Tiger Woods –
Meet Billy Payne
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Masters chairman Billy Payne addressed the Tiger Woods issue Wednesday. Tiger Woods may never be the same. Inside the hedges that surround Augusta National Golf Club, just off Washington Road, the word “chairman” translates easily to “god.”
And as such, Payne was giving his annual state of the Masters talk to the international press corps, in which he discusses such routine matters as how the course will play, what tees have been changed, and things like that. He was reading from a prepared statement. Then he neared the end.
“Finally,” Payne said, “we are not unaware of the significance of this week to a very special player, Tiger Woods. A man who in a brief 13 years clearly and emphatically proclaimed the proved his game to be worthy of the likes of Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.” Then the praise tailed off.
Next came the broadside.
Payne was a clip out of a World War II documentary. Think of the mighty battleships. Payne came about, brought his 16-inch guns to bear, and opened fire.
“But as he now says himself,” Payne said, “he forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility. It is not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here; it is the fact that he has disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our kids and our grand kids. Our hero did not live up to the expectations of the role model we saw for our children.”
First off, it was a surprise that Payne even addressed the issue of Woods and his sordid private life that has spilled out all over the world. Masters chairmen generally do not touch on individuals or private matters. Second, it was a surprise that Payne did not take the comforting approach that would generally be found at, say, a Rotary Club meeting.
Tiger Woods has won four Masters, and he was tabbed as the one to break even Jack Nicklaus’ record of six. Perhaps, as some clearly believed in public print and discourse, Tiger Woods thought he was bigger than the Masters.
Meet Billy Payne.
Bigger than golf.
Meet Billy Payne.
“Is there a way forward?” Payne said. “I hope yes. I think yes. But certainly his future will never again be measured only by his performance against par, but measured by the sincerity of his efforts to change. I hope he now realizes that every kid he passes on the course wants his swing, but would settle for his smile.
“I hope,” Payne ground on, “he can come to understand that life’s greatest rewards are reserved for those who bring joy to the lives of other people. We at Augusta hope and pray that our great champion will begin his new life here tomorrow in a positive, hopeful and constructive manner, but this time, with a significant difference from the past. This year, it will not be just for him, but for all of us, who believe in second chances.”
“Did you ever study diplomacy?” someone asked Payne later.
He grinned. “I’ve been beaten some,” he said.
Someone wondered to Payne whether he feared that this return of Tiger Woods would overshadow even the Masters itself.
“We don’t look at things that way,” Payne said, pleasantly. “We are very secure in who we are, and the Masters has, almost now, a 74-year history. We just kind of do things our way. We are not threatened by other big news stories or things like that.”
It would seem there is little chance that Woods and his handlers and enablers could possibly miss the ultimatum Billy Payne, chairman of the Masters, just handed them.
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