Tiger as a Navy SEAL?

Newk's Bender on the Game

Throwing you a bender because I just thought you should know...

Being a Tiger Woods golf fan and curious about whether he can achieve a comeback, I was compelled to read the excerpts released from his former coach, Hank Haney's, new book. After reading the excerpts and looking for clues to his comeback ability and expecting sordid tales from the sex escapades, I was more drawn to the revelation by Haney that Tiger was considering becoming a Navy SEAL.

"I was beginning to realize that his sentiment ran deep, and that as incredible as it seemed, Tiger was seriously considering becoming a Navy SEAL," Haney wrote, referring to the summer of 2007. "I didn't know how he'd go about it, but when he talked about, it was clear that he had a plan. After finding out that the Navy SEAL age limit is 28, I asked Tiger about his being too old to join. `It's not a problem,' he said. `They're making a special age exemption for me.'"



I don't have any issues with Tiger respecting the military, having a background in it from his father, and thinking it would be a cool idea. Most of us have seen footage of Navy SEALs and have thought how exhilarating it would be to perform that job but without any realistic expectations of actually doing it or even being physically and mentally able to meet the requirements.

And this is where I wonder about Tiger and his thoughts. Apparently, he was very serious about doing this and his agent, while blasting Haney and his writing of the book, did not contradict the declaration. He even continued by stating this book was only written to make money. Duh.

While Tiger may be the best trained golfer in the world, SEALs are the best trained humans. Golf courses with appearance fees and sponsors are drastically different than obstacle courses with terrorists and freedom on the line. Tiger couldn't stave off an attack from a blonde with a 7 iron and he wants to face passionate terrorists?

Tiger is good at what he does, he is one of the greatest of all time at what he does. He could play Doral in 67 strokes, but a SEAL could take Doral in 67 minutes, on a slow day.

Again, I respect Tiger's appreciation for the military but let's be realistic about giving up a multi multi million dollar career for this kind of assignment that he may not even be capable of performing.

If there is a need to have Pebble Beach Golf Course played in 66 strokes, you can call Tiger (apparently lots of people have his phone number). But if you need the entire Pebble Beach Resort overcome, destroyed or re-captured, you call a SEAL...and good luck getting that phone number.

All this because I know more about nothing...