Looking for Golf's Hero

Simon and Garfunkel famously sang, "Where have you gone, Joe Dimaggio? A Nation turns its lonely eyes to you." In the United States, a country that loves a good role model, people are constantly looking for the epitome of a hero. Our culture is based around heroes; it craves and thrives off of these beloved figures. And no where is this truer than sports. Modern technology has made it possible for us to find out every detail about any athlete's life. This, however, has proven extremely costly for many stars.

It was Mark McGwire in 1998 and Barry Bonds in 2001, capturing our hearts as they shattered the single season home run record. And then Kobe Bryant and Lebron James dazzled us as they grew from high school graduates to NBA superstars right before our very eyes. Ben Roethlisberger became a hero as he led one of America’s most storied franchises, the Pittsburgh Steelers, to two Super Bowl championships in his first four years. These athletes, who are all on their way to sports immortality, eventually fell victim to the vice of some kind of criminal act. The MLB, NFL, and NBA have proven time and time again that they are bigger than one person though. These major sports have the ability to survive even the most visible star's fall from grace.

Golf, however, was not afforded this luxury. Golf had always been a sport for wealthy, white men. Then one day, when a Stanford educated, attractive, and charismatic African American with a funny name (Eldrick, of course) burst onto the scene in the late 1990's, golf finally had a star capable of bringing the sport to the next level. When Tiger was in his heyday he was the American sports hero to rule all heroes. Even before he entered his “prime” he was not only beating his opponents, he was demoralizing them. Tiger dominated physically and mentally for years like no one before him. When Tiger was winning, golf was thriving and ratings skyrocketed but more importantly, a nation was captivated by the sport for the first time ever. Men and women from all corners of the world, regardless of socioeconomic background, became enamored with this kid named Tiger and through association, the sport of golf.

America had its hero. In every other sport we are divided across city lines, but for the first time ever an entire population united in support of the same team, Team Tiger. This changed drastically, however, in November 2009 when Tiger’s transgressions came to light for the entire world to see. Never before has a hero fallen so dramatically and so quickly from atop Mount Olympus. He was no longer an idol for kids to emulate. He was no longer a teenage girl’s secret crush. He was no longer the man grandmas wanted her granddaughter to marry... and the old men at the country club quickly turned up their noses at him. Just as golf was on the brink of becoming a major sport, Tiger’s fall sent it back to irrelevancy.

But take heart sports fans, there is a way that the PGA Tour can become relevant again; Tiger Woods starts to win. If Tiger’s play at the end of 2010 (which included an all-time classic final round in the Chevron World Challenge) is a harbinger of things to come, then 2011 may very well be the year of the Tiger. The only thing Americans love more than a hero is a good comeback story. As the Michael Vick saga in football exemplifies, we are always willing to let a fallen athlete regain our hearts. Most of Tiger’s fans have shut the door on him. However, he has the key to open it again. If you think golf was popular in Tiger’s prime, watch out if he wins a major or four in 2011, this hero may just be back and this time here to stay.