Chapter 57

Sandy Lane

The Green Monkey

St. James, Barbados, West Indies

October 4–9, 2004

The luxury resort nestled in a Caribbean mahogany grove on Barbados’s Platinum Coast is preparing to host a “private party,” with every detail executed to white-glove standards and with military precision.

Guards in camouflage uniforms patrol the beachside bushes. All two hundred rooms at Sandy Lane are booked, as is every helicopter in the island’s only rental fleet. Hotel employees erect plywood barriers while a crane operator hoists plants large enough to block views of the hotel from prying eyes.

It’s an open secret on the island of Barbados that the resort will be the site of Tiger and Elin’s upcoming nuptials—the previous week, the Barbados Daily Nation newspaper even headlined a story TIGER WOODS TYING KNOT AT SANDY LANE—but no one will confirm officially.

Searching for a connection to Tiger leads reporters to Sandy Lane’s owners, a trio of Irish investors known as the Coolmore Mafia after the County Tipperary facility where one of the co-owners, John Magnier, breeds racehorses. The other two co-owners, Dermot Desmond and JP McManus, are longtime friends of Tiger.

“It all started with Dermot [Desmond] and JP [McManus] inviting Mark and I over,” Tiger recalls of his first trip to Ireland, in 1998. “I had such a great time. I’ve been coming here ever since. I loved fishing here. I loved hanging out at the pubs. The Irish people have actually been wonderful. It’s a place that I thoroughly enjoy.”

He’s not enjoying Ireland quite as much as usual at this year’s WGC–American Express Championship at Mount Juliet Estate, near Kilkenny. Despite being the two-time defending champion, Tiger is bested by Ernie Els on Sunday, October 3, and places ninth. Just last month, Vijay Singh superseded Tiger on the Official World Golf Ranking—ending Tiger’s record 264 straight weeks at the number one position—and this latest defeat knocks him further down. Now he’s number three behind Singh, at number one, and Els, at number two.

After the tournament, “Air Tiger” waits on an Irish runway along with two of Tiger’s closest friends, Bryon Bell, from junior high school, and Jerry Chang, from Stanford. Tiger claims they’re all going “on holiday” to Barbados, where “I’ll go diving, and I’ll unleash myself upon the water and try to catch some fish.” As for speculation that he’ll be attending a destination wedding—his own—Tiger sidesteps the question with his usual tough love for the press. “All I can say is that I’m getting married in the future. I have narrowed it down to that. I think you guys would be the last people I’d ever tell.”

Just last month Tiger was forced to respond to rumors that he and Elin had split. “It’s 100% false,” he insisted before playing in the Ryder Cup on September 17. “Nothing’s happened to us. We’re still very happy.”

One of the headlines is unfortunately true: seventy-two-year-old Earl’s prostate cancer has recently returned, spreading to his back and behind his left eye, causing him debilitating pain.

“It’s been tough,” Tiger says, admitting that his dad’s failing health has been preoccupying him. “It’s just like it was back in ’96 and ’97 when my dad had a heart attack and had complications with heart surgery.”

Earl says he’s much improved since undergoing radiation treatments to shrink the tumors. But Tiger is wary. “He doesn’t exactly take care of himself,” he says of his dad. “He’s still puffing away, and that’s just the way it is. He’s been real stubborn about everything. It’s got him this far, so we’ll just kind of leave him be.”

“Tiger was concerned and I knew how much he was concerned,” Earl tells the Boston Herald. “When I initially told him, he was very quiet. And he looked at me and said, ‘Pop, when I was a little kid you promised me you were going to be here until [age] 84. I’m going to hold you to it.’ And I said, ‘You’ve got it. I’ll be here.’”

Earl stays mum about whatever’s happening in Barbados, but he makes sure to be there, too.

The bride-to-be is the most tight-lipped of all. Sports Illustrated likens Elin to Greta Garbo, the Swedish-American film star with a penchant for solitude. According to sources quoted in a recent SI profile, “When she [Elin] started dating Tiger, it was like there was an unwritten agreement she wouldn’t say anything to anyone. She’s still nice, but when you talk to her, you don’t get anything out of her.”

Tiger later reveals that he and Elin have been planning for months but “didn’t tell anybody until the last minute. They all said, ‘Oh it is? That soon?’ Yeah, well, there you go. You can still get cheap airfare. We made sure of that.” Several guests of honor are only told the specifics of their final destination upon arrival in London to catch connecting flights.

Despite Tiger’s recent purchase of a $20 million 155-foot tri-deck yacht named Privacy—which sleeps seventeen and boasts a theater and a gym—details of the five-day wedding bash start to leak out. In addition to Tiger’s parents and Elin’s family from Sweden, celebrities are spotted arriving on the island: star athletes Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley, plus two of Tiger’s PGA pals and Isleworth neighbors, Mark O’Meara and John Cook. CNN reports that “talk-show host and media entrepreneur Oprah Winfrey and Microsoft founder Bill Gates” are also among the guests.

Absent are Tiger’s Stanford and PGA buddy Notah Begay III, unable to make the trip because of a back injury, and Jesper Parnevik, who famously introduced the couple. “There’s such a brouhaha around it,” Parnevik explains to a Swedish tabloid about the wedding. He and his wife “will celebrate Tiger and Elin later, a bit more privately.”

At 5:40 p.m. on Tuesday, October 5, 2004, 120 guests gather at the 19th hole of the brand-new Green Monkey golf course, on a hillside overlooking the Caribbean Sea, to witness twenty-four-year-old Elin Maria Pernilla Nordegren marry twenty-eight-year-old Eldrick Tont “Tiger” Woods in a simple sunset ceremony.

The officiant oversees the exchanging of the vows and rings, but it’s Earl who provides the ceremony’s emotional center, moving himself, and some in attendance, to tears. Earl locks eyes with Tiger before saying to the newlyweds, “I wish you a long, rich life together.”

Three official photographers and one videographer capture images of Elin, a vision in her off-the-shoulder Vera Wang gown and veil, and Tiger in his olive-beige suit. Each is supported by three attendants: the bridesmaids—including Elin’s twin sister, Josefin—wearing seafoam-green dresses and the groomsmen in suits matching Tiger’s.

Inside a banquet hall in the clubhouse decked with ten thousand black roses, the celebration begins with champagne and caviar as a local musician plays the steelpan between speeches. Tiger, known for his frugality in spite of his $215 million fortune, has spared no expense for his bride. Back in the States, golfer Davis Love III jokingly asks a genuine question: “What do you give for a gift for a guy who’s got everything? I know I would definitely not buy a toaster.”

After a sumptuous multicourse dinner, the newlyweds cut their four-tier wedding cake then gaze skyward at a brief but spectacular fireworks display, visible the length of the western coast of Barbados.

“It was very understated and very elegant, just like Tiger,” wedding guest John Cook says. “People had a really good time. There was a lot of dancing [at the reception]. It went on until about 11:30. Everyone was pretty roasted—by the sun and in every other way—by the time we were through.”

Hootie & the Blowfish perform a private concert for the wedding guests. Lead singer Darius Rucker and Tiger have been good friends since meeting in the mid-’90s, and Tiger even joins the band onstage at one point. “He’s an awful singer,” says Rucker with a laugh. “But he came on and tried to do some stuff, it was funny.”

As the evening winds down, Tiger and Elin slip away to the megayacht Privacy to begin their honeymoon. When they emerge the following morning, they’re greeted by the sight of a rainbow arcing over the yacht, like a good omen.

“The wedding went great,” Tiger says a few days later. “It was a very special occasion. We just had a great time, with all the families there.” Postwedding, he’s appreciating the relaxing one-on-one time with his new bride. “We’re enjoying our honeymoon,” he tells the media on Friday during a planned conference call, noting that it’s the first chance in a quite a while that he and Elin have had to spend time alone. “It’s so nice to be on the boat. We’re diving every day, being by ourselves, away from everybody. It’s a lot of fun.”

The future lies ahead. Tiger is certain that marriage is “not going to change the way I play golf. I’ve been with Elin and happy together the last two years. Just because you’re married, it doesn’t change the relationship,” he states confidently. While it hasn’t been his strongest year on the PGA Tour, “as far as off the golf course, yes, it is a great year,” Tiger says.

“I just hope I can get the ball in the hole a little faster.”