by Calvin Young, SoulOfAmerica.com

       After watching Tiger's performance this weekend (June 2009), I am now more convinced than ever that he is a man among boys as these professionals play the game of golf. There he is, tournament host, new father, fairly new husband, owner of a $110 million dollar conglomerate, and head of a major foundation, that happend to have a board meeting in the middle of the tournament, and he still manages to beat the best golfers in the world. They gotta be frustrated out of their minds. I give them credit, they keep coming back for more.  
 
    While he sometimes errs like the rest of us, I find that he mostly keeps the score close only to keep it interesting for the rest of us. The paying public get bored with blow-outs and soon heads for the exits when one is in progress. In the end, he does just enough of what he has to do to win a tournament. He is like a pool shark that does just enough to make the suckers think they have a chance. Tiger "keeps hope alive". If the public liked blow-outs more than cliff-hangers, he would win by 5 to 10 ever time. Personnaly, I like blow-outs being of fragile temperment. John Thompson's former basketball teams were more to my liking. Beat them by twenty boys and let their heads hang down. Heaven help you if I get you down.  
 
    Tiger, however, is more concerned about keeping we, the paying public coming back for more. His doubters can cheer the opposition, while his supporters can get fearful and cheer him on. His mother knows. She recently bragged on her son who "wills the ball" into the hole. Mothers really do know best. If the PGA were as smart as they think they are, they would insist on a handicap of at least 5 for Woods.
 
    Case in point, hole 16 on last day of the ATT tournament and Tiger is matched with Anthony Kim, rising star and winner of last years tournament, and anticipated successor to an older, less capable Tiger. Now Kim is the real deal, the "boy can play" as we say in the hood. Kim had shot a 62 earlier in the week, setting a new record for this Congressional Blue Course. However, by the time we get to hole 16, the much "trumpeted" match-up between Kim and Tiger has fizzled as the youngster was down by 3 and out of the match. However, a new competitor has come out of nowhere.  H. Mahan has just shot a 62 earlier on this day and is now even with Tiger. Only one stroke behind the Tiger. Tiger has to birdie the 16th to go one up and maintain par for the final three holes to win the tournament, and he is a long 20 feet away from the hole. And frankly, Tiger did not seem to be doing that well. He seemed distracted and uncomfortable on the course and with his play. He had a lot of very close misses on the greens.
 
    Tiger, ever aware of all the competition, knew that he was even with Mahan and had to sink that putt to go up by one or risk a play-off or possible loss of this tournament. Mahan actually headed for the practice greens to warm-up as Tiger seemed to falter. What does Tiger do? He steps up, silences a photographer making noises with his camera, (a Mahan fan no doubt), and sinks the twenty footer just like it was part of a movie script. He then proceeds to make par on the last two holes to win the tournament. What a golfer! What a man!
 
    I wish I was as good at anything as Tiger is at golf. I should be a minor member of a throng of other sport writers, who are of mostly European descent. These sportscasters should be a throng praising Tiger's unprecidented mastery of the game of golf. They would invent new adjectives of praise. Sadly, this is not true, Tiger is somewhat damned by faint praise. I do believe this would not be the case if Tiger's parents hailed exclusively from Europe. There now, yes I said it and only because it is true. The kids of all parentage adore him for the titan he is and are unrestrained in their adulation and praise. 
 
    Many old foggies, on the other hand, are silently hoping for a return of the good ole days of "White Only" professional golf. I do not resent them for this.  I kind of feel sorry for them.  Golf is the latest in a long line of sports that have come to be dominated by African American performers. Their domination would have come sooner if they had been allowed to fairly compete. Our country would have been better for it as well. If I came from exclusive European parantage, I might even be one of them. Inwardly pinning for one of my boys to be the best.  But I am not, I am an American in the fullest sense of the word.  I sense that they are not that comfortable with "their" game being manhandled by a bronze toned Man who handles the best of "them" like a kid with a toy. Even a hero like Anthony Kim will serve if he, like Frazier with Ali, can knock the "kid" off his throne. The fact that Tiger can maintain a comfortable outer demeanor while all this is going on "under the radar" is testament to his training and maturity.
 
    Me, I just admire perfection, or as close as one can get to it, in any form. Michael Jackson performing on stage, Jordan on a basketball court, a young Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali in the boxing ring, Gunter Gable Williams putting tigers, lions, horses, in the same ring, even outside the ring..... You catch my drift. These are once in a lifetime "gifts" given by the Creator Himself, just to entertain us, or perhaps to show us in a very graphic way, just how great He is. Let us all exult with what we have been given.
 
    So step up boys and girls and enjoy the show while you can, for we will not soon see Tiger's like on a golf course again after this run is over.