Leave it to an actual golfer to write the best piece I've seen so far on the Tiger Woods-Brandel Chamblee rift.
Geoff Ogilvy wrote a piece in GolfDigest on Wednesday about what he thought regarding their sort-of-fight and what the media could do better in general.
He kicked it off by noting that he's played with Tiger on multiple occasions and not once thought of him as a cheater.
"He can be accused of playing with "blinders" on during tournaments. But I have never -- not once -- seen him attempt to gain any unfair or dubious advantage. And that fact has me convinced there was neither ulterior motive nor inappropriate intent lurking beneath his involvement in various rules incidents this year."
I tend to agree with this though maybe we're all underestimating the egos of those we cover. Either way, Ogilvy went on to say that he thought Chamblee kind of got the short end of the stick in the fallout to his piece about Woods being a cheater.
"The resulting backlash against Brandel was also unfair. While he used language that was, in places, too hyperbolic for my taste, the principle of him being able to share with us his expert assessment is too important to be abused."
This is true, but really, what did we expect the reaction to be in a piece about the most famous athlete in the world cheating?
Ogilvy went on to challenge the current structure of how golf is covered and say that golfers need to be a little less sensitive but that writers also need to be more objective in the way they cover the sport.
"Maybe tour players are just too spoiled. Because we are pampered in so many areas of our lives, we perhaps have unrealistic expectations when it comes to the media."Journalists and broadcasters should not be mere cheerleaders. There's too much of that in golf right now, to be honest.""Good things happen on tour every day -- and bad things too -- which is how it should all be reported. I have to believe that's what most people want, an accurate representation of events and issues. Anything else is an insult to our collective intelligence."
The last part might have also been the most interesting. Ogilvy noted that Woods is just not amenable in interviews and that hurts -- not helps -- the problem.
"It works both ways though. Much of what went on between Tiger and Brandel could have been avoided if Tiger would give open answers to questions -- "real" interviews, not just "nothing" interviews."
Great take from somebody who knows the situation as well as, or better than, any of us.
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