By Teddy Katz
A top Canadian golf coach says he expects Tiger Woods to dominate in his return to the sport this week.
Woods is coming back after a four month self-imposed layoff following revelations of numerous extra marital affairs that shattered his once squeaky-clean image and saw several sponsors sever ties.
Canadian Sean Foley coaches several PGA players including Sean O’Hair and Hunter Mayan but says Tiger Woods will be the one to watch at the Masters.
“Tiger’s the best golfer ever. It will probably almost be therapeutic for him when he gets out on the golf course which will be scary to everyone else.”
Woods became one of the most celebrated golfers in history in part because of his mental toughness. And now that will be put to the test now more than ever.
Ever since he was a young prodigy, Woods has been known for his ability to block out distractions and keep calm under pressure.
Part of that has been attributed to his father Earl, a former US. Army Green Beret who was a member of the U.S. Special Forces in Vietnam and used some of that training on his son.
But a top sports psychologist in Canada who works with many Olympians and some golfers, Peter Jensen, says the scandal shows a different Woods, one who isn’t as mentally strong as the image Tiger sold.
“That image that he sold for years — I’m totally in control of my life. So in control. I mean he had the perfect wife with the perfect family. He’d protect them from the publicity,” Jensen says.
“These are all value based things,” he adds. “My family deserves this (privacy) and, of course, he protected his family from everybody but himself.”
Jensen says Woods is bound to face the wrath of some hecklers. It may not happen at the controlled environment of the Masters which carefully monitors the fans it calls “patrons” But Jensen says it is going to happen at some tournament and Woods will need a plan to deal with it.
But Sean Foley doesn’t think it’ll be a problem.
“You’ve got to realize Tiger’s been going through issues in his own head for the last couple of years while all this was going on and he still dominated,” Foley says.
“People are going to yell things at Tiger, he adds “they are obviously living a marginal or mediocre life.”
But Bob Reid, a media strategist with Veritas Communications in Toronto who helps clients with crisis management, says he believes the majority of people will be forgiving.
He says Woods initially made his situation worse by trying to deny his affairs and being slow to show remorse for the way he hurt people.
But Reid says now most people seem willing to give Woods a second chance
“It’s a tremendously compelling story almost of epic tragedy in a sense.”
And Reid says now we’re seeing the flipside of it.
“Just as much as people are fascinated in seeing the mighty fall, everybody loves a good redemption story. And I think Tiger Woods has at least set the stage for that to at least be possible.”
Sean Foley says people may no longer look at Woods as “Mr. Perfect.” Still on the golf course, he says Woods is a machine. And that hasn’t changed.