Open in 2008. And despite 16 other young men stepping to the plate to fill the void, there is somehow this latent desire to celebrate the embattled veteran at the expense of these youthful stars.

 

Now more than ever, golf needs to embrace every champion that walks its pristine gardens and eschew the fetish for Woods. Not for a minute can any sane man question the impact of Tiger on the global appeal of golf. He has been an incredible influence on the standards of the sport and its expanding reach.

 

But to cling to him with childlike enthusiasm betrays the effort and aspirations of the many hard working golfers that have risen to usurp the mantle from the American. Some of the numbers that surround Tiger’s career are staggering to say the least. But now more than ever, Tiger needs the sport more than the sport needs him as he seeks to redeem himself after years of hubris.

 

Many generations of people will look up in awe at the incredible achievements of Woods on some of the finest golf courses the world has to offer. But then the great man has stuck on 14 majors for more than six years now. Only time will tell if he can add to his collection of Silverware.

 

Meanwhile, it is important to celebrate the feats of the men who are enthralling us with their own great feats of endurance and skill. At the recently concluded US Open, where Tiger was absent, Martin Kaymer produced a stunningly brilliant performance that had the commentators and galleries raving about him in equal measure.

 

While dipping television ratings are a sign of weakening interest, golf needs to learn to delve in the present. Reminiscing on the past is romantic indeed, but if we become too pre-occupied with it, we risk turning the game into an irrelevant act that is way too dependent on a few elite men.

 

 

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