The Daily Hat Trick: Common Threads

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Common Threads

World famous golfer Tiger Woods has experienced a meteoric rise in the golf world followed by a meteoric fall from grace after a revelation of his serial infidelity. The fall from grace was followed by his golf game simply plummeting, in large part due to injury. During the last year, Woods has (somewhat) quietly built his game back up. While he has not won any majors, and needs to before the monkey is officially off of his back in the public eye, he has been near the top of the pack for earnings and PGA tournament wins.

Another star, Ireland's Rory McIlroy, has begun to rise in golf in recent years. Woods and McIlroy have developed somewhat of a rivalry/mentorship relationship over the past couple of years. I think both have benefited, helping young McIlroy develop into an "A" list sports star and Woods continue the long road to his recovery as a superstar. This week, the pair was reportedly engaged in a private golf duel prior to this week's Honda Classic tournament.

Woods is rumored to be dating (or have dated) skier Lindsey Vonn, today's Chick Pic subject. Vonn is also making a difficult road to recovery after being injured in an accident on the slopes. She says that she will compete in the 2014 Winter Olympics. Besides fame and fortune (and in Vonn's case, being smoking hot) clearly Woods and Vonn have competitive spirit and perseverance in common. It's also good to see Woods exercising a little more discretion, as his personal life has been the subject of unsupported rumors and innuendos and not the smoking guns of dozens of low rent women yapping to the press for their 15 minutes of fame.