Tiger Woods Just Can't Win - On and Off the Golf Course

In the November 26, 2004 issue of GolfWorld, Ron Sirak wrote an interesting article titled, "A Bad Week in Sports." In this article, one of the items that Mr. Sirak takes issue is Tiger's lack of attendance at Charlie Sifford's induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame. Charlie Sifford became the first African-American to join the World Golf Hall of Fame and so Sirak feels that Tiger should have been there to pay his respects. Sirak writes, "Tiger Woods should have been there. His videotaped message failed to make up for the fact he opted for a big-bucks appearance fee in Asia instead."

Well Ron, FYI, Tiger isn't entirely African-American. In fact, twice as much Asian blood courses through his veins than African blood. Tiger calls himself, "Cablinasian", to describe his Caucasian-Black-Indian-Asian racial composition. Does Tiger have an obligation to appear at every golf milestone achieved by a member of his racial group? That's just plain ridiculous. Last year, Hisako Higuchi was the first Asian golfer to become a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Funny, I don't remember Ron chastizing Tiger for not attending that ceremony.

I think that Tiger did exactly the right thing by sending a videotaped message to Mr. Sifford's induction ceremony. I figure that a videotaped message constitutes about 25% of an in-person appearance, or roughly the same percentage that Tiger is African.