All language subtitles for tiger.s01e01.720p.web.h264-whosnext.en

of HBO Sports.

[applause]

[pensive music]

♪ ♪

- Please forgive me,

but sometimes,
I get very emotional

when I talk about my son.

- Daddy!

Daddy!

♪ ♪

- Whoo!
There it is.

- Whoo!
Yeah!

- My heart...
fills with so much joy

when I realize

that this young man

is going to help
so many people.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

He will transcend this game

and bring to the world

a humanitarianism

which has never
been known before.

♪ ♪

The world will be
a better place to live in

by virtue of his existence

and his presence.

♪ ♪

This is my treasure.

Please accept it

and use it wisely.

♪ ♪

- Right now, I'd like you
to meet Tiger Woods

and his father, Earl Woods.

[cheers and applause]

Tiger, come here a minute.

Would you like to enter
into a little competition

with Mr. Hope?

Tiger?

First, can I see you swing?

Maybe we'll try
the driver first.

- Oh, all right.

- Set us.
- Hit that ball.

- Oh!
- [laughing]

Perfect!

- Good boy, Tiger.

- Earl, how old is...

How old are you, Tiger?

- Daddy...
- Two.

- Two?
- He's two.

- When did he start
with a golf club?

- Um--
- Remember the first time

he picked one up?

- Three months.

- Does he really love golf?
You ever take him--

- Oh, he loves it.
He loves it.

- How about a putting contest
with Mr. Hope?

Can he putt, too?
- Oh, yes.

- Okay.
We'll let him putt first.

He knows.
He knows.

- Rap it right in there.
- Tap it right in there.

[laughter and applause]

[pensive music]

- When Tiger came out
with that little bag of clubs,

a lot of people
from a lot of corners

saw the potential
of greatness,

and I think his father, Earl,
was one of them.

♪ ♪

He told me he knew

from the very start

that Tiger was going
to be a legend.

And Earl would say,
"Let the legend grow."

- When Tiger was less
than 10 months old,

I brought him in the garage,

put him in a high chair,

strapped him in,

and he'd watch me hit balls
into a golf net.

♪ ♪

He was totally immersed
in that activity,

so much so that he had
to be fed in there

because when my wife tried
to take him

out of the high chair
to feed him,

no way.

No.

He said, "Mm-mm."

So she would have to feed him
between shots,

and he'd go like this.

♪ ♪

Between shots.

And it was beautiful to see,

but the...
level of concentration

at that age was off the chart.

At ten months,

I unstrapped him
out of his high chair one day,

and he walked over, sat up,

and hit the ball.

[club strikes]

I said, "Oh, my God.
I've got something special."

♪ ♪

Good shot.

- Whoo!

[laughter]

- Earl would take him
to the golf course

and started working with him
on putting.

He worked from the green back.

That was the secret

to how Earl instructed Tiger.

And his mother, Tida--

she was just as instrumental
as Earl was.

- Oh.
- Oh!

- Too hard.

- Too hard.
You're right.

- Tiger's vocabulary
was not that advanced,

as you might imagine,

and when teaching him
how to navigate

a golf course,

Earl had to dumb it down.

He had to talk at the level
of a one- or two-year-old.

So when they came
upon a water hazard,

Tiger would say,
"Wa-wa, Daddy.

Wa-wa,"

and Earl would say,
"Wa-wa, son.

Wa-wa..." [laughs]
"Wa-wa bad."

♪ ♪

- His name
is Eldrick Tiger Woods.

Tiger's only 2 1/2 years old,

and since he was eight months,
he's been playing golf.

- Do you like playing golf?
Yes or no?

Is it a lot of fun?

- [exhales heavily]

- Yes or no?
- Yes or no?

Tiger.

Tiger, my career
is in your hands right now.

Will you please help me?
Do you like playing golf?

Yes or no?

[laughter]

[disquieting music]

- We can't dictate to him

what he can be
and what he cannot be.

So as a consequence,
what we do is,

we participate with him
in golf,

and if it was bowling,

we would participate with him
in bowling.

Each and every one of us
has their own life to live,

and he has a choice

to live his life the way
he wants to live his life.

♪ ♪

- Earl would claim

that he would've been
just as happy

had Tiger been a tuba player

or a guitarist

or, you know, anything
other than a golfer,

but trust me,

Earl was
a well-versed bullshitter.

- Par, par, par.

- Mm, okay.
You gonna make it par

on the last hole?
- Uh-huh.

- Okay.
All right, let's go do it.

♪ ♪

- I think Earl
had the master plan

since Tiger started walking.

♪ ♪

Tiger had a small stammer,

and he didn't speak with you

until he felt comfortable

around the person,
and then he would talk freely.

♪ ♪

One day, Tiger opened up,

and he asked me

to ask his dad if he
could play some other sports

besides just golfing,

and I told him I would.

None of the teachers
were happy

to see Earl
coming in for a conference

or for anything at all.

They said he was
a pain in the ass.

[laughs]
That's what they said,

and I agreed with them.

He was a definite SOB.

So I didn't want to say
anything to aggravate Earl,

but I did say that I thought
it would be nice

if Tiger could play
other sports,

but Mr. Woods said
he had to concentrate

on his golf.

♪ ♪

- I know what I'm looking at,
and I know what I feel.

The talent is there to be
the best

in the history of golf.

The world is ready

for a non-white golfer
to be successful.

I have availed Tiger of this,

and he takes
that responsibility seriously.

- So the first thing
I've got to ask you is,

golf's quite often seen
as, you know,

an upper-class white game.
- Mm-hmm.

- Do you feel in some ways
that you can help change that

if you became--
- Yes.

- If you became, like,
the next Jack Nicklaus?

- Since I'm Black, it might be

even bigger than Jack Nicklaus.

I might be even bigger
than him...

to the Blacks.

I might be sort of like
a Michael Jordan in basketball,

or something like that.

[bass guitar music]

♪ ♪

- How about Tiger Woods?

- Well, Bret,
on paper, Tiger Woods looks

like the prohibitive favorite
in his match today.

- All right, Stephen,
and as everyone knows,

if Tiger Woods can win it,

he would become
the youngest amateur champion

in history.

- He's done it.
Tiger Woods.

- Breaking both age
and color barriers,

Tiger Woods won
the U.S. Amateur Championship.

- In sports, we report tonight

on a new face to watch
on the golf tour.

Tiger Woods.
- Tiger Woods.

- Tiger Woods extended
his streak today.

[crowd exclaims]

The 19-year-old phenom

successfully defended
his crown.

- Oh!
[cheers and applause]

- What an impressive shot.

- Best teenage golfer
in the history of this game.

[soft music]

- Certainly
well-deserved hoopla

as Tiger Woods goes
for his third straight,

which has never been done
before.

- He misses his putt,

he's got his work
cut out for him.

♪ ♪

- It's good.
Great speed!

It's in!

- Are you serious?

- Tiger was
a cultural phenomenon

as well as a sports one.

Golf is basically a bastion
of Caucasian America,

and Tiger was walking
into this white world

and just dominating it.

The magazine editors at "SI"
wanted me

to start peeling
the layers away

and seeing
what's going on here.

- As the army of Tiger

continues to follow him
in the fairways,

there's been
a lot of speculation

as to when Tiger
will turn pro.

- Phil Knight,
the CEO at Nike,

has been in the gallery
every single day.

A lot of other
potential suitors as well.

- Just seeing all the forces
that were at play here,

I felt that the pressures
were already starting

to multiply exponentially,

and Tiger was a kid
that was in deep.

- It's been awfully hard

with, you know,
the enormous crowds

and the demands,

but I've done a very good job,
I think,

and hopefully, I'll continue.

- Tiger answered my questions,

but wanted to give off
that he was in control

and everything was cool.

You always felt
you weren't getting

all the way to the bottom
of it.

- Man, this
is nail-biting time

for the Wood contingent.

- Good-looking shot.

[crowd exclaims]
- Great shot by Tiger Woods.

- If I'd just been reliant
on Tiger at that point,

I would've been
in deep scramble mode.

♪ ♪

But Tiger's father, Earl,

he loved to drink,
he loved to talk,

and he'd just start saying

that his son's gonna have
this grand effect

on the level of Gandhi,
Buddha, Nelson Mandela,

you know,
basically the chosen one.

[applause]
- I know

that I was personally selected

by God himself

to nurture this young man

and bring him to the point

where he could make
his contribution to humanity.

- He was adamant.

Tiger was gonna be
this incredible bridge

between all the different
races and tribes

of humanity,

and you know,
I'm just kind of sitting there

like, "Holy crap," you know?

- This for the championship.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- I had a real sense
that there was

this looming question.

In order to become
what his father's vision

for him was,

to have this large an effect

on our planet and our species,

this boy

had to walk
into the maw of this machine

of celebrity and fame,

and could he survive that?

- Well, gentlemen,
congratulations

on a well-played final.

Tiger, a place in golf history.

What does this do
as to your feelings

as to whether you'll turn pro
or stay in school?

- I really don't know
right now.

I just know one thing.
I'm gonna celebrate

like hell tonight.

[laughter]

[cheers and applause]

- In sports today,
the inevitable:

the most talented
amateur player

in the history of golf
has decided to turn pro.

- Tiger Woods
is quitting college

to take his game
and his considerable appeal

on the professional tour

and to accept

a multimillion-dollar
endorsement from Nike.

- In one short week,

Woods reinvented
the business side of golf.

- Tiger, this way, please.

- He will rewrite
the record books

for sports marketing.

[exciting music]

- When Tiger came to us
at Nike,

everyone at the campus
was talking about,

"Who's the next
Michael Jordan?"

That was always
the Nike question.

And then lo and behold,
Tiger Woods comes along,

and he kind of was

the next Michael Jordan.

One of the first things we do
with a Nike athlete

is get them media trained.

But when we told Earl

about the media training
program,

he said,
"I've already trained him

"how to talk to the media.

We don't need this."

I think Earl was objecting

because someone else
besides him

was gonna talk to Tiger
about how to be Tiger.

Earl thought Tiger
was his creation,

so Earl was a little nervous

that he's gonna lose
some control.

I think Earl
just didn't realize

the magnitude that Nike
advertising can bring.

- When you make a commercial,

you want to find what makes
that product unique.

Golf was very lily white,

and there was some discussion.

I brought it up.
I said,

"Do we wanna play
the race card?"

Nike's not stupid financially.

Using Tiger to reach
a wider range of golf

or to expand the golf universe

is a no-brainer.

They said, "Fucking yeah.

Let's do this."

[percussive music]

♪ ♪

- Now, this is the first time
we can remember

when a company like Nike
used racial discord

to help sell its products,

used it as a way to give
a tough new edge

to a very nice young man.

- I think it's a message

that has been long awaited,

because it's very true,

and being a person who is,

I guess how you could say--
non-white,

I've had to experience that,

and the Nike campaign
is just telling the truth.

- The fact that Nike
is marketing him

as a Black player

tells you that Tiger Woods

is the great Black hope
for golf.

- You know,
when this thing happened,

I said, "Well,
this is wonderful for golf,

but I wonder how great this is
for just a 21-year-old kid."

The bar is now way up here.

- Tiger!
Tiger!

Tiger!
- After that ad ran,

I felt like, "Did we put
too much pressure

on this young man?"

But then I thought to myself,

"This kid is built
for pressure."

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- This is an African American
playing in Augusta.

This is still a place that,
for all its glory of golf,

harbors a nice little corner
of prejudice

and an ugly side of America.

- I mean, yeah,
when you look at the history

of the Masters,
I mean, you know,

it's built
on a slave plantation.

- And he's gonna blow
that up today.

- Record throngs showed up

to see golf's legend
in the making.

- Tiger!
Tiger!

- For decades,
advertisers and fans

have longed
for an American hero.

The question
is whether anyone,

no matter how talented,

can live up
to such expectations.

- The number one attention
from the media was Tiger.

They would call it "buzz"
around him,

but it was way bigger
than buzz.

It wasn't just like,
"Oh, there's a rumor

in the parking lot
there's a new kid in town."

It was full out, full on.

- Can Tiger Woods
win the Masters?

He's paired with Nick Faldo.

Faldo and Woods are favorites.

- Make a hole, please,
gentlemen and ladies.

- When Tiger came out
that morning,

he had security guys
around him.

There was a genuine
aura shift.

The patrons,

all their attention
went to him.

The players sensed it.

All their attention, like,

"Here comes Tiger."

Everybody wanted to know,

"Can Tiger do it?"

- Fore, please.
Tiger Woods now driving.

[crowd exclaims]

[applause]

- Wait a minute.
What happened?

Wow, that is as far left
as we've seen anybody hit it.

- The look on Tiger's face
tells all.

- I played with him that day.

We'd tee off,

and we didn't play well
at all.

You know, he's over
in left trees,

I'm in right trees--
whatever it was,

we were in deep shit.
[laughs]

- Left again.

- Woods struggling.

- Everybody's gonna choke.

When you play nine holes
like that,

and you're kind of
out of control,

you lose that confidence,

and it's a very fast
snowball effect.

But the best golfers
in the world

have ability to forget things
very quickly.

You've got to go, "Okay, yeah.
I've got to learn to play

in this different
environment."

All the pressures,
all the media attention,

disappear.

You are completely engrossed
in what you're doing.

That's what Tiger
was able to do.

[hopeful orchestral music]

- Kind of likes it.

And he introduces
his ball to the flag.

That's the finest shot
we've seen here today.

- That's the momentum.
You need one good break.

[cheers and applause]

- Eagle three
for Tiger Woods.

- That was the moment

he turned things around.

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- Kenny, let the record show,

a little after 5:30,
Friday, April the 11th,

Tiger takes the lead

for the first time ever
at the Masters.

- And then we didn't see him
for dust

for the next 12 years.
[laughs]

That was it.

- Tiger Woods
has just been brilliant today.

[cheers and applause]

- Woods walloping the field

in the third round
of the Masters.

A nine-shot lead.

- This is a culmination
of...a lot of hard work,

years and years
of training, dreams,

and it's now turned
into reality.

- Going into the final round,

it was a foregone conclusion

that Tiger was gonna win.

However, the night
before the final round,

Tiger was restless,
couldn't sleep.

♪ ♪

During the '97 Masters,

I know that Tiger received

some racially motivated
threats,

and during
the tournament itself,

you would hear the N word

from some of the folks
in the gallery,

and as strong
as he is mentally,

he wasn't able to block
all of it out.

So he got up,

he saw a light under the door

in Earl's bedroom,

and he knocked on the door
and went in,

and Earl eased
all of his fears.

[cheers and applause]

- My dad says, "Hey, son,
when you go out there,

"it's gonna be

"the hardest round
of your life,

"but if you just be yourself,

"stay cool,

it's gonna be one
of the most rewarding rounds."

- I don't know
how many strokes

Woods is gonna shatter
this record by,

but it's apparent

he's set a new standard
for golf.

- Right now,
with a 12-shot lead,

he's taking everybody else
out of play.

[heavy music]

♪ ♪

- And I walk up 18.

I have a little tear
in my eye.

It was something
you always dream of.

I knew I'd won the tournament,
but still,

I still had to take care
of business.

- This putt to break

the all-time record
at the Masters.

- That incredible
12-shot margin.

♪ ♪

- There it is,
a win for the ages.

♪ ♪

- Other people now know

what I knew all along.

They were just too stubborn
to see it.

He is just getting aware
that he has this power.

When he is in full control
of this power,

he can then make
a difference in the world.

- Look at this.

This is the daily news
in New York.

If this is not a big story,

"Tiger Woods'
Awesome 18 Performance."

This is "The New York Post."

This is "USA Today."

This is "The Washington Post."
- Little bit of attention.

[peppy music]

- Tiger mania takes
the boardwalk

here in Atlantic City tonight

as the 21-year-old golf phenom

eclipses other stars
who turned out here

for the grand opening
of the Official All Star Café.

- Well, Tiger Woods receiving
a standing ovation

from this crowd here
in Chicago.

He's been referred to

as Michael Jordan
in long pants.

- After the win, it seemed
like the entire world

embraced Tiger.

[cheers and applause]

- Unharnessed enthusiasm

for the young legend.

- I'm talking
about white folks,

Black folks, Asian folks--
you name it.

Everybody wanted him
to be theirs.

- Hey, Tiger!
- Tiger!

- The reaction to him

said something
about this country.

Often accused still
of a pervasive racism,

America was thrilled by
and for Tiger Woods,

glad that such a young man
could reach such heights;

gladder still, if anything,

that a Black man could.

- It was like white America

almost patting itself
on the back like,

"Look, this is the promise
that America makes,

"that anyone can use the tools
that this country offers

"and make it
to the highest levels,

regardless of race,
color, creed."

- Go get 'em, Tiger!

- We like to believe
we're this place

without racism,

but that's
a great American myth.

- He has
an amazing opportunity

beyond the golf course.

- He does have
a great opportunity.

He's got a great burden...

- Yeah.
- Also.

I mean, I think
the expectations,

while they were enormous
for him

going into this thing,

they're double that now.

The social burden
will be considerable.

This is a guy who a lot
will be expected of.

He'll be asked to be
a spokesman,

and maybe that's unfair
for somebody who's 21.

[pensive music]

A lot is asked
of athletes of color

that is not asked
of other athletes.

It's a racial society.

It's not just
how you play basketball

or how you play baseball,
how you play tennis,

how you play golf.

People thought that Tiger

was gonna introduce

this groundswell.

- Tiger Woods?
Oh, the golf man?

I think he's kind of cool.

- I think it's great.
I think it's history.

- He's gonna be a role model
for anybody who wants

to do good in life.

- As an African American,
I know how we are.

We take great pride

in our young people
who accomplish great things,

and we claimed Tiger Woods.

He was ours.

[cheers and applause]

- Please welcome
Tiger Woods!

[upbeat music]

♪ ♪

- Wow.
- Wow.

That'll wake you up.
- Oh, that will.

- Of course, you've received
all kinds of adulation.

You also get hate mail.

I hear you insist
upon reading it.

Why?

- Well, it reminds me

of what I have to try and do.

As people know, golf has been
kind of an elitist sport,

and unfortunately,
it's kind of close--

- Wasn't until six years ago
the Augusta National

even allowed...
- Exactly.

- People of color.
- A Black member.

Yeah, it's--and in the clubs,
still practice that,

and unfortunately,
I've had to deal with that

all growing up.

I got kicked off
of golf courses

numerous times, been called

some pretty tough words
to my face,

and it's tough.

Golf needed to be shaken up.

[applause]
- What about that?

Can we get this straight?
What do you call yourself?

Your father's half Black,

quarter Chinese,
quarter American Indian.

Mother's half Thai,
quarter Chinese,

and quarter white.

So...

does it bother you to be called
African American?

- Yeah, it does.

Growing up, I came up
with this name.

I'm a Cablinasian.
- A cablinasian?

- Ca--Caucasian.
Bl--Black.

In--Indian.
Asian.

Cablinasian.

- I remember when Tiger Woods
was Black.

[laughter]

'Cause I don't know
what he is now.

After he won the Masters,

I'm flipping through
the "Sports Illustrated,"

and I read, "Tiger Woods
is a quarter Black."

I'm like, "Damn, he's down
to 25% now, man!"

[melancholy music]

But you know,
as soon as he gets in trouble,

what will we read?

"Black golfer arrested."

♪ ♪

- People of color
had so much invested in him.

I'd be lying if I said
I wasn't disappointed.

You know, my grandkids
are biracial,

and...somebody asked me.

They said,
"Well, what do you tell them?"

And I tell them they're Black,
they're African American.

And they said, "Why?"

And I said,
"Because that's how America's

going to look at them."

And that's the reality
of Tiger.

- To force Tiger to choose
I think is ridiculous.

Why choose?
Why do you have to choose?

- ...is very much true,

but you go back,

and Tiger Woods will sit there
and tell you

there were courses
that he couldn't play

as he was coming up
as a youngster.

It wasn't that he couldn't play
because he was "Cablasian"

or whatever else
he wants to be.

He couldn't play
because he was a Black man.

- I believe Tiger knew

that there was racism,

he knew that there was
an unlevel playing field,

but was he gonna be a messiah?

No way.

- Your dad thinks
that you're going to be

the most important man
that ever lived,

more so than Gandhi and Jesus.

- You know, that's--

I think that's just
a dad speaking.

You know, a proud father.

- Tiger never really
saw himself

as the unifying force
that Earl saw him as.

That was Earl's dream,

and I don't think he realized
the pressure

that he had placed on Tiger.

♪ ♪

- I hope you got
some ripe ones.

- Don't eat them all.

- But don't eat them all up,
Tiger!

- Took the biggest one.

- Yes, I want the biggest one.

- There's no question
that Earl loved, loved Tiger.

- Sweet.

- But I think there was always
the grand plan for Tiger.

- There's nothing better
than stolen strawberries.

[laughs]

- I think in Earl's head
that he really thought

it was the best thing
for Tiger,

that he wasn't doing anything
to hurt him,

but it was a plan,

and that was the stuff
that would bother me.

Why would you put that
on your kid?

[school bell rings]

♪ ♪

- Tiger and I met
in my accounting class.

Tiger was very shy.

He didn't have friends.

He had the highest grade
in the class,

so it kind of became
this competition,

and I think I was teasing him
a little bit about it,

and that's kind of
how it started,

just as friends.

♪ ♪

You know, growing up,
the boys were so typical.

The football players
were the cool kids,

but Tiger said that he golfed.

And I was like, "Oh, okay."

I didn't even know we had
a golfing team at the school.

The first time that
I understood

the magnitude of who he was

was when I went to his house

and saw the shrine
on the wall of him

with all the trophies
and pictures

and magazine clippings.

This was, like,
a whole nother level of...

"Hello, welcome to my home,

and it's all
about Tiger Woods."

Like, it was just a lot.

- On the tee, Tiger Woods!

[cheers and applause]

- He had invited me
to go to a tournament.

That was the first time
I saw him play golf.

♪ ♪

He became, like,
a completely different person

when he got up there.

He was, like, in control

and confident.
- Come on.

- Go, go!

- And I loved that about him.

It was a quality that I thought
was very attractive.

I loved it.

♪ ♪

I just remember the people

surrounding him.

- Right here.
- On your shirt?

- On my shirt.
- People were asking

for his autograph.

I'm like, "Who would want
your autograph?

Like, what
are you talking about?"

- There you go.

- Oh, how...
- What do you say?

- Shake his hand.

- All right.
- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- He knew that the fame
was not normal.

He always knew that.

I think he definitely saw
the bridge

to me being able to give him
a normal life.

- Oh, my God!
[laughter]

- [laughs]

[upbeat music playing]

♪ ♪

- Tiger enjoyed going
to my house

because it was always loud,

and I think the quietness
of his house

sometimes drove him crazy.

♪ ♪

- Get down!

♪ ♪

[laughter]

- He knew that he
could be himself

and there was no judgment
and no pressure

to live up
to all these expectations.

♪ ♪

- Dina, let's see
some leg, baby, some leg.

Whoo!
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Okay, Tiger.
Some leg.

Whoa!
[laughs] Oh, yeah.

♪ ♪

- I loved taking him
to do new things.

Going to see, you know,
a movie,

going bowling
for the first time,

seeing his face--
it's like seeing a kid

at Christmas.

I don't know, it just
was so natural with us.

I was in love with him,

and I would tell him
all the time.

I'm like, "Golf is great,
and it's your passion,

"but it's not everything.

There's more to life."

I wanted to protect
that sweetness of him

because I could tell
he didn't know

what was coming,

that fame.

It scared me.

[dramatic music]

[crowd roaring]

- Listen to the crowd.

- Tiger's got 152 yards.

They're gonna go nuts
when he hits this thing.

[crowd roars]

♪ ♪

- Oh!
It went in!

♪ ♪

It looks like
a ticker tape parade.

♪ ♪

- Every time he went
to play,

the gallery was
a completely different scene

compared to what
I was used to.

- Tiger!
Tiger!

- His autograph became
so wanted

that people were desperate
to get it.

People were pushing
and shoving,

and he would come away
many days

with a golf shirt that had

all the different
Sharpie marks on it.

When you get to know Tiger
and you're--

you know, you're
a little bit closer to him

than most people,

when you understand

what it is to be Tiger Woods,

what it is to be in his shoes,

to go through what he does,

I think you can't but admire
the guy,

and you feel like you want
to protect the guy

a little bit.

So working for Tiger
was certainly

more than just being a caddie.

You've also got
to be a bodyguard.

Could you hold
the camera, please?

- A "New York Daily News"
photographer

said that Steve came over

and kicked his camera

after he was taking pictures

during Tiger's practice swing.

- Good, Tiger.

[applause]

- I mean, you know,
obviously,

throughout my time
of caddying for Tiger,

I did a couple of things
I regret,

but you just gotta try
and make it

as easy as it can be

for Tiger to perform

at the level he wants to

without all the distractions.

- Life is always full
of goals.

- Mm.
-What's yours?

- Mine, ultimately?

To be the best.

- So you wanna be known
as the best

who ever played this game.

- Yeah, exactly.

- Tiger's main focus

was to win
major championships.

He always believed
he could get better

and he could strive
for perfection.

[quiet beating music]

I remember we were driving
down this freeway,

and he goes,

"Stevie, stop the car.
Stop the car."

And he got the golf club
out of the trunk,

and he's swinging
on the side of the road.

Now, here's Tiger Woods

on the side of the freeway
in Toronto,

swinging a golf club.

He's got this thought
in his head,

"If I can just do this,"

and he couldn't wait

till the next day

or till he got back
to the hotel

or wherever it was.

It had to be now.

There is no one would do that,
just nobody.

- I remember
I said to Tiger,

"How much better
can your swing actually get?

This is probably as good
as anyone's ever played golf."

And he looks at me,
and he says,

"You always ask me
that question.

I'm gonna be way better
than I am now."

- You took a lot of criticism
for changing your golf swing.

- Can always become better.

- It's almost like
it's an obsession.

- It is.
I'm addicted.

I'm addicted to golf.

- Tiger, back then at least,
was obsessed.

I mean, he was always
practicing.

- A lot of the changes--

he had to get stronger
to make them,

What are you,
about 20 pounds heavier now

than when you first
came on the tour?

- Yeah, I came on the tour
at 158,

and now I'm 180.

- And then the gym took over.

- And the key here is just
to keep the right arm

higher than the left.

You can see the chin
gets up,

the back is much straighter,

and it's taken him over a year

to feel comfortable with that,

hitting thousands of balls.

[thunder rolls]

- The fascinating thing for me
about Tiger Woods:

he's never satisfied.

The hunger never goes away.

It's this monk-like pursuit

of the goal,

the common goal:

perfection.

[drum music]

♪ ♪

- The U.S. Open,
Pebble Beach.

It has a very, very,
very special ring to it,

and here we are
to decide the championship.

Well, it's
a very interesting course

in that it tests
every skill you have.

♪ ♪

Now Colin Montgomerie.

- He has hit it very high,

but it needs to get up
and a little left.

Oh, that ball
is down in the hazard.

Uh-oh.
- Tried to get

a little too cute,
I think, Mark.

[plodding band music]

- The U.S. Open likes
to set its courses up

so it tortures the players.

I'm convinced of that.

It wants to see them, like,

break down and cry.

♪ ♪

That means heavy rough.

The grass is high
on either side of the fairway.

♪ ♪

[crowd murmurs]

- Fore!
- Out of bounds everywhere.

- Uh-oh.
Uh-oh.

That's a miss.
That's left.

[crowd exclaims]
That's left.

- Wow.
Oops.

On the cart path.
Watch this thing go.

- I mean, that was
a really hard golf course.

[dramatic music]

- Tiger Woods well back,

getting ready for his shot

at one of
the more gut-wrenching shots

in the world.

- None of that bothered Tiger.

♪ ♪

- Let's get it right.
Come on, baby.

Come on.
Be the right club.

Come on!
Come on, be it.

- The ball started
at the left side.

It's cutting into the center
of the green.

This looks really good.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

[onlookers cheering]
- Oh, my!

♪ ♪

Wow.
Is this really happening?

Double digits.

- 2000 at Pebble Beach

was where it all
came together,

and Tiger Woods played
quite simply

the greatest golf
of all time.

You just couldn't take
your eyes off of him, you know.

There was this element

that Tiger brought
between the ropes

that no golfer had.

♪ ♪

He was wearing a shirt
the color of blood.

He was so hypermasculine.

You know, he strutted around
like a toreador.

It was riveting.

- Look at that bicep
on his left arm.

I mean, this guy bench presses

300-plus pounds.

- Eh, well, I guess that means
this one's really going far.

♪ ♪

Wow.
That is really deep.

Just a driving machine.

- As he was coming
down to the last hole,

he was leading by 15.

I mean, it was
absolutely incredible,

and I remember sitting there,

you know,
thinking to myself,

"One day,
the golfing record book

"will be two words.

In every category,
Tiger Woods."

♪ ♪

[cheers and applause]

- And Tiger Woods
is the 100th

U.S. Open champion

in history.

- You have long been
a student of this game.

Your dad taught you
the game of golf.

Today, of course,
is Fathers' Day.

Your dad's not here,
but I'm gonna make a wild guess

and say that I'll bet you
he's watching.

Any thoughts you'd like
to share with him today?

- Well, it's not too bad
a Fathers' Day present, is it?

[cheers and applause]

[uneasy music]

♪ ♪

- Earl was a Green Beret,

did two tours in 'Nam.

♪ ♪

Earl was demolition,

so they would send him
behind enemy lines

not with a gun, but with C4,

dynamite.

Like the most dangerous job
he could possibly have

is to go behind enemy lines

and blow up a headquarters.

He had the mental fortitude
that it took

to survive in Vietnam,

and that's how and why

he was able to create
this little assassin

within the ropes.

♪ ♪

And he did it
at the Navy golf course,

the Bethlehem of golf.

♪ ♪

The Navy golf course
was only open and available

to active duty
and retired military.

When I first started there,

I was the new
young assistant pro.

I was the new guy.

No one was giving me
the time of day.

Along comes Earl Woods,

introduces himself,
shakes my hand,

nicest guy in the world.

I'm like, "Finally, somebody's
being friendly to me

in this joint."

Well, we hit it off.

Earl invited me to play
with him and Tiger.

Mind you, I still don't know
who Tiger is.

I just think he's Earl's kid,

so I'm kind of
checking him out

while we play.

Whenever Tiger would go
to hit,

Earl would start
jiggling his change

and talking to me
like I'm talking right now,

loud, just being
completely rude.

- That didn't work.

- Finally, like,
on the sixth hole,

I shush Earl.
I shush him.

And Earl's like,

"Joe, don't you know
what I'm doing?"

He goes, "I'm preparing Tiger

to play through distraction
when he gets to the tour."

[pensive music]

- Where's my fade?

♪ ♪

Sit down.
Sit!

Stop.
- It went over.

- Stop!

- I brought this out in him,

his toughness.

I would do all kinds of things

to mess him up,

usually on the golf course.

Man, did he get angry with me.

- Step over.
That's it.

- I could say one word,

and that word
was the release word

that the whole training
was over.

I said, "Tiger,

"if you never utter that word,

"I promise you
that you'll never meet

another person
as mentally tough as you."

- He played mind games on me
almost every shot I hit,

until I grew up
and accepted it,

and then it was nothing.

♪ ♪

- Earl did everything he could
to toughen his boy up.

One of the things
that really made Tiger

incredibly strong

was this ability
that he had taught to him

by his father's friend,

who was a naval
psychological ops operative,

basically, a psychologist,

to hypnotize himself.

♪ ♪

People say,
"Oh, Tiger's in the zone,"

but he literally was in
some sort of a trance,

which is an amazing thing
that you would do

for a kid that was 13 or 14.

♪ ♪

- Good try, Dad.

- That military training
that Earl passed along

to Tiger,
it was something else.

But his mother,

she's the one who made him
a complete competitor,

because her philosophy was,

"Put your foot
on their throat, son.

You kill them."

- I am very tough with him,
and he knows it.

Not with Dad.

Dad only used the voice
and tone,

but I said to Tiger,
"No matter how big you are,

I can beat you.
I can spank you."

And he knows it, what I mean.

[laughs]

- She was very strict.

She said if I ever cross
the boundaries that she set,

there was always consequences.

♪ ♪

- Earl and Tida,
they had this image

of who he was supposed to be,

and I think that they
were worried about me,

'cause I certainly didn't fit
into that.

I felt like their plans
were creating this robot.

There was all this preparation
for golf, which is great.

You're gonna be a great golfer.

But he had no life skills.

He had not been prepared
for life.

And I was probably
the only person around him

that really kept him in check.

- Merry Christmas, Tiger.

all: Merry Christmas!

- And I would tell him,

"You know, you are gonna want
to get married and have kids,

"and golf is not gonna
be the most important thing.

I mean, you're gonna have
to find that balance."

He would say,
"I'm in love with you.

"I want that.

I just wanna have
a life with you."

♪ ♪

- Earl and Tida, they
were very nervous about that.

One time, Tiger lied to them

in saying that
he was coming home

from college the next day,

when he'd actually arrived
the day before

and stayed
at his girlfriend's house.

Tida and Earl,

they were furious.

Tiger called me.
He was so upset, he called me.

"Joe, I'm a lot of trouble,
you know?"

And he told me
what had happened.

I said, "Well, I'll go
over there."

You know,
"I'll help you out, champ.

I got your back on this,"

'cause I was very close
to Earl and Tida at the time.

I go over there,
and I was shocked.

Tida was goddamn-ing a lot,

very loud tone of voice.
"God damn it!"

And Earl was just incensed,

and you could just hear it
in his voice.

"We don't need this.

"You gotta push--
she's gonna get pregnant.

"You're gonna blow--
he's gonna blow

the whole goddamn thing."

And they're ready to just
kick him out of the house.

They were so mad.

And Tiger, you know,
he was spooked.

He was spooked.

- "Dina, the reason
for writing this letter

"is to inform you
my parents and myself

"never want to talk
or hear from you again.

"Reflecting back
over this relationship,

"I feel used and manipulated
by you and your family.

"I hope the rest of your life
runs well for you.

"I know this is sudden
and a surprise,

"but it is, in my opinion,
much warranted.

Sincerely, Tiger."

♪ ♪

Yeah, it was awful.

I mean, we've been in this
three-year relationship,

and you know, I thought about,
"Should I drive over there?"

I just wanted to confront him.

I just wanted him to look me
in the face and tell me this.

If it's the truth,
then we're good.

Then our relationship
was a whole lie.

That's fine,
but I wanna hear it from you.

It's just--I replay that day
in my head

over and over again.

What happened?

What really triggered all this?

But you know, I have to--

it has to be that it was
just the plan.

[disquieting music]

♪ ♪

It was like a death, and I had
to treat it like a death,

because I had to just let it go

and pretend like he was gone,

because honestly, the person
that I fell in love with,

the Tiger that I had known,

had died.

♪ ♪

That part of him,
the part of his soul,

that I knew
would never treat me that way.

His sweetness
was stolen from him.

The new Tiger was here,

and he was all about golf.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- In almost complete
darkness...

- And it is very hard
to even see

the flight of any ball
onto the 18th green.

Now Tiger.

- This one appears
to be online, I think.

- Oh, no.
You can't do that!

I don't believe it.
[laughs]

I don't believe it.

♪ ♪

- What Tiger does
with a golf club is...

it's stunning.

It's frightening
how good he is.

- Johnny, I have seen
a number of players putt

from the back part
of this green,

and the results
have not been good.

♪ ♪

[crowd yelling]

That's...better than most.

- How about in?
- It is better than most.

Better than most!

- I don't think that people

had ever seen anybody
like Tiger before.

- Tiger's about to give this
quite a big lash.

[laughs]

- His swing was so violent,

and he had such a torque
in his back,

I thought it just
was gonna snap like a twig.

- Heaves it on.

- That was not just technique.

That's all about strength.

- I've never seen anybody
who had so much fun

crushing a golf ball

and just obliterating
his opponents.

- Ti got in trouble
at the 17th.

- When Tiger played golf,

there was a hunger
to see him do something

that you've never seen before.

- Would you believe it?

[cheers and applause]

- People invested themselves
in him as a figure,

as something representing

what they wanted to believe

was good in themselves.

It became this hold he had

on people's
sacred imagination.

♪ ♪

Earl Woods was

the original evangelist
of the Gospel of Tiger Woods.

He put it out into the world

and found
all these other evangelists

who were willing to spread it.

- You're the man, Tiger!

- Among the fans, I mean,
there was just

an overwhelming urge
to come see this guy.

People's enthusiasm grew

until it became this monster,

and Tiger knew
he couldn't stop it.

[somber music]

- Tiger, please!
- Step back, step back!

Stay back.
Stay back.

- I think there's fame,
and then there's mania.

[fans clamoring]

♪ ♪

Being out in public with Tiger

was absolutely insane.

[fans clamoring]

It was just the most intense,

screaming, crying,

jumping up and down,

almost hyperventilating
reaction to him.

- Take it easy.
Take it easy.

- My uncle was also
a professional golfer,

so I knew that world,

but this was different.

This was next level.

♪ ♪

As a friend,
I know that he wanted

to be a normal kid
in many ways

and that inside,
there's a person

who is a little confused

by this crazy world
he's been thrust into.

♪ ♪

- I guess there's one thing
that I really do miss

is a sense of privacy.

People are usually trying
to invade my privacy,

and you know,
sometimes that's tough.

[pensive music]

- The machine of fame
starts to just wallop Tiger.

♪ ♪

Earl sees this piling up
on his son

and tries to break
the tension, and Tiger says,

"You don't know
what this is like."

And Earl, you know, tries
to sympathize with him,

like, saying, "You're right.
I--must be terrible,"

and Tiger just, you know,
bites his head off.

[camera shutters snapping]

We're really getting a sense
of the pressures

that were gonna start coming
on Tiger and Earl,

the father-son relationship
that had been so tight.

- Okay.
We're rolling, fellas.

- Even though Earl taught him

the mental toughness
to tackle the game of golf,

I'm not sure that Tiger
was mentally tough enough

to handle
the pressures of fame,

and he started looking
for ways to sort of escape.

[tranquil music]

♪ ♪

I remember when he started
really taking

an intense liking
to scuba diving.

That, to me,
just kind of was odd.

But then, when I started
kind of asking him

more about scuba diving,

I think he said to me,
you know,

"The fishies don't know
who I am down there."

♪ ♪

I thought that there was
so much truth

in that statement,

so much sadness
in that statement.

He loved the silence
and the peace

that he could find
at the bottom of the ocean.

♪ ♪

He could just be.

♪ ♪

[crowd chanting "Tiger"]

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

- Quite extraordinary
atmosphere,

knowing that he's going
to win.

- It's as if
they're just waiting

for the king to be crowned.

[desolate music]

- With Tiger Woods, surely
nothing can go wrong now.

♪ ♪

Oh, please go in.

We don't want any anticlimax.

♪ ♪

Oh, well done.

- Tiger's form was unmatched
to me at that time.

His win at the U.S. Open

was still just in the mirror
behind us,

and then he went on
and backed it up

at the British Open,

remarkable back-to-back wins
in major championships.

- The champion golfer
for the year, Tiger Woods.

[cheers and applause]

- One of
the most unusual things

about working for Tiger:

there was never really
any big celebrations.

Soon as that tournament
was over,

the thought was to
the next major championship.

♪ ♪

- This to win now from Tiger.

- Get in the hole!
Get in the hole!

- Tiger!

[onlookers shouting]

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- When Tiger went
to the PGA Championship,

that's three in a row.

Everybody starts asking,

"Can Tiger Woods
win the Masters next year

and hold all four trophies?"

- Will he be the first ever

to win four consecutive
major championships?

- Tiger's going
for his fourth straight Major.

- Even the unbreakable records

seem within Tiger's reach.

- I mean, I got to the point
where I got sick of hearing it,

sick of reading about it.

It just dominated golf

for that period of time,
and...yeah.

- If Tiger Woods
wins this tournament,

it'll be
the greatest achievement

in modern-day golf.

- The first couple of rounds,
Tiger played remarkable,

and when he arrived
for the final round,

it all came down to him

and one other player,

the guy that he wants
to beat the most,

and the guy
that he would least like

to see win the tournament:

his good mate Phil.

[disquieting music]

♪ ♪

- Tiger had grown up
in Phil's shadow

in southern California.

Mickelson was
about 6 1/2 years older,

and he had all the
southern California records.

- Good afternoon to you.

Phil's gone,
and same rules.

Good luck to you.

- Play good, man.
- Good luck.

- Thanks.
I got...

- Tiger knew that Phil was

the most naturally
gifted player

ever to hold a golf club.

- Yeah.
Get it, Phil!

- But Tiger looked at him
with disdain

because he couldn't fathom
having that much ability

and not putting in the time
to be great.

Phil had
about 20 extra pounds,

and Tiger was looking
more and more

like Mr. Universe,

and with Tida Woods,
it was personal.

Tida loved to make fun
of Mickelson's body.

- Phil's nickname is "Lefty,"

but Tida called him "Hefty."

♪ ♪

So Tiger is in the situation

where to prove
his alpha dog superiority,

he's gotta beat this guy.

But it's not enough
to just beat Phil.

- Beautiful.

- You gotta try
to humiliate him

at the same time.

- Oh, on the tee,

Phil Mickelson.

Did he cut it enough?

Oh, yes, he did.

He has been very good
at his tee shots here with 13

all week.

- On the 13th hole,

Tiger and Phil are dueling,

and Phil got up and hit
this great drive

right down the middle.

- Now Tiger Woods.

- Tiger decided

that was gonna be
the perfect time

to play a little bit
of a mind game on Phil.

He gets his three wood,
which is a smaller club...

[cheers and applause]

- That's huge.

That's really big.

You thought Mickelson was big?

Put it right by it.

- You know,
I could sort of sense

that Mickelson was feeling
a bit dejected.

He's just hit
the best drive he could,

and then Tiger's hit
a three wood

and whipped it by him,

and Phil says to Tiger,

you know, "Do you always hit
your three wood that long?"

and Tiger said, "No, further.

Normally further than that."
[laughs]

It's amazing, the little games
within a game

Tiger would play.

That shot just deflated
Phil's ego,

and he couldn't bounce back.

- He's looking dangerously
down the left side.

[disquieting waltz music]

And that catches the trees.

- If there ever was
a must putt,

you're looking at it
right now.

♪ ♪

[audience exclaims]

- Wow.

- And now Tiger Woods...

can make his move now
on this closing stretch.

Oh.
And he's pulled it

right at the hole.
Look out!

[crowd roars]

Was that any good?
- Unbelievable.

♪ ♪

- Well, that should be
enough to do it.

Here comes the salute

to an achievement
that's about to be completed

unlike anything this sport
has ever seen.

♪ ♪

- A streak that started
at Pebble Beach.

- St. Andrews.
- Valhalla.

- Augusta.

- And here it is.

This putt
for the Tiger slam.

[crowd cheering]

- There it is,
as planned as it gets!

And Tiger has his slam.

- He's won
all of golf's majors

faster than any other player
in history,

and he just made history again,

signing a new five-year,
$100 million endorsement deal

with Nike.
- And he's locked in

with American Express,
with Titleist,

for millions and millions
of dollars.

Buick, he just signed
a huge contract with them.

- He's making a lot of jack,
as they say.

- Much more
than Michael Jordan,

and he was the king.

- He can sell
just about anything:

cereal, cars, golf clubs.

- Now, Tiger's conquering
another kind of golf game:

video golf.

- Pick up your controller,
Mr. Woods.

Okay?
- Yes, sir.

- When you see the swing here

versus when you look
at video of your swing,

how realistic is this?

- It's almost identical, yeah.
- Really?

- I just wish I was that big.

[laughter]

- As Tiger's bank account
swelled,

as he collected jets
and yachts

and all the trappings
that this world has to offer,

I think he pushed back
from Earl quite a bit.

[melancholy music]

- What is the relationship
with your father these days?

- You know,
we're still great friends,

still, you know, a father, son,

but we don't get a chance
to spend much time

with each other
'cause I'm so busy.

- Tiger became a corporation,
trying to make money,

and it needs
a steady, consistent rock

at its head,

and that wasn't Earl anymore.

So there became
some issues that arose

that necessitated Tiger
kind of moving away from Earl.

♪ ♪

- Tiger and I had
a very big fight,

and he said, "Well,

"I have this problem,

"and the problem is,

"I don't know
whether you can handle

"being a businessman

and a father at the same time."

- Tiger was growing up,

and I think that caused
disagreements.

♪ ♪

Heated.

Obviously, there's far more
that I could tell you

about the disagreements,
but I can't.

I can't talk about that.

That's one place
I know not to go to.

♪ ♪

- How would you describe

your relationship
with your father?

- He is my best friend...
- And yet this--

- No ifs, ands,
or buts about it.

He is my best friend.

- But he's much older
than you.

- That's all right.

You can still have
a best friend who's 61.

- Tiger absolutely idolized
his dad.

He loved his dad.

Golf was their connection,

and they had spent
a lot of time

doing that together.

- There it is.
There it is.

Perfect.
Good boy.

He's my best friend.

- But he's your son.

- But he's my best friend.

- They were buddies,

but he needed his dad.

He didn't need another friend.

That was forgotten
in that relationship,

and Earl crossed boundaries

that he
shouldn't have crossed.

♪ ♪

- [sighs]
Gosh.

You know, I love this guy.

Earl was a great, great dad,
but...

I don't know how to smooth
this one over.

I assure you that we were not
the best role models

when it came to honoring
your marriage.

I assure you.

Ooh, this is a tough one.

Yeah, w...

Hang on.
Give me two seconds.

I gotta collect my thoughts.

♪ ♪

Shit.

He's not gonna like
this shit at all.

♪ ♪

Earl had
this little Winnebago,

and we'd let him teach
on the range,

and he somehow would...

teach very attractive
blonde women.

I never figured out
where he met these women.

And often, you know,
after the lesson,

they'd go into the Winnebago
for cocktails.

♪ ♪

And you know,
Tiger was at the course.

♪ ♪

You know, and I was just
every bit as bad.

I mean, for a long time,
me and Earl were

the two biggest male figures
in his life,

the two closest to him,
and you know,

and here I am...
[sighs]

Chasing skirts and bringing
them to the course,

and he's seeing this.

Yeah, yeah, and I was married,
too, at the time,

and he's seeing this.

♪ ♪

Yeah.

You know, to have
that kind of access

to this child's development

and expose him to that
is just...

Yeah.

I mean...yeah.

♪ ♪

Yeah.

Sorry, champ.

Sorry.

♪ ♪

- I mean, any child
having to witness that

and know what's happening--

it's not right.

It's just not right,

and you know, that made

a huge impact on his life.

[uneasy music]

When Tiger and I
were still together,

he would travel in the summer
for tournaments with his dad,

and he called me one time,

and I will never forget.

He was sobbing on the phone
uncontrollably.

I couldn't even understand

what he was saying,
he was so upset.

He, you know,
finally caught his breath,

and you know, said,
"My dad's out again.

He...met this girl,
and they're going out."

♪ ♪

The sound of Tiger's voice

was so upsetting,

I wanted to crawl
through the phone

and just take care of him.

I've never heard somebody
in my life so upset.

And his dad, I don't think,

really cared that he knew it.

I think that also bothered him.

Like, why would you not try
to hide this from me?

Like, why would you just,

you know, let me see this?

♪ ♪

Tiger's mom was
a loyal, good mother,

and he absolutely loved her,

so there was an anger there
with his dad,

but he could never show it.

He could never express it.

He had to keep that in.

And it changed
the relationship

with him and his dad.

Did he still idolize him
and love him?

Absolutely.

But it changed.
It changed.

♪ ♪

- Now, you used to appear more
at tournaments

than you used to.

Is it strictly a health thing?
You've had eight bypasses.

You've battled prostate cancer.
- No.

No, it isn't health.

If you noticed,

Tiger's grown up.

Tiger is handling his life

by himself,

and that was
the original game plan.

♪ ♪

- Earl was a human being,

with all of the foibles
and faults.

He had girlfriends,

and they became messy.

It was gonna become public,
and Tiger went out of his way

to make sure that nobody knew

what was going on with Earl:
the womanizing, the drinking.

Tiger did not want
any shadows on his brand.

He did not want any shadows
on his foundation.

It drove Earl and Tiger apart
at the very time

that they probably
should've been together,

because Earl was finally
starting to show his age

and fragility.

- What's
the most important thing

that he taught you?

- Patience and understanding.

- What's the most important
thing in raising children?

What's the one bit of advice
that you can give

the fathers
and the mothers out there?

- You have to earn their trust
and their respect.

I have a phrase
that love is a given,

trust and respect are earned.

You have to earn it.

♪ ♪

- During that period,

I don't think they were able

to spend as much time
as they had before.

Tiger had his own life
to try to live,

and he moved on.

- He is one
of my all-time favorite guys

in the world.
I just adore him.

He has a God-given talent
that makes grown men weep.

[laughter]

- Please welcome Tiger Woods!

[jaunty music]

♪ ♪

Whoo.

Here we go again.

So how are you handling
all the adulation?

As you came in, the guys
were, you know, bowing and--

- I haven't gotten used to it.

I honestly don't feel
comfortable with it.

- You don't?
- No.

- Tiger has
a really close-knit group

of superstar athlete friends,

one of them Charles Barkley.

He has advised you

not to get married
until you're 30.

- Mm.

- Everybody wants to know.
Who you dating?

[laughter]

- Who?
- Anybody

you wanna tell me about?
- I am, yes.

- Okay.

[laughter]

- When you find
the right person,

you know
it's the right person.

[lilting music]

Elin, she was a nanny

for one of the other players.

I remember, straight away,

he was very, very fond
of this girl...

♪ ♪

To the point where

I had to learn how to pronounce
her name properly,

'cause how you say it
in Swedish...

He was adamant that when
I say her name--

"No, Steve, this
is how you say it."

So I knew straight away

that hey, this girl was
a little bit different

to probably some
of the other girls

that he had been with.

- Elin told me
that he didn't make

a great impression on her
at first.

She had her opinions
about celebrities,

and they were not high,

and she's very shy,

so the idea of kind of
joining that world

was not appealing to her.

And when he asked her out,

I think she turned him down
at first,

and then she gradually
was convinced

that she should give him
a chance,

and so they did go out.

- Do you love Tiger, Elin?

- She said the hardest part
about that

was adjusting to the spotlight
that followed him.

But Tiger was
very sweetly protective

of Elin.

She said it felt special.

Ironically, the spotlight
that first repelled her

suddenly bonded them,

sort of
"us against the world."

It was just the two of them,

and she believed
it was everything.

- I have found a life partner,
a best friend.

You know, Elin's been
incredible for me.

She's brought joy and balance
in my life,

and I'm very lucky.

- Tiger and Elin were married
October 5th

on the island of Barbados,

a lavish yet intimate affair

they tried desperately
to keep private.

- Yeah, make sure
you get the shot.

That's Jordan behind.

- This is supposed to be
an intimate moment

between our family
and friends...

- Right.
- Not with the whole world.

So...
[clears throat]

That part of it
I don't quite understand why,

but the world's changed
so much.

Gossip sells now.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Elin was fantastic.

Beautiful model,
squeaky clean image.

She made Tiger bulletproof.

You could've sent somebody
from central casting,

and that's her;
she's the wife.

- Action.

- Tiger certainly has
a good understanding

of what sells these days.

Tiger earns an estimated
$80 million a year.

- Her image, you know,
it promotes his brand.

It's exactly the side of him
that he wants you to see.

♪ ♪

But there was a lot
of speculation

that she was gonna affect
his golf.

- People were always trying
to create a way

that's gonna somehow knock
him down off the tree.

He gets married.

Is that gonna show
a slump in form?

- I mean, this guy--
he's way different

to anybody else.
Come on.

♪ ♪

- This is the ball
of Tiger Woods.

Lenny, what about this?

- This is extremely difficult.

This is one
of the toughest pitches

on the entire place here.

There's a good chance
he doesn't get this

inside the mark
to his ball.

♪ ♪

- Oh, there it comes.

[crowd cheering]

Oh, my goodness.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

Oh, wow!

In your life, have you seen
anything like that?

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

- Thank you.

I want to thank my mom,
my wife, Elin,

for always being there with me
and for me

and just helping me out.

You guys are the best.
Thank you so much.

[applause]

But also, I gotta say
one last thing

before I go.

My dad hasn't been feeling
very well this year.

He's just hanging in there,
so I...

[exhales forcefully]

Every year that
I've been lucky enough

to have won this tournament,
my dad's been there

to give me a hug,
and he wasn't there today.

I can't wait to go home
and see him,

to give him a big bear hug.

Thank you.

♪ ♪

- Earl Woods lost his battle
with cancer today

at the age of 74.

There was no understating
the impact

this one man had

on his very famous son.

[somber music]

♪ ♪

- When I heard
that Earl had passed,

I worried about Tiger
more than anybody.

♪ ♪

In Earl's latter years,

I don't know how much
they saw each other.

When you don't see a parent
as often as you would like,

there's a sense of guilt

when something happens
to them.

♪ ♪

And so Tiger had

a very, very heavy burden
on him.

You could see it in his face.

- Daddy!

Daddy!

♪ ♪

- Whoo!
Good job.

- Dad, I'm out three
out there.

- Yeah, you're doing
very good.

♪ ♪

- Tiger kept Earl
at a distance at the end,

but that's looking
at the story--

only this part of it.

You gotta look
at the whole thing.

I mean, he was pops.

Look at what Earl accomplished
with Tiger.

A little kid with buck teeth

banging on a club in a garage?

I mean, when you start
with something like that,

and then you become
the biggest name in golf,

and your dad is the one
who invented you,

that's pretty heavy stuff.

I mean, his pops
meant everything to Tiger.

- In the days
following Earl's death,

there were a lot
of later-night calls.

Hearing Tiger cry and just--

he just was having
a very hard time processing.

♪ ♪

There was no replacing Earl.

This person
who had always been

by his side was gone,

and he couldn't
compartmentalize that.

♪ ♪

That was sadness on a level

that he had never felt before.

That was grief,

and I'm not sure that he knew
how to grieve.

♪ ♪

- After the death
of his father,

it's been
an emotional roller coaster,

but Tiger's pretty good
at shutting everything out.

- On the tee from USA,
Tiger Woods!

[cheers and applause]

- Let's hear it
for Tiger Woods.

He's in the same grouping
at Nick Faldo.

- When you go through a loss
like Tiger's,

I think any athlete would say

that, well, "Just get me
on my field,

my course,"

because all that thinking,
all that emotion,

is just not
what we're used to.

The golf course is a sanctum.

[pensive music]

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- Good luck, guys.
- Thanks.

- I played with him
for those first two days,

and I remember describing him
as being in golfing Zen.

♪ ♪

- Having to bury my father,

it hurt a lot,

but I still hadn't
really grieved yet,

and for some reason, it was
the most interesting thing,

going out there and playing.

I had this overwhelming
sense of calm.

It was like a--
my pop was there.

- Oh, soaring
into the blue sky.

♪ ♪

[crowd exclaims]

Oh, oh, it's in.
It's in.

He doesn't know yet.
Yeah, he knows now.

- Oh, that is just
extraordinary.

It was just a fantastic shot.

- It all provided
a lot of self-confidence

for Tiger,

but with Earl passing,

you know, now he had
to rely on himself.

♪ ♪

The whole thing was just
a great way

to actually get it out,
get it in the open,

and move forward.

He seemed to be, you know,
the same Tiger Woods as old.

[cheers and applause]

♪ ♪

- The crowd love him.

The crowd appreciates
the skill of this man,

and there's his wife.

The man is gonna win
his 11th major

here at Islay.

Tiger Woods
is the 135th Open champion.

He is the champion golfer
of the year.

[cheers and applause]

And there's emotion there
because, I am sure,

he's thinking of his father

and how much his father
would have loved

to have been here.

- He released all
of the emotions that he had,

but still, it wasn't over.

[John Cooper Clarke's
"Evidently Chickentown"]

He suffered
from a lot of scars,

and Tiger had that ability

to bury something very deep

and never think
about it again.

- The human side
of Tiger Woods.

[cheers and applause]

You admire him even more.

- But I believe
there's a reckoning.

We all will face it someday.

♪ ♪

That's the way
it always happens.

- ♪ The bloody cops
are bloody keen ♪

♪ To bloody keep it
bloody clean ♪

♪ The bloody chief's
a bloody swine ♪

♪ Who bloody draws
a bloody line ♪

♪ At bloody fun
and bloody games ♪

♪ The bloody kids
he bloody blames ♪

♪ Are nowhere
to be bloody found ♪

♪ Anywhere in Chickentown ♪

♪ ♪

♪ The bloody scene
is bloody sad ♪

♪ The bloody news
is bloody bad ♪

♪ The bloody weed
is bloody turf ♪

♪ The bloody speed
is bloody surf ♪

♪ The bloody folks
are bloody daft ♪

♪ Don't make me bloody laugh ♪

♪ It bloody hurts
to look around ♪

♪ Everywhere in Chickentown ♪

♪ The bloody train
is bloody late ♪

♪ You bloody wait,
you bloody wait ♪

♪ You're bloody lost
and bloody found ♪

♪ Stuck
in fucking Chickentown ♪

♪ ♪

- Okay, so what do you want me
to talk about?

- ♪ The bloody view
is bloody vile ♪

♪ For bloody miles
and bloody miles ♪

♪ The bloody babies
bloody cry ♪

♪ The bloody flowers
bloody die ♪

♪ The bloody food
is bloody muck ♪

♪ The bloody drains
are bloody fucked ♪

♪ The color scheme
is bloody brown ♪

♪ Evidently Chickentown ♪

♪ ♪

♪ The bloody pubs
are bloody dull ♪

♪ The bloody clubs
are bloody full ♪

♪ Of bloody girls
and bloody guys ♪

♪ With bloody murder
in their eyes ♪

♪ A bloody bloke
got bloody stabbed ♪

♪ Waiting for a bloody cab ♪

♪ You bloody stay
at bloody home ♪

♪ The bloody neighbor
bloody moans ♪

♪ Keep
the bloody racket down ♪

♪ This is bloody
Chickentown ♪

♪ ♪

♪ The bloody pies
are bloody old ♪

♪ The bloody chips
are bloody cold ♪

♪ The bloody beer
is bloody flat ♪

♪ The bloody flats
have bloody rats ♪

♪ The bloody clocks
are bloody wrong ♪

♪ The bloody days
are bloody long ♪

♪ It bloody gets you
bloody down ♪

♪ Evidently Chickentown ♪

♪ The bloody train
is bloody late ♪

♪ You bloody wait
and bloody wait ♪

♪ You're bloody lost
and bloody found ♪

♪ Stuck in fucking
Chickentown ♪

♪ ♪

announcer: This has been
a presentation

of HBO Sports.