THE GOLF DIGEST IS A PRETTY PITIFUL ORGANIZATION TO HAVE DISTRIBUTED THIS TYPE OF GARBAGE THAT HAS ATTEMPTED TO SMEAR TIGER WOODS, AND IT’S A POOR EXAMPLE OF CHARACTER, AND ALSO AN IRRESPONSIBLE PRESENTATION LIES BY A SO CALLED LITERARY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE GOLF WORLD. BUT, WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE LOSERS THAT ARE BEHIND THE THIS TYPE OF PRINT, IT’S NOT TOO SURPRISING THAT THE GOLF DIGEST WOULD INSULT THE INTELLIGENCE OF THE GOLFING SOCIETY IN IT’S TOTALITY, TO INCLUDE ALL OF THE FOLLOWERS THAT THIS “PIECE OF WORK”, “SO-CALLED REPORTER” LIED TOO!!
NOW, TO THE ACTUAL RESPONSE FROM THE GREATEST!!!!, COURTESY OF THE PLAYERS TRIBUNE, AND IT READS:
Did you read Dan Jenkins’ interview with me in the latest Golf Digest? I hope not. Because it wasn’t me. It was some jerk he created to pretend he was talking to me. That’s right, Jenkins faked an interview, which fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fueled piece of character assassination.
Journalistically and ethically, can you sink any lower?
Dan: “Why haven’t you fired Steiny, by the way? You’ve fired everybody else …”
Tiger: “I’ll probably get around to it. I like to fire people …”
Dan: “In many cases, tips are a part of their salary.”
Tiger: “So let ‘em go find a better job.”
Dan: “Marko (O’Meara) was your best friend in golf at one time.”
Tiger: “I’m sorry. I can’t place him. Did he play the tour?”
Golf Digest even hired an actor to pose as me in photos. The truth is, Jenkins has no idea how I think or feel about any of the things he claims to know about, which is why he had to make things up. Frustration or resentment because I have not been more available to him should not give him a license for an underhanded attack on me as an athlete, as a professional and as a person. I guess Golf Digest’s editors believe this is a good way to sell more magazines. I’ll bet their readers don’t think so. Funny they didn’t think this poorly of me when I worked with the magazine. I have to say I was surprised when I saw this piece came from Jenkins, who is one of the most distinguished golf writers out there.
Fortunately, invented fiction like this is not at all what I hear on tour from the fans. It’s not the type of feedback I get from them, especially when I’ve been hurt or going through a tough stretch. Fans’ encouragement is what really matters to me. I know it’s coming from a good place, and that it’s sincere, not cynical.
Whether it’s misreported information or opinions I think are way off base, I let plenty of things slide. But this time I can’t do that. The sheer nastiness of this attack, the photos and how it put false words in my mouth just had to be confronted.
My representatives and I asked Golf Digest for an explanation, some reason for what I think is journalistically wrong and a pretty cheap shot. Digest responded by saying it was Dan’s humor, and they didn’t think it was unfair or they wouldn’t have run it. Those aren’t great answers.
~ Tiger
This is the first in a series of columns we’re calling “Straight Up.” It’s a place where athletes can offer their side on something that has been written or said about them.
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November 12, 2014
Dear Mr. Townsend,
As the agency for Tiger Woods, we have a very serious inquiry about a piece that appears in the December issue of Golf Digest.
The story completely fabricates an interview between writer Dan Jenkins and Mr. Woods. What we would like to know is how this was approved by editors and whether you, as the publisher, will stand behind this as in any way journalistically responsible? What standards and tenets were used for the story and accompanying artwork? It is not enough to claim that Mr. Jenkins is an “opinion writer” or that this is mere “parody” when under that guise Mr. Jenkins makes a litany of disparagements that are either baseless or demonstrably untrue. Mr. Jenkins has long held a personal hostility for Mr. Woods, a fact that is common knowledge in golf journalism. Knowing that, editors ought to be holding him to a firmer standard of responsible reporting, grounded in fact. Instead, they have allowed him to realize his vendetta, concocting situations that arise out of his own grudges and frustrations. There’s a word for writers that stoop to this underhanded technique: Fabulist.
We would also like you to account for the following:
• Jenkins implies in the piece he was declined for an interview with Tiger. But no such request was made, at least not recently. Shouldn’t he have done that before making up an interview?
• Digest staged an impersonating actor for photographs next to a Cadillac SUV, apparently to mislead readers. Is that sort of deception acceptable in Conde Nast publications?
• Jenkins puts words in our client’s mouth saying variously, that he has contempt for tipping, enjoys firing employees, is unable to make business decisions, isn’t smart, disregards his friends, and is personally dishonest. But these things aren’t jokes, they are character slanders and ones for which Jenkins has no basis whatsoever. If there is some tangible way that Jenkins believes any of these things, then he ought to have the integrity to state it outright.
• Would this story have even been considered if Tiger was still associated with Golf Digest?
• Has any other person in golf been subjected to this treatment in your magazines? We can’t recall any piece remotely like this. We certainly can’t imagine any of the golfers that are frequent contributors to the magazine being attacked like this.
We are requesting a formal response to these questions on how journalistically or ethically this piece is acceptable, and we are also asking for a written apology. We hope you’ll agree that what credibility the magazine still has requires it.
Mark Steinberg, Partner Excel Sports Management
Glenn Greenspan Vice President, Communications ETW Corporation
PICTURES ARE FROM THE PLAYERS TRIBUNE BY WHO EVER TOOK THEM. AND THIS OPINION IS OF THE FOLLOWERS OF PEOPLE WHO LOVE AND ADMIRE ALL OF THE THINGS THAT TIGER WOODS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO GOLF SINCE HIS INITIAL ENTRY INTO THE PRO SPORT!!!
THE MYBOYSAY SPORTS BLOG AND THE MYBOYSAY NATION OF GOLF ENTHUSIASTS ARE PROUD TO BE ONE OF THE SEVERAL ENTITIES TO SUPPORT THE TIGER WOODS PRESENCE IN THE WORLD OF GOLF, AND ALL THAT IT HAS BROUGHT AS A FINANCIAL ENABLER FOR ALL OF THE PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE GOLFERS, GOING FORWARD. JUST ASK AROUND ABOUT THE MONEY THAT THE GOLF INDUSTRY HAS APPRECIATED FROM SINCE TIGER WOODS ENTRY INTO THE PRO TOUR!!
