WE KNOW all about Mr Woods, so let’s talk about Frank instead, the other tiger making a return to Wentworth next week. Frank is the fluffy club cover that goes everywhere with Woods. He was made by Woods’s mother, Kultida, and has the words “From Mom with love” stitched on his back in Thai.
Frank has been with Woods ever since his amateur days, through 12 major championship wins. He has even starred in a series of commercials. “Get me an epidural,” Frank shouts in one as he is stretched over a giant driver.
Perhaps it was out of consideration to Frank, therefore, that Woods dug out his biggest club only once in 72 holes at the Open Championship this summer. After their second round together, Nick Faldo asked Woods if he would give his driver to Faldo’s son, who had been carrying the former champion’s bag. “After all, you’re not using it,” Faldo said.
Woods did not need to. He won the Open at a canter in 18 under par, one birdie shy of his own record score. Last month he won his third US PGA to cap an astonishing recovery after he missed the cut at the US Open, the first time he had done so at a major since the 1996 Masters.
There were mitigating reasons, naturally. Woods was grieving the death of his father, Earl, who had shaped his career and given him the nickname by which he is known worldwide. Eldrick Woods would not have been as marketable.
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Woods is possibly the most multinational golfer on the circuit. His father was half black, a quarter Chinese and a quarter Native American, while his mother is half Thai, a quarter Chinese and a quarter Dutch. Woods refers to himself as Cablinasian, a made-up mix of Caucasian, Black, Indian and Asian. His biggest achievement, perhaps, is that he has made race irrelevant.
While lacking the breadth of appeal of a Beckham or a Ronaldinho, Woods is certainly the most bankable sportsman in the world. Forbes magazine reported that he earned an estimated £46 mllion in 2006. No wonder he is moving home from Isleworth, although that is the plush Orlando suburb rather than the grotty part of London near Heathrow. In January, he bought a £20 million home in Jupiter Island, Florida.
Woods has now won 52 events on the PGA Tour, which means he has spent a year of his life preparing for and winning professional tournaments. It makes you wonder how he squandered the other 29 years.
FACT FILE
Age: 30
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Nationality: American
Wins: 70
Major wins: 12 (Masters, 1997, 2001, 20002, 2005; US Open, 2000, 2002; Open 2000, 2005, 2006; US PGA, 1999, 2000, 2006)
Major record in 2006: Masters: tied 3rd; US Open: missed cut; Open: winner; US PGA: winner
World ranking: 1
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How he qualified for World Match Play: As world No 1
Previous WMP experience: One appearance in 1998, lost in final