Steve Stricker made some pretty cutting comments this past weekend about Tiger’s return to golf:
“
Whenever he comes back it’s going to draw a lot of attention to that tournament. I don’t know if Augusta would like that to happen, you know? To turn it into ‘Tiger’s Comeback Tournament’ instead of the Masters tournament, itself. Hopefully, he comes back before then. You’d think, as a player, being gone for so long, he’d want to come back before.”
I wouldn’t put it past Tiger to think about making his comeback at a Major. But maybe now that he has Ari Fleischer at the PR helm, more reasonable heads will prevail. I think a Masters comeback would be a public relations disaster, bringing every golf writer on the planet to speculate that Woody thinks he’s bigger than the game itself.
And speaking of Fleischer, I’ve come to the conclusion that the “leaks,” with various dates for Tiger’s return are just trial balloons. That sort of thing goes on in Washington all the time, and it’s a tactic Fleischer is intimately familiar with: send out a few ideas as “leaks,” and see how the public reacts. One rumor says the Tavistock Cup; another, Bay Hill; a third, the Masters. I have no doubt that some “insider” also will float the notion that Tiger will sit out the Masters. Then it’s just a matter of choosing the one that plays best with the media and focus groups.
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I’m not convinced that Ari Fleischer can actually provide any good PR work for anyone. What do we remember about one of his former bosses? “Mission Accomplished”. I hope that happened after Fleischer left Bush.
I don’t know if Tiger thinks he’s bigger than the game. I think he just doesn’t think at all about anyone or anything but himself.
The one good thing is that YE Yang will undoubtedly have another opportunity to beat Woods and I can’t wait for that. Forget who the next Tiger Woods is, we need to all be looking for the next YE Yang, the next guy who isn’t intimidated at all by Woods.
I absolutely think he’d focus group his comeback. He’s all about control.
“Mission Accomplished”
That actually referred to the aircraft carrier, FWIW.
Ari isn’t a mastermind. He was the White House Press Secretary. Meaning that the administration he worked for called the shots and he presented them to the press.
I suspect the same thing will happen with Woody.
I’m writing this comment assuming he’ll definitely play the master’s, Do you really think Tiger would ‘focus group’ his comeback? Do you think he’s willing to put public perception ahead of what would give him the best chance to win at Augusta?