Students react to Tiger’s return

Tiger Woods is playing in his first tournament since his sex scandal. Photo Courtesy Wiki images

As Tiger Woods stepped up to the first tee at Augusta Thursday, the golf world held its breath.

Gripping his driver, Nike swoosh emblazoned on his chest, Tiger hauled back and cranked a screamer down the heart of the fairway allowing the anxious fans to finally exhale as the world’s best golfer was finally back.

At St. Thomas University thousands of miles from Augusta, Georgia, many people have been talking about the sporting world’s latest and greatest scandal.

“I see him as a professional golfer who is really good,” said second year student Scott Wilkinson. “His personal life was never an interest to me.”

Woods admitted to cheating on his wife with numerous women after the National Enquirer leaked a story in late November linking him to New York nightclub hostess.

With over hundreds of millions of dollars earned through endorsements, Woods had exposure and garnered lots of attention from women because of his fame and wealth.

Class of 2009 graduate Cole Sanford believes the public are as much to blame as Woods himself.

“He is using his status to get women. We gave him his status and he was using that to his benefit, no one can blame him for that. We are as guilty as he is because we gave him that status.”

Not everyone is so convinced that having power and money gives you a free ticket to do whatever you please.

“I think it’s disgusting that he let his power and skill get to his head and think he could do whatever he wanted and not have to obey the rules of marriage,” added Psychology major Lauren Hamilton.

During his almost five-month hiatus from the public, press and golf world, Woods was dropped from many endorsement deals such as Gatorade, Accenture and TAG Heuer.

“He’s damn good at what he does but I understand his backers bailing,” said fifth-year Kimberley Johnson. “They want him to be seen as family friendly and to them business is business.”

When Woods broke into the golf world in 1996 he signed a $40 million endorsement deal with Nike.  Sales for golf apparel and accessories doubled the next year. Due to his loyalty and profitability Nike has stood by Woods, which fourth year Communications student Deanna Gamble believes is a smart investment.

“I don’t think it was smart for his sponsors to pull out at all. His private sex life has nothing to do with his ability to play golf. He will continue to do well in golf and people will forget about what happened and those companies who stayed with him will be rewarded.”

Before returning to golf, Woods was urged by many to make numerous public apologies to his fans, sponsors and fellow golfers.  Woods made two press conferences as well as giving two one-on-one interviews with members of ESPN and the Golf Network.

These public apologies have become standard practice with athletes in the past who have had their image tarnished.

“I’m glad he made a public apology. It seemed sincere and he wanted people to know that he was sorry that he let them down and was making an effort to improve his marriage,” said second year Brittany Gavin.

Not everyone is a fan of athletes making public apologies as it has been argued that athletes are being forced to make apologies to save their image, not because they want to apologize.

“These apologies don’t mean anything to me,” said Michael Cooper. “Tiger Woods doesn’t have to apoligize to me for anything, just go play golf.”

Andres Olaya follows Woods' progress at the Masters online. Photo courtesy Brandon Wile

Playing golf is what Tiger Woods will do. Much to the pleasure of the PGA, fans and sponsors, the world’s number one golfer returned to the Masters this weekend.

Ratings for the event are predicted to be through the roof with reports stating that the Masters will receive a larger viewing audience than the 2010 Winter Olympic gold medal hockey game.

The recent scandal has given the golf world unprecedented exposure and may have even added new fans.

Coming into the tournament Woods was the favorite to win at 3:1 and only time will tell if the world’s most endorsed and arguably golf’s best ever player will be able to resurrect his career.

“I think he’ll come back even stronger just to make his point,” noted former St. Thomas golf team member Marcelle Saulnier. “

There’s no doubt that Woods’ return has gained a large audience as the Nielsen Co. said 4.94 million people watched ESPN’s opening round coverage on Thursday, 47 per cent more than last year’s first round.

Despite not winning the Masters, Woods surprised a lot of people with his fourth place finish. Having not played for almost four months, Woods showed little rust finishing five strokes behind winner Phil Mickelson.

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Posted by Brandon Wile on Apr 11, 2010. Filed under News, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.