Tiger Woods is the best golfer on the face of the planet. He is the best golfer that has ever played the game. And I would be safe ins saying, at only 33 years old, that he will be the best player to ever touch a club for the rest of my life, your life, and anyone’s life. When everything is said and done in his career he will simply have records that can not be touched and will lead more categories, have won more money, and have won more tournaments that no one will ever come close to. Guys hit their prime of their career (the best golf that they will ever play) in their late thirties to early to mid forties. Tiger is 33. That scares me.
But there is another Woods on the plane. Playing in the top spot at Wake Forest is his niece, Cheyenne Woods. Take a look at how similar they are in both looks and swings. Do you think that is a fluke? I mean, think about that for a moment. If you could wake up and call your uncle and say, “Hey, Tiger, can we get some swings in before you head to Augusta? I want to work on my short game with you.” I mean, that is Tiger Woods she is talking to there. This makes me want to move to Wake and take every class she is in to just become her friend and meet the man. (I have to find a way to have dinner with Tiger before my life is over. It is not only on the top of my still imagined bucket list, but it is the sole item that I am afraid that will never be reached. So if anyone, at all, has any connection to a six degrees of separation from Tiger, please speak now.)
But back to the player at hand. Cheyenne, who is already, as a freshman, ranked in the top 100 amongst women college players, is making quite the name for herself. She seemed humble in the interview that is above you, but she has a certain Tiger based demeanor to her. I mean, do you think she doesn’t use her family to support her? Tiger goes to the majority of the home Stanford games to show support of his once college classrooms. So do you think he doesn’t try to make it to all his families sporting events? I mean, sure he is a celebrity in his own right, and can not go to dinner or to a movie anywhere he pleases, but he has a certain sense of responsibility when it comes to his family.
But think of what she goes through on a day to day basis. She has the last name Woods. Do you think she can go anywhere and not have to answer the obvious questions of who her family is or if she has ever met the real Tiger Woods. Yeah she has met him, it’s her uncle! But I tell you what, I would love to be able to meet her and act as if it was not a big deal that she was related to Tiger. And that is exactly how I would treat it too.
The way I have been so successful in the music industry to date is that I treat them like humans. I meet an artist and I appreciate what they do, and I enjoy seeing them perform, but I do not beg for an autograph, or scream at the chance to meet them. They are people. They take showers, they buy groceries, they go to the beach on vacation. They are human beings and are just like everyone else. Of course how many people treat them that way. I have met numerous celebrities and the only one that I was really star struck by was Max Collins. And I will answer this for 99% of you that do not know who he is, but he is the lead singer of the greatest band to ever play (in my ears at least) of Eve 6.
So let’s say that I add Cheyenne on facebook. (Yeah, I am going to do that right after I am done here.) We start to talk and find some common interests. Not saying that I am using her to get to Tiger, but she has an immediate connection to the man that I absolutely idolize. She is not a tool that I am passing off if that opportunity ever presents itself, but more of a resource that could build into a friendship. What do you think she says when someone asks her, “Who is the biggest celebrity name in your phone book?”
I’m actually one of Tiger’s closest friends.