Tiger draws more attention to story

— -- Tiger Woods in a small way can relate to us (formerly) ink-stained golf scribes. He's written his own column for a website, and in addition to the angst associated with writing such a piece, Woods is experiencing the negativity that often comes when your opinion doesn't line up with the views of all who read it.

After Woods wrote  a story for the Players Tribune on Tuesday, not all of the reader comments have been kind, and he's received criticism for writing the piece in the first place. He also didn't conjugate his verbs very well. OK, maybe that last part isn't true, but let's be honest: He has endured heavy scrutiny.

Woods is used to it when it comes to his golf, receiving as much (or more) criticism as praise over a career that has spanned nearly 20 years and has produced 14 major championships. He has acquired some thick skin in that regard.

But this is the first time in memory that Woods' byline has evoked such conjecture, and if he were in the business of creating web hits and social media buzz, then he succeeded beyond the dreams of any page-view tabulators.

In his story on Derek Jeter's newly launched website, Woods took longtime writer Dan Jenkins and Golf Digest to task for a parody interview that included photos with a Tiger lookalike.

Such an interview never occurred, and Jenkins has long lamented Woods' refusal of such attempts. So in the absence of the real thing, Jenkins made one up (the headline indicated as much). Woods' "answers" to Jenkins' "questions" were meant to evoke humor.

Woods didn't think it was funny.

In a curious turn, Woods decided he would not back off on this one. Although the December issue has been out for more than a week, and any negativity would have passed in time, Woods created a mini-firestorm that undoubtedly will cause even more people to read the offending Q&A. He described it as a "character assassination."

"We understood that we would possibly draw more attention to the piece, but there are times you have to take a stand," said Glenn Greenspan, vice president of communications for Woods' ETW Corporation. "Malicious attacks and the abandonment of any journalistic standards sometimes forces that. People also forget that the magazines are already in circulation. What about them? Those won't be ignored."

Woods, who is often chided for saying little, felt strongly enough about it that he said -- or wrote -- a lot. In addition to the story for the Players Tribune, Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, and Greenspan wrote a letter of complaint to Conde Nast CEO Chuck Townsend (Golf Digest's parent company.) And Woods linked to his story from his Twitter account, writing, "Most things in the media you let slide, but sometimes you can't and shouldn't."

Where this gets tricky is Jenkins' stature in the profession. He is regarded with legendary status in the writing field. Jenkins, 84, has covered more than 200 major championships and is a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. This past summer's Open Championship was remarkably the first major championship he didn't attend since the 1969 Open.

His career -- which included stints at the Fort Worth Press, Dallas Times-Herald and Sports Illustrated (he also covered college football and wrote several books) spans nearly all of the great players of the game, including Ben Hogan, Byron Nelson, Sam Snead, Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman, Nick Faldo, Phil Mickelson ... and, of course, Woods.

But he's never been big on Tiger, for various reasons, including Woods' lack of accessibility. Attempts to reach Jenkins were unsuccessful, but in 2010 he wrote: "I covered Tiger winning his 14 professional majors, but I can't say I know him. I knew the smile he put on for TV. I knew the orchestrated remarks he granted us in the press-room interviews. I knew the air he punched when another outrageous putt went in the cup. That's it."

In a 2012 interview with ESPN.com's Gene Wojciechowski, Jenkins did not rank the 14-time major champion among his top five of all time, arguably a large omission. He had it, in order: Hogan, Nicklaus, Snead, Nelson and Bobby Jones.

He has given Woods his due, predicting in 2001 that Woods would win 24 majors, but also offering an ominous forecast.

"I never thought I'd see a greater shot-maker than Hogan or a greater winner than Nicklaus, but I have. It's Tiger," Jenkins said. "Not that I still wouldn't want Ben to get the drive in the fairway for me for my life. But Tiger makes all those slugs out there today look like they don't even know how to play. We're talking about a truly remarkable athlete here. Something the game has never seen.

"Only two things can stop Tiger -- injury or a bad marriage."

Woods' travails over the past five years have been well-chronicled. He's missed a large portion of the 2014 season, with the latest in a lengthy list of physical setbacks keeping him out of action since he missed the cut at the PGA Championship in early August.

His return is expected in two weeks at the Hero World Challenge, where curious eyes will look to assess his recovery and forecast his ability to contend again in 2015. His game, his health, his outlook all figure to be obvious questions, along with queries about hiring a new swing coach.

By then, might he see the humor in asking about a writing coach?