A popular notion is that Tiger is so dominant that for the tour to really thrive, someone needs to step up and become Tiger's rival. Do you think that's true?
No. Totally a publicist's dream. That isn't what makes the PGA Tour successful. It's the people who watch it, and they watch it because of the charismatic abilities of Tiger.
Because that seems to be so much the case with Tiger — that he transcends the tour, and the television revenue has risen in large part because of him — how will that rectify itself over the years?
It will have no effect on Tiger, because the PGA Tour is a nonprofit organization and cannot share profits with members. Therefore, Tiger has no chance of ever, ever getting any of that television revenue.
But he does have the option of being a non-PGA Tour member and just playing majors and making his own television deals.
Why bite the hand that feeds you? If he's going to be successful in establishing a record-oriented career, he cannot achieve it outside the bounds of the PGA Tour.
Maybe the career record for victories, but not the record for majors.
Yeah, but this is all poppycock. People are going off the charts speculating about what Tiger would do, because that's what they would do. It's ludicrous. Why Tiger? He might be able to pull it off, but he's not going to do it. None of this with Tiger has ever been about money. It's about competition.
When you hear someone say that they're Tiger-proofing a course, what goes through your mind?
I start laughing. It's a joke to try to Tiger-proof a golf course. Whatever you do, it's going to make it harder for the other golfers. But if they want some guidance, I'll tell them how: Cut all the rough, bring the tees up, let the greens run about 10 on the Stimpmeter and make it as easy as can be. Because then you'll bring a whole bunch of people into the competitions.
How important is it for Tiger to be liked among his peers?
It isn't important at all; it is important that they respect him. And that's all he strives for, respect. There are guys out on the tour who he is very close with.
Tiger came out on the tour and there was nobody his age, even anywhere near his age. So he had no friends. Some of the older players adopted him. One was Mark O'Meara, and another was John Cook. And it's only been in the last two years that some of the guys from college are coming up, like Notah Begay, and he's very close to Notah.
But Tiger doesn't have any problem beating his brains in.
No, he's been beating their brains in since they were in college.
Do you have a good sense of the people around him? Are there any moochers or yes-men?
I'm one of the people around him, and I'm far from a yes-man. There aren't any. I assure you, Tiger's always had a team, and that team has been directed to give close and personal support to Tiger and follow the game plan, which was, as Tiger grew into his responsibilities, to pull back and allow him to grow, make mistakes and learn from his own mistakes and mature.
What kind of impact has Steve Williams, Tiger's caddie, had on him?
I promised Tiger when he was a little kid that I'd have no input on two areas of his life — his selection of a caddie, and his selection of a mate.
Wrapping up: We're here for one of the junior clinics. You describe how you stand 10 feet in front of Tiger and he hits the ball between your raised arms. How close has he come to your head?
In St. Louis, the crowd kept urging him to get me to move closer and closer. Finally, I got in so close it was ridiculous. There was about six inches between where the club went on the follow-through and my chest, and he hit that dad-gummed shot and it went straight up in the air and landed right on the top of my head. That crowd went nuts. We don't do that one anymore.
Who doesn't have the nerve for it anymore, you or him?
Hell, Tiger's not the one in any danger.
Do you have a question for Earl Woods that we didn't ask? Send an e-mail to us at editor@golfdigest.com, and we'll follow up in a future issue. And for more than 30 Golf Digest interviews from our archives, please see www.golfdigest.com/features.
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