PART 5 Family Man Chapter 46

The 130th British Open

Royal Lytham baseball stars Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez (Junior and A-Rod); and of course Mark O’Meara (Marko).

“I have business advisers I rely on for some things and celebrity friends I talk to about other things,” Tiger says. “I need both perspectives.”

“Even though we played different sports, the level of commitment was there, and you can bond over that. I see him as a brother, handling a lot of the same pressures that I did,” Jordan says about Tiger.

“Our younger brother—that’s the best way to describe him,” Barkley says in agreement, pointing out that “our bond is that we’re black, famous and rich, and living in a fishbowl.”

Tiger enjoys “the times when I can just hang out with any of my friends and relax and do nothing—which is not often.” A group of them traveled to the Bahamas last December to celebrate his twenty-fifth birthday. In addition to golfing and gambling, some of the birthday party went fly-fishing and scuba diving—pastimes Charles Barkley was happy to leave to the others.

Tiger “does that scuba-diving stuff with his white friends,” says Barkley, “so we’re glad they come along, because Michael ain’t getting in no water and neither am I. We don’t swim or fish,” he says with a laugh. Besides, Tiger’s childhood friends are “a good group of young people around him who keep him grounded. We can’t do that.”

Tiger’s the defending British Open champion going into the 2001 Open after winning at St Andrews in 2000 as part of his spectacular grand slam season.

“My swing really has not been as solid as I would like it to be, but it is OK,” Tiger tells reporters on July 18, the day before the 130th Open begins at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club, in England. “Hopefully, it will be ready by Thursday.”

But a back-to-back victory is not to be. David Duval instead manages his first win at a major, while Tiger struggles his way to twenty-fifth place, nine shots behind.

Still, the tournament week holds one unexpected outcome for Tiger:

He meets a young woman named Elin.