Chapter 62

Cypress, California

May 3, 2006

I’m very saddened to share the news of my father’s passing at home early this morning,” Tiger posts on his website on Wednesday, May 3.

A little less than a month after the Masters, Earl has succumbed to a host of health issues—chiefly, systemic cancer. “My dad was my best friend and greatest role model, and I will miss him deeply,” Tiger writes. “I’m overwhelmed when I think of all of the great things he accomplished in his life. He was an amazing dad, coach, mentor, soldier, husband and friend. I wouldn’t be where I am today without him.”

Two days later, police surround the perimeter of the Tiger Woods Learning Center as limousines bring Tiger, Elin, and Tida to a memorial honoring the late Earl Dennison Woods. Tiger’s famous friends—Charles Barkley; Nike chairman Phil Knight; volleyballer Gabrielle Reece and her surfer husband, Laird Hamilton; PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem; and swing coach Hank Haney—all come out in a show of support.

Tiger gives the eulogy, maintaining his composure as if he hasn’t yet begun to fully grieve.

At the Players Championship back in March, Tiger had predicted, “There’s a chance I might not play for a while. I mean, who knows? It all depends on how my father is doing.”

Now that Earl is gone, Tiger puts away his clubs. He doesn’t play. He doesn’t practice. Every day he thinks of his late father. When Jack Nicklaus’s Memorial Tournament opens, on May 29 at Muirfield Village, Tiger is not in the field.

Instead, on June 1, Tiger arrives at La Posta, an inland naval training center near San Diego. The area’s dry, mountainous terrain resembles Afghanistan’s. At the edge of a shooting facility, Tiger seeks out an instructor, Petty Officer 1st Class John Brown.

“Why are you here?” Brown asks.

“My dad,” Tiger says, then explains further. “My dad told me I had two paths to choose from”—golfer or special operations officer. Right now, he’s exploring the latter.

Tiger’s issued camo pants, a brown T-shirt, and an M4 assault rifle that he’ll use to shoot simulated ammunition to clear model combat rooms in the kill house. An instructor praises Tiger’s performance under pressure. “He’s not freaking out. You escalate it. You start shooting and then you start blowing s— up. A lot of people freak out. It’s too loud, it’s too crazy. He did well.”

Tiger did better than well, one active-duty SEAL says. “He went all out. He just f—ing went all out.”

It’s not a goal Hank Haney can get behind. “You need to get that whole SEALs thing out of your system and stick to playing Navy SEAL on the video games,” he emails Tiger after learning about the training. “Man, are you crazy? You have history to make in golf and people to influence and help. Focus on your destiny.”

The next event on the calendar is a major—the U.S. Open at the historic Winged Foot Golf Club, in Mamaroneck, New York. The week before the June 15 start date, Haney visits Tiger at home in Isleworth. Tiger is amped up, but he says nothing about playing the Open.

Then Haney gets a call. “Gotta get back sometime,” Tiger tells his coach. “Might as well be now.”

Six weeks have passed since Earl’s funeral—and nine since Tiger competed at the Masters. On Tuesday, June 13, Tiger sits for a pre-tournament interview. “The Masters loss was bitter,” Tiger admits, “probably the most disappointing loss I’ve ever had, or ever will have. I knew it was the last major my dad was ever going to see. Just one more time. I wanted him to feel it. Why couldn’t I have sucked it up and got it done on the back nine of Augusta, when he was still around?”

A reporter hits a nostalgic note, asking, “What special gift did your father have as a coach?”

Tiger answers with a single word. Love.

“That’s basically it,” he continues. “The love that we shared for one another and the respect that we had for one another was something that’s pretty special.”

A few other things, too: “Grip, posture, stance, alignment. Well, that’s what I learned from Dad,” Tiger says. Preparing to play again now, he explains, “brought back so many great memories, and every time I thought back I always had a smile on my face. As I was grinding and getting ready, it was also one of the great times, too, to remember and think back on all the lessons, life lessons Dad taught me through the game of golf.”

Where Tiger wants to be isn’t quite matching up with where he is emotionally, though.

In the first two rounds, Tiger’s paired with the defending U.S. Open champion, Michael Campbell. “From the first tee shot,” Campbell says, “Tiger just wasn’t there.” The New Zealand golfer, who’s always enjoyed Tiger’s company on the course, notices that there’s “no electricity” in his partner’s play. He’s even more worried that Tiger “never said a word for 36 holes. Not one word in two days.”

Tiger shoots two rounds of 76. For the first time since turning pro, he misses the cut in a major championship.

“No, I was not ready to play golf,” Tiger concedes afterward. “Quite frankly, when I got ready for this event, I didn’t really put in the time. I didn’t really put in the practice.”

The fans are merciful. “God bless your dad, Tiger,” one shouts.

The gallery sends him off the course to heartfelt applause.