Tiger Woods Continues to “Act Like A Child” During Games?

Tiger Woods Continues to “Act Like A Child” During Games?

Tiger Woods apparent tantrums display during the games was considered an embarrassment to his chosen sport.

If Billy Payne, who replaced Hootie Johnson as chairman of Augusta National Golf Club, home of the Masters Tournament, was watching, he would have been horrified. The Masters chairman who chastised Woods two years ago for conduct unbecoming a role model would have seen the worst of Tiger Woods.

Amid the staid confines of the gold course, Woods acted like a bad-tempered teenager who wasn't getting his way. He cursed on wayward shots, hung his head after missed putts, and took swings in anger. To top all these, he kicked his 9-iron about 15 yards on the 16th tee after badly missing yet another shot.

"I think we can safely say Tiger has lost his game ... and his mind," CBS analyst Nick Faldo said on air.

The player who promised to honor the game when he came back from the sex scandal that ruined his career and his marriage did the exact opposite. And he displayed this on a course where the game's best have conducted themselves with only the best sense of deportment over the years.

Asked afterward how he felt, he could only say: "I feel hungry."

What set Woods off on Friday was clear enough.  He missed three putts under 5 feet on the front nine – two of them badly – and was steaming when he started the back. Then his swing he thought had been rebuilt to perfection collapsed under the pressure of trying to post a score.

He threw his club in anger after pushing an iron shot badly on No. 11, and then cursed when he missed the par putt. He muttered after another shot stuck in the bank of the hazard on the 13th hole and threw a tee down in anger to mark the spot for his pitch.  A 4-iron at 15 went very far right he was yelling at it and looked like he was about to break his club, and on the 16th hole he got so irritated by a missed 9-iron that he dropped his club behind him, then kicked it as hard as he could.

That Woods is still fighting the demons that have gotten into his game and his life is evident. He's obviously frustrated at being where he is in the tournament.

But he's one of the greatest players of the sport, and should be a role model. He has the responsibility to behave like a professional, yet he embarrassed himself and the sport.

Posted by Andre Monohan on Monday April 09 2012, 7:13 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0