Tiger — he’s too big for the bigots and too good for the begrudgers

THE only Irishman ever to win the British Open Golf Championship was Fred Daly from Portrush in 1947. That was 60 years ago, so it certainly is time for another Irish winner.

Regardless of how things turn out at Carnoustie in this week’s British Open, 18-year-old Rory McIlroy set down a marker for himself as a name for the future, not only as the leading amateur but even more so as the only player to have a bogey-free round on the first day.

Other promising youngsters have stood out at tender years, such as Johnny Miller, Ben Crenshaw and Tiger Woods, to mention the most obvious. There was a time when the world heavyweight boxing champion was the most famous and most respected sportsman in the world, but you would be hard-pressed to find anybody in the street who could even name the current title-holder.

Tiger Woods is probably the most respected sportsman today. He has turned what would once have been considered a disadvantage into a tremendous advantage. He comes from the proverbial American melting pot. One grandparent was black, one Thai, one Chinese, and the other was half white and half American Indian. He is an advertiser’s dream.

Some people lashed out recently about the racially motivated harassment that he had to endure in his early years at the Navy Golf Club in Cypress, California. When Tiger won the US Amateur Championship at 19, he offered to let the club display the trophy, but nobody even bothered to respond to his offer.

He was probably more hurt by the discrimination that he witnessed towards his parents than what he had to confront personally. But that would have it all the more hurtful.

“It is the character of the person that determines who they are, not the colour of their skin,” Tiger insists. His father prepared him for his current role from the earliest age. Tiger was singled out as a golf prodigy before he was even three-years-old. He was on the Mike Douglas Show with Bob Hope hitting a golf ball when he was just two.

Tiger says that one of the greatest moments of his life was having dinner with, and listening to, Nelson Mandela. He was truly in awe of the humanity of the man after what he had been through.

For decades no black player was allowed to play in the US Masters in the Georgia of Lester Maddox, the racist governor who sold off his restaurant rather than serve blacks. It was not until 1975, the year that Eldrick ‘Tiger’ Woods was born, that Lee Elder became the first black man to play in the US Masters, so it was particularly fitting that it would be Tiger’s first major win as a professional in 1997. As Tiger was about to clinch it, one former winner made a fool of himself by making some politically incorrect remarks on camera. Every year before the US Masters in Augusta, there is a dinner for former winners and the holder gets to choose the menu.

“That little boy is driving it well,” Fuzzy Zoeller, the 1979 winner, told the press after finishing his round. “He’s doing everything it takes to win. So you know what you guys can do when he gets in here? Pat him on the back. Say congratulations, enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year. Got it!”

Zoeller started to walk away, but quickly turned back to the camera and added, “or collard greens, or whatever the hell they serve”!

He was just trying to be funny, but those who have suffered from racism were never likely to see the joke. Fuzzy quickly became the advertising man’s nightmare. His sponsors bolted.

A few years ago when Nick Faldo came to the 18th green on the final day of the British Open, he got thunderous applause from the gallery. It must have turned the clock back a decade for him to when he was competing at the very top.

Peter Allis, the BBC commentator delved into his memory bank to recall his last conversation with the famous golf commentator Henry Longhurst. When Peter asked, “Anything you regret?”, Henry replied, “I wish I had been nicer when I was younger”.

With Faldo centre screen, Allis added pointedly, “I wonder if that ever goes through other people’s minds?”

Over the years Faldo had his problems with commentators and the media in general. When he won the 1992 British Open, he infamously remarked that he would like to thank his “friends” in the media “from the heart of my bottom”.

The only thing worse than a sore loser is a sore winner.

In Kerry, they don’t have to look too far in that regard these days. Jack O’Connor is in a league of his own. He has a tremendous record, reaching three all-Ireland finals and winning two of them in just three years in charge of the Kerry football team. He decided to quit, but he has gone out with a moan.

If anyone thinks this is a good way to promote a book, they should recall.

Mike Murphy on the Late Late Show to push his autobiography some years back. The Late Late was always a sure way to generate a bestseller. But Mike destroyed it by saying that if there was an afterlife, he hoped he would never meet his parents because apparently he did not even like them. By the time he was finished on the programme, he had destroyed his book. They could hardly give it away.

CONTRAST this with Tiger Woods last year when he sank the putt to win the British Open and, as his caddy went to congratulate him, he looked up to the heavens as if to say that Tiger’s recently deceased father was watching. Tiger promptly burst into tears. That was no act, it was a moment of raw emotion.

One of the really great things about Tiger Woods is that he has been a truly gracious winner in marked contrast with some of the superbrats that the Yanks have produced in other sports. Undoubtedly, in the process, he has done a tremendous amount toward eliminating racial discrimination. He is somebody that all true sports fans can admire. That is his greatest achievement.

Hopefully, young Rory McIlroy will go on to great things in his career. For such a small area, Northern Ireland has produced some brilliant sports people, but a number of them have been distinctly lacking in the personal skills to make the best of their success.

Maybe it has had something to do with the divided environment there.

Ironically, golf clubs are last bastion of discrimination in this country. For years the constitution of the Golfing Union of

Ireland stipulated that no club could be affiliated which “either expressly, or by implication, confers upon women the right to attend or vote, at any annual or special general meeting of such club”.

There is an urban legend that GOLF is short for ‘Gentlemen Only, Ladies Forbidden’. As late as June 2005, the High Court ruled that Portmarnock Golf Club was within its rights to bar women members. In our democracy, we have discrimination against the majority. It’s crazy!