Tiger’s Accident

A quick phone call as I was walking out the door started about an hour of frenzied investigation, clothes changes and u-turns. All for a car accident, all for a guy who hits a golf ball for a living.

All for Tiger Woods.

When I first heard that Tiger had been in a car accident the normal “reporter” questions flashed through my head. Where? When? Why? Which lead to other questions like: What was he doing driving out of his house at 2:25 am? He hit a what? A fire hydrant? And a tree? None of it made sense of course, and the idea that Tiger was in “serious” condition in a local hospital had me driving straight to work to do more investigating and get the story on the early news and keep it simple.

Of course the story changed about five times in the next 20 minutes. Tiger’s bleeding, Tiger’s in serious condition. Tiger’s still in the hospital. Tiger’s disfigured, blah, blah, blah. But sifting through that kind of information is what I’m supposed to do, and I was making phone calls, confirming some stuff and getting a laugh out of some others.

That Tiger was in a car accident is definitely news. That he was hurt is bigger news, and his condition is what everybody would want to know. The rest isn’t important. No alcohol, no drugs, no speeding and his wife had to use a golf club to knock out the back window of his 2009 Escalade in order to help Tiger out of the car.

The rest is speculation and none of our business.

There’s a report in one of the well-known tabloid magazines that Tiger has been carrying on with a woman, not his wife, at various stops around the world. So was Tiger in a fight with his wife about this report and stormed out of the house? It’s none of our business. What ever it is, there’s nothing in Tiger’s private life that shouldn’t stay private. We’re not entitled to any more information than what’s contained in the police report. Despite the insatiable desire to get any sort of salacious information, it’s none of our business.

Stay out of it. If Tiger’s got a family issue, it’s just that, a family issue.

Maybe it’s something as simple as the gas pedal got stuck on the floor. Maybe it’s something as complicated as family problems. Whatever it is, what we should be interested in is if he returns to the Tour. If his health is OK. If he’s still motivated to be the greatest player in the world.

Outside of that.

None of our business.