Tiger Woods and his worst drive - ever

Every media channel in the world seems to be getting its knickers in a twist over the Tiger Woods car crash. Only a handful of details that led up to the incident have been confirmed or clarified, but that doesn’t stop the speculation that litters the golf pages (and plenty of front pages too) and blogosphere. Let’s take a moment and remember that the breaking story of an alleged extra-marital affair appeared in the National Enquirer – that pinnacle of quality and truthful “my baby’s an alien” media.

This whole thing is pathetic. The speculation is mindless, pointless, ridiculous. Here is a married couple who, like every other married couple on the planet, has its difficulties… and this is assuming the speculation is correct. Their fame and wealth sticks them firmly in the public eye and every episode of Tiger’s life is played out in the media – remember the farting fiasco that ended up on YouTube? I for one had forgotten that rich and famous people fart, so hearing that they do was a real shock. This is obviously a more high profile incident, but it has nothing to do with golf.

I am not Tiger’s biggest fan, but why the hell can’t we respect his desire to keep his private life, private. That’s why it’s called ‘private’. Whether he’s having an extra-marital affair, or whether he’s given birth to an alien, it’s none of our business. The man is a sportsman, and his off-field antics should be none of our concern.

I read ESPN’s article by Jason Sobels with interest and no small hint of dismay. This guy insists that the only way for Tiger to clear the whole thing up is to come clean – to him, presumably. Ah, why exactly? Tiger is intensely private individual so why is he going to open up his heart over such an intensely private incident. Dream on, Jason, dream on.

When the truth comes out – if the truth comes out – then we can shake our heads and express disappointment/surprise/joy/frustration… at what has occurred. And then we can move on and get back to watching one of the finest golfers of all time do what he does best.

No pun intended - but this is just car-crash TV.