Tiger rarely tells it like it is, even to fellow pros
Monday notebook:Tiger Woods’ recent season-ending knee surgery has had a jarring effect on even the most casual golf fan.
But the seriousness of his injuries came out of the blue to the people he walks the fairways with, too. Stewart Cink said as much last week during his annual charity golf tournament near Florence.
Cink played with Woods during the final round of the Masters in early April, before he’d even hinted at having a knee problem.
“After the final round I asked him where he was going to play next and he said ‘Charlotte’ (for the Wachovia Championship),” Cink said. “Then the next day he had (arthroscopic) knee surgery.”
Woods, of course, came back from that to win the U.S. Open last month.
Cink gets along well with Woods, having played several Ryder Cups with the world’s top player. Both are also sponsored by Nike.
However, that doesn’t mean he has any idea what Woods is going to do next.
“It’s like in the movie ‘Meet the Parents’ – there’s a circle of trust there,” Cink said. “And that circle is very, very small.
“When he tells you guys something or even tells us something, he’s telling the whole world. So he doesn’t give you anything he doesn’t want the world knowing.”
On the subject of Woods’ global popularity, Cink also answered a question often posed over the years in the sports department: Who would you rather be, Tiger Woods – who can’t go anywhere without being recognized – or a highly successful, yet relatively unrecognizable player like, say, Stewart Cink?
al.com
7/7/08
Magnolia Tribune
