A Tiger Win Will Make The Haters Hate More

 But sometimes, the hate is sinister.  It involves race.  We have seen an absolutely perfect example of that with President Barack Obama.

And there is no question some of the hatred of Tiger is fueled by racism. Just as some people can’t stand the fact that a black man is president, there are those who can’t stand that arguably the greatest golfer in the world is a black man.

I think Dan Jenkins, regarded as one of the greatest sports journalist ever, will be cheering the hardest against Tiger.  I really suspect he hates Tiger simply because he is of African-descent.  I think his hatred is sinister.

The 85-years-old  Jenkins, is one of the last of the old school sports journalists from the ’40s, ’50, and ’60s. His prime was spent in a segregated America, especially in his home state of Texas.  Jenkins’ golf heroes are Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson.

He hates the fact that Woods is better than both of them, and anyone else he can think of outside of Jack Nicklaus. He hates the fact that Tiger won’t give him the time of day (maybe because Tiger knows his hatred and jealousy of him).

Jenkins has been critical of Woods his entire career.  Even when Tiger was dominating the Tour, on the way to 14 majors, 79 Tour wins, and more than 100 total victories worldwide.

Until recently, Woods has been so good as a player, that Jenkins had to resort to writing a satirical take out on Tiger, which appeared in Golf Digest, in an attempt to make Tiger look bad.

And to Tiger’s credit, he fired back at Jenkins, and Golf Digest: “The truth is, Jenkins has no idea how I think or feel about any of the things he claims to know about, which is why he had to make things up. Frustration or resentment because I have not been more available to him should not give him a license for an underhanded attack on me as an athlete, as a professional and as a person.”

Jenkins’ has taken Tiger’s recent struggles as an opportunity to try and  diminish his historic accomplishments. Of course, that is impossible to do. But, hate will make you say, and do, stupid things, like this quote from Jenkins regarding Tiger’s 14 majors:  “There’s much more talent at the top (and the bottom) than there was during Tiger’s peak years.  Tiger beat a lot of nobodies to win most of his majors,” Jenkins said. “Yeah, there was Phil [Mickelson] and [Ernie] Els around, in and out, but go back and look who was second to him in those majors and tell me where they are now.”

What an utterly ludicrous  thing to say. Woods’ professional record is beyond reproach. In fact, Jenkins’ statements are asinine considering his heroes played a segregated Tour, that prohibited competition from the great African-American players like Teddy Rhodes, Charlie Sifford and Bill Spiller from playing the Tour in their primes.  In addition, it was an American sport.  There were no international players of note at that time.  Woods has beaten the best golfers in the world over the course of his career.

But unlike Jenkins, I will acknowledge the greatness of Hogan, Byron Nelson and the other top players of that time. They shot the scores that won the tournaments. Those results are undeniable, just as is Tiger Woods’ incredible golf legacy.