Silence is Tiger’s Best Response

Earlier this year, Sergio Garcia was paired with Tiger Woods at the PLAYERS Championship. Sergio shanked a shot on the second hole and blamed Tiger for the miss. Post round, he said some not so nice things about Tiger. Sure, it was a media fueled cat fight, but it got much worse when Sergio made some racially insensitive remarks a week later.

Fast forward to last week. Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee handed out his post season grades, giving Tiger an F. He even went so far as to call Tiger a cheater. Sure, Eldrick was involved in a few rules related controversies this year, but calling him a cheater seems to be a bit much.

But you know all that stuff. That’s not what this post is about.

This is about Tiger’s restraint. In these two situations, especially the Sergio fiasco, Tiger could have issued a response. He could have held a press conference. He could have lashed out to anyone that would listen.

But he didn’t.

There were no website posts. No tweets or Facebook statuses either. And that’s the best thing Tiger could have done.

No one would have begrudged Tiger a bit if he blasted Sergio or Chamblee publicly. But he didn’t and instead chose to lay low. As the days and weeks went on from both these incidents, both Sergio and Chamblee kept talking, seemingly digging themselves into a deeper hole. And while remaining silent, Tiger comes off looking better and better.

I think that deep down Tiger is pissed about people disparaging him publicly or accusing him of things in the media. Who wouldn’t be? But this is Tiger Woods we are talking about. Almost every move he has made in his life has been extremely calculated since he was two years old. He knows the best way to respond to these guys is to win.

Remember, after Sergio made his controversial comments, Tiger won the PLAYERS. Winning a major next year will go a long way in silencing the outspoken Chamblee. As if Tiger needed any more motivation.