On golf fandom

There are a lot of reasons not to like Tiger Woods, but I found myself rooting hard for the guy as he made his rousing charges Friday and Sunday at the Masters.

Maybe it was because we share the same age and receding hairline. Maybe it was because I, like many others, realize professional golf just isn't nearly as interesting without Woods at or near the top of leaderboards.

But there might be something deeper and more complex there, something revealing about fan culture and our view of iconic figures.

The way fans follow golf is a fascinating contrast from the way they follow other sports. It's completely different from the attachment to teams, which are obsessively and religiously supported with a fervor and intensity that often can be unhealthy.

There's one guy at the wheel of a stock car, so in that sense it's similar to golf. Yet the NASCAR masses identify with different drivers in much the same way college football fans identify with different schools.

With golf, you do have fans who gravitate to certain guys and pull for them. A long time ago there were Jack guys and Arnie guys. And for a number of years in this era there have been Tiger guys and Phil guys.

But how often do you see a Tiger guy and a Phil guy get into a fistfight at a sports bar? Or into an argument on sports radio?

How often do you hear a Tiger guy bemoaning the "Pro-Phil media?"

How often do you see a Phil guy leaving a course devastated after Mickelson loses a tournament?

Golf fandom, if you want to call it that, is much more superficial and our preferences much less defined. The allegiance can change as quickly and as often as the winds above the 12th green at Augusta National.

When Tiger Woods is in his prime and dominating, there's an inclination to pull for whatever underdog might be challenging him that particular day. The All-Tiger, All-the-time coverage leaves us with Tiger Fatigue and a desire for some variety.

When Tiger Woods is exposed as a chronic philanderer, we're not sure what to think and just sort of wish he'd go away for a while.

But there's a shelf life for contempt or disgust or queasiness or whatever you want to call it, and now it feels as if most folks are ready to move on from Woods' scandalous private life and just let the man play golf. The roars for Woods on Friday and Sunday underscored the fact that we're forgiving as a society -- or maybe we're just ready to obsess ourselves with the next sex scandal.

The spectacular meltdown of Rory McIlroy presents us with another window into golf fan culture. He was a likable dude to begin with, so surely he already had something of a following before he stepped onto the 10th tee yesterday.

But after his unthinkable, cover-your-eyes unraveling, McIlroy instantly became a fan favorite. He received a warm, endearing ovation as he walked off the 18th green. CBS' Peter Kostis came close to giving him a man hug during a brief interview. And you can bet he'll be embraced just as heartily at whatever tournaments he plays in coming weeks.

If McIlroy were a quarterback who threw five interceptions in the second half to squander a game, he'd be reviled by fans. In some particularly fervent locales -- say, Tuscaloosa or Knoxville or Gainesville -- he'd probably require police protection.

In golf, he implodes and he's treated as a hero. It's an interesting phenomenon, for sure.

LW