Tiger Woods might not be on the cover of the December issue of Golf Digest, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t the most interesting topic in the publication. Last week, we highlighted Golf Digest’s interview with December coverboy, Johnny Manziel. During that interview, the conversation turned to that time Tiger Woods snubbed a young Manziel who was seeking an autograph from his hero.
As it turns out, Woods throwing the Heisman at an eager, autograph-hungry Johnny Manziel isn’t the only negative thing the magazine is publishing about him in December, because you have to sell magazines somehow.
Today, Woods wrote a piece on The Player’s Tribune (AKA Derek Jeter’s new site, which I just remembered is a thing that exists), lacing into Golf Digest for allowing writer Dan Jenkins to pen a satirical piece involving a fake interview with “Tiger Woods.” They even hired an actor to pose, in full Tiger Woods on Sunday regalia, in the photos. Oh, and he’s taking a selfie, because 2014.
I wasn’t overly familiar with Woods and Jenkins icy relationship, but it didn’t take much digging to figure out how Dan Jenkins feels about Tiger Woods. All I had to do was Google “Dan Jenkins Tiger Woods” to see that said relationship is non-existent, and Jenkins kinda/sorta hates Woods’ fucking guts. But you can likely also glean that by reading the excerpt from Golf Digest (below) to see that Jenkin’s idea of humor is conducting a fantasy interview with Tiger Woods that shits all over Woods’ ability to be a decent human being. HILARITY ENSUES!
From Tiger’s post on The Player’s Tribune:
I like to think I have a good sense of humor, and that I’m more than willing to laugh at myself. In this game, you have to. I’ve been playing golf for a long time, 20 years on the PGA Tour. I’ve given lots of interviews to journalists in all that time, more than I could count, and some have been good and some not so much. All athletes know that we will be under scrutiny from the media. But this concocted article was below the belt. Good-natured satire is one thing, but no fair-minded writer would put someone in the position of having to publicly deny that he mistreats his friends, takes pleasure in firing people, and stiffs on tips—and a lot of other slurs, too. Some lowlights if you haven’t seen the fake story:
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.
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.
Woods isn’t wrong. The specific excerpt from the Golf Digest piece that he highlighted is kind of mean for the sake of being mean and it’s also painfully unfunny. But I decided to give Dan Jenkins the benefit of the doubt and read his entire piece. And…yep…it’s still a pile of shit.
That said, Tiger Woods has been slammed by the media for years, why choose this specific column — this poorly executed heap of human excrement — as the one that he singles out? It doesn’t make sense.
You can read Tiger’s entire gripe here, see the letter his agent sent Golf Digest here, and check out Dan Jenkins FAKE interview here.