BLOG: Foley misses point in Tiger defence

Woods’ coach needs to develop thicker skin to cope with torrent of criticism

‘Passionate’: Sean Foley, left, issued a strongly-worded defence of Tiger Woods on a radio show last week

Since landing arguably the most high-profile and lucrative coaching role in golf close to two years ago, Sean Foley has largely resisted the urge to talk in public about star pupil Tiger Woods.

However, he broke that silence last week during an interview with an American radio station, when he issued a frank and passionate defence of his embattled client.

Foley, furious at continued criticism of the former world No.1 in the wake of his petulant behaviour during the Masters, said: “I know everyone has a job to do, and I get it. But if it is about the game of golf, Tiger Woods is an extremely important part of the game, and I think everyone understands that. It has just gotten to the point where the tearing down of Tiger as a person and a golfer has become just too much. I think it is just out of hand.”

He went on: “I realize it is 2012 and we have dotcoms, and you have to write five articles a day, and you run out of things to write about. But we should be in a position where we are trying to help and lift up and support a player like Tiger Woods instead of tearing him down, because everyone in the golf industry is better off because of his existence.

Foley, who curiously raised the issue without prompting from his interviewer on the radio show, concluded: “Tiger is a wonderful person, and he is a good dude, and he lives a complex life. I think things have got to slow down, and it has got to stop, the daily referendums and the criticism.”

To an extent, I agree with Foley. After all, Woods finished 40th in the Masters this year – his worst result at Augusta as a professional – and he subsequently had his performance analysed to almost microscopic proportions. Luke Donald, meanwhile, the then world No.1, finished only marginally better off, in a tie for 32nd, and hardly a word was printed about his poor showing.

Woods was also slated for his fits of pique in the opening major of the season – former US Ryder Cup captain Paul Azinger was particularly scathing of that – whilst other players, such as Henrik Stenson, again got off almost without being admonished for their temper tantrums.

There is most certainly a marked difference in the way that people analyse Tiger Woods as compared with other golfers. But here’s the key point: it was ever thus.

When Tiger was at the height of his powers, no-one compared him to other players because such comparisons were moot. Not so much apples and oranges as skyscrapers and bungalows. In time, it got to be that the only person you could compare Tiger to was himself, so high had he set the bar.

The scrutiny of Tiger’s game is not a new phenomenon. It’s been going since he turned professional in 1996 and, indeed, even before that. The only difference is that the Woods’ camp had little to no complaints about it when Tiger was successful.

And that’s the thing about criticism. It’s easy to shrug off when you’re winning tournaments, not so much when you’re not.

That’s what Woods and Co. are having to come to terms with now – and, according to Foley, they’re not liking it. In fact, Foley seems to be implying that Tiger should be exempt from criticism because of all the good things that he has done for the game.

Come on, Sean. Get real. That’s an utterly ridiculous thing to suggest. We – the media, fans, sponsors and the like – all lauded and applauded Tiger when his march towards besting Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors seemed utterly inexorable. That was our prerogative, the same way as it’s our right now to criticise the current state of his game because, frankly, it’s not great.

That’s not to say it won’t come good again; just that, at present, it’s poor and not just by Tiger’s standards. It’s poor by any top player’s standards.

Yes, lots of people have strong opinions on Tiger’s game but such is the way of the modern world where the advent of social media has provided platforms for more or less everybody’s voice to be heard.

It’s not necessarily ideal but Tiger and the people working with him cannot afford to be sensitive to dissenting comments.

One final thing: Foley talks of Tiger ‘The Person’ rather gushingly in the radio interview. From that, I assume he believes that people are continuing to judge Tiger for his past off-course indiscretions. If that’s the implication, again, I’m not sure I agree.

Most people I speak to no longer equate Tiger’s poor form to his extra-marital affairs and assorted other difficulties. Instead, the majority just think he’s no longer the force he was for a multitude of reasons, of which the affairs are just one.

That’s not to say their opinions of Tiger as a person haven’t changed. Most, in fact, now no longer root for him as much as they did, humiliated at having fallen for Tiger’s self-crafted and ultimately counterfeit ‘family man’ image.

But if Foley is suggesting people’s criticism of Tiger’s game is linked to their altered perception of Tiger’s personality, he is doing the knowledgeable golfing public an immense disservice. People know more about the game than that.

Foley sticking up for his highest-profile client is admirable and the over-arching sentiment – that the criticism is out of control – is hard to argue with. But so long as Woods continues to fall below the enormously high standards that he previously set, and was so richly rewarded for, then, rightly or wrongly, he is going to have to get used to the disparagement.

Like Winston Churchill once said: “Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary.”

Bryce Ritchie is the Editor of bunkered and, in addition to leading on content and strategy, oversees all aspects of the brand. The first full-time journalist employed by bunkered, he joined the company in 2001 and has been editor since 2009. A member of Balfron Golfing Society, he currently plays off nine and once got a lesson from Justin Thomas’ dad.

Editor of bunkered