Buried deep in the back of Golf Digest’s December issue with Johnny Manziel gracing the cover is Dan Jenkins’ contribution, “My (Fake) Interview with Tiger, *or how it plays out in my mind”. It’s a forgettable parody piece full of tired jokes on subjects well past their freshness dates.
Jenkins describes an imaginary Q & A with Tiger. In reality, he had tried to interview Woods for years, only to be repeatedly denied. Jenkins exercises some of those frustrations with his caricature of the former world #1 golfer with exchanges like this:
Jenkins: “I’ve always wanted to ask, what’s with these pet names you give people?”
(Fake) Tiger: “I don’t know, Jenko. I’ll have to ask Steiny about that.”
The article is complete with two photos showing a Tiger impersonator posing for a selfie at Perkins and studying a dent in an Escalade. You can read the article here.
I hadn’t even opened the issue even though it was delivered last week some time. One person that definitely read the article and had some strong opinions on it was Tiger Woods. His opinions were so strong he published an essay slamming the article on Derek Jeter’s new website, The Players’ Tribune.
Woods explains that he believes he has a good sense of humor and is willing to laugh at himself. He states he has let many things slide (which he certainly has), but this time he can’t. Tiger says the article:
“fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fueled piece of character assassination.”
Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg sent a letter on November 12 to the parent company of Golf Digest, Conde Nast, requesting an explanation and written apology.
There is plenty to analyze about the situation and plenty of opinions have been published on both sides of the spat. Did Tiger need to put his foot down and draw extra attention to the article in the process or should he have let it sit on the back pages and dismissed it with a Tiger-esque one-liner when asked about it?
While we can agree or disagree on the quality of the Golf Digest parody on Tiger, the Woods camp just gave Jenkins his most read article of all time.
It is very interesting a satire can get arguably the greatest golfer of all time so riled up he had to issue a statement within days. You have to wonder if this was written in 2008 if TIger would have gave a damn.
Things disappear when they are never brought up. Now, we are even commenting on a stupid parody that has some partial truths to it. 2015 will be a vital year for Woods. If he cannot come close to another major next year it does not matter if we doubt him,,,,,,, he already is doubting himself, whether he admits it or not, it is human nature.