NEWS AND NOTES
Tiger Wows, Bows in Japan
Posted: Wed November 12, 1997
If you've got Tiger Woods anchoring your foursome, you don't
expect to finish 34 strokes out of the lead. Alas, Team
Thailand, made up of Woods and three teenagers from his mother's
homeland, did just that, finishing dead last in an 18-hole
juniors match held at the Musashigaoka Golf Course in Hanno,
Japan, on Sunday. Teams from Japan, South Korea and Taiwan
(captained by touring pros Shigeki Maruyama, Mark O'Meara and
Nick Price, respectively) posted much lower scores. Maruyama's
Team Japan won with an eight-over finish but had the advantage
of not having to play in front of Tiger's galleries. "I didn't
sleep well last night," admitted Ekapak Nirapathpongporn of
Thailand. "I wondered if I was lucky or unlucky to be playing
with Tiger."
The juniors exhibition, which followed a pro-am and a skins game
at the three-day Tiger Woods Invitational, capped Woods's first
visit to Japan and helped raise about $250,000 for inner-city
junior golf programs there. How Woods performed seemed secondary
to his appearance in the country, which was just as well. In
addition to his dismal showing with Team Thailand, he also
finished last in the skins game with the three other pros the
previous day, though his payoff for that event was a generous
$110,000.
What was the extent of Tigermania in Japan? Considerable,
according to The Japan Times, which opined, "The furor could not
have been equaled by a simultaneous arrival of Michael Jackson,
Madonna and the Pope." Little, according to more sober
observers. The estimated 13,500 who attended the Invitational
were enthusiastic but respectful, and the rest of the nation got
only a glimpse of Woods, on a noontime TV show. "The culture
here reminds me so much of Thailand," said Woods, meaning he
found it clean, orderly and disciplined. "I love that."
On Sunday his three young teammates demonstrated the sort of
behavior he finds so appealing. Accepting their fourth-place
medals, each pressed hands together, fingertips to nose, and
bowed.
Issue date: November 17, 1997
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