Generally there are two kinds of biographies: those that skate on the surface and those that do their homework and dive deeply into the subject’s life. The biography, Tiger Woods, published this last week by investigative journalists Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, just in time for the Masters, falls into the second category. In addition to combing through all of the publicly available material on Woods, Benedict and Keteyian conducted over four hundred interviews with people who had been involved in any way in Woods’ life, a significant accomplishment given the dictatorial control Woods and his handlers generally exert when it comes to disclosures regarding his private life.
The story they tell is not a surprise given the very public scandals that Woods has endured since he famously crashed his car the day after Thanksgiving in 2009. What is noteworthy is how they connect the Social Darwinist nature of his upbringing at once with his otherworldly success on the golf course as well as the character flaws that ultimately sabotaged his life outside the ropes. The Tiger of their book is not an easy person to like, particularly for his ruthlessness in using people to further his success and then casting them aside permanently for the most trivial of imagined slights. Nevertheless, their treatment of Woods is often empathetic, saving much of its indictment for the cult of success in American society and the entitlement culture it fosters among the privileged. The book may read like a traditional morality tale, but it’s still compelling nonetheless, and it will definitely make you think twice about welcoming close encounters with the rich and famous. If Woods is at all typical, they can be a dangerous undertaking.
