Tiger Woods

By: Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian

Narrated by: Roger Casey

Length: 15 hrs and 23 mins

Publisher's Summary

Based on three years of extensive research and reporting, two of today's most acclaimed investigative journalists, Jeff Benedict of Sports Illustrated and 11-time Emmy Award winner Armen Keteyian, deliver the first major biography of Tiger Woods - sweeping in scope and packed with groundbreaking, behind-the-scenes details of the Shakespearean rise and epic fall of an American icon.

In 2009, Tiger Woods was the most famous athlete on the planet, a transcendent star of almost unfathomable fame and fortune living what appeared to be the perfect life - married to a Swedish beauty and the father of two young children. Winner of 14 major golf championships and 79 PGA Tour events, Woods was the first billion-dollar athlete, earning more than $100 million a year in endorsements from the likes of Nike, Gillette, AT&T, and Gatorade.

But it was all a carefully crafted illusion. As it turned out, Woods had been living a double life for years - one that exploded in the aftermath of a Thanksgiving night crash that exposed his serial infidelity and sent his personal and professional life off a cliff. In Tiger Woods, Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian, the team behind the recent New York Times best seller The System, dig deep behind the headlines to produce a richly reported answer to the question that has mystified millions of sports fans for nearly a decade: Who is Tiger Woods?

Drawing on more than 400 interviews with people from every corner of Woods' life - friends, family members, teachers, romantic partners, swing coaches, business associates, Tour pros, and members of Woods' inner circle - Benedict and Keteyian construct a captivating psychological profile of an African American child programmed by an attention-grabbing father and the original Tiger Mom to be the "chosen one", to change not just the game of golf but the world as well. But at what cost? Benedict and Keteyian provide the starling answers in a biography destined to make headlines and linger in the minds of listeners for years to come.

©2018 Jeff Benedict, Armen Keteyian (P)2018 Simon & Schuster Audio

A Balanced Look at One of Golf's Greatest

For this major biography of Tiger Woods, the authors completed more than 400 interviews over a three-year period. Woods declined to participate with the project after the authors refused the conditions Woods and his team imposed on them. Still, fans of Woods will find this to be an interesting, and I believe fair, look at his life thus far.
Everyone knows Woods’ golf accomplishments, so I will focus on what readers may hope to gain from reading this book that they can’t get in previously published books about Woods. We have to start with Wood’s family, and primarily his father Earl. His parents were the only people Tiger could trust, for him, family was everything. Unfortunately, it was a dysfunctional family that he grew up in. Earl cheated on his first wife with Tiger’s mother, actually marrying her a few years before he was divorced from his first wife. In addition, Earl is portrayed as a father who took advantage of his son’s talent to benefit financially, and at least bent the rules on how to finance his travels to amateur tournaments. In addition to infidelity, Earl had vices of alcohol and porn. Unfortunately, some of those vices were passed on to Tiger. Earl would often interject race into interviews, while Tiger tended to avoid the subject. We are told that Earl is buried in an unmarked grave.
We read about a four-year relationship (in high school and college) that Tiger had with Deana, which was abruptly broken off, and another relationship he had prior to marriage. He had his first knee surgery while in college at Stanford.
We hear about Tiger’s conflict with members of the media, primarily John Feinstein and Jimmy Roberts, and his friendship with golfer and neighbor Mark O’Meara and his family.
Especially after he turned professional, Tiger was always under a microscope. Everyone wanted a piece of him and he made millions in endorsements. We hear about his increasing rudeness, failure to tip in restaurants and gambling in Las Vegas with Charles Barkley and Michael Jordan. The book addresses his obsession with working out and becoming a member of the Navy Seals.
Woods was married to Elin Nordegren for six years. The book spends a lot of time on his well-documented fall from grace, detailing his cheating on her, often times with multiple women at the same time while she was caring for their two young children at home. Woods was living a lie as a sex addict. The authors point out that he interestingly played some of his best golf when his personal life was out of control.
The authors state that Woods was in a dark place after Earl’s death. He became surlier with the media and would eventually become addicted to sleeping pills and pain medication. They address rumors whether he took PEDs (performance enhancing drugs), offering testimony from those close to him.
The book details his work with swing coaches such as Butch Harmon and Hank Haney, and in more recent years his injuries, surgeries and missed cuts. It ends with his return to competitive golf in early 2018 and his desire to be a good father to his two children.
The book contains a significant amount of adult language, much of it quotes from Woods. Golf fans, particularly fans of Woods will be interested in this well-researched and written book.

5 of 5 people found this review helpful

Fascinating subject, solid writing, meh audiobook

I grew up one of the biggest Tiger fans you'll ever meet. I've cheered for him since he first came up on tour, and I still think he's one of the most impressive athletes we'll ever get to witness. That's why I was so excited to listen to this book and get to know more about the man I've idolized for most of my life.

The picture painted by the authors differs from the picture I had painted in my mind. Obviously they did a lot more research into him than I ever have, and there's some pretty inexcusable things that he's done in his life that they documented well. That being said, I felt like they oftentimes merely alluded to the great aspects of Tiger, but never dug in deep to that side of the man. Instead, they spent the majority of the book poking holes in his legendary status and making him look like an immature weirdo. Now maybe that is truly who he is, but there's plenty of accounts to the contrary that I've seen other places which never received any attention in the book.

When it comes to the audiobook performance, this was the most uneven reading I've ever experienced. There were times when three consecutive sentences were clearly all recorded at different times. The voice intonations, volume levels, and and tone of the reader would change much too sporadically for my liking.

All in all, I was captured by this book and tore through it, but wasn't that impressed by the quality of it when I finished.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I couldn't stop listening!!

Narration is half the battle with audiobooks. This book was the best narrated book I've ever heard. Written beautifully and researched relentlessly, this book has all the emotions you could desire. Tiger Woods's story is already an interesting one but these authors take you behind the scene of every event in his life.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

I’m a Tiger Fan

Good chronological talk of arguably the best to ever play. As I sit here and type this, Tiger just finished rd 1 at The Tourney Championship shooting a 65 and tie for the lead w Ricky Fowler. Say what you will, it’s a fascinating story. I agree that “it’s the way he was raised” that made him sociable unacceptable person outside the ropes.
Read it, you won’t regret it.

Amazing book!

Extremely in depth story about arguably the most revolutionary sports figure in one sport. Great read! definitely buying the physical book as well!

Things I never knew.

If everything the authors said is true it gave a a great insight into the psyche of Tiger. I couldn't put it down, but it verged on gossip.

Well done

I thought this book was well written and was put into words excellently. A lot of information I didn’t know about Tiger. Watching him grow up in front of me was nice.

Fascinating and Compelling Storytelling

A hopefully true account of a full human being - incredibly accomplished and worthy of adoration for so many achievements while simultaneously a loathsome individual that makes you want to root against him.

What I particularly enjoyed is that the authors allow the reader to draw her own conclusions about the sources and reasons for this dichotomous behavior and whether she can still root for or against Tiger as a result.

Narration

Narrator was terrible. His voice kept changing. High to low, fast to slow. It added nothing to the story and was very annoying. Like it was just pieced together in a bad editing job.

Some interesting facts that I didn't know.

At well over 15 hours this book is ridiculously long. I'm certain it was meant to be a biography but sometimes I felt like the attention to detail would drag the book out with no real purpose for sharing this information. I'm not opposed to longer books but I have novels in my queue several hours shorter.

If you weren't a super-fan but a standard fan like I was (still am) you might know his basic upbringing, story & scandal. There will be some interesting tidbits you likely didn't know unless you've read an alternative biography on Tiger. I personally have never read any prior books so some of this information was new to me.

I found his interaction with his swing coaches, caddie, etc. to be very interesting and even more surprising than I thought. The entire back story of his father although understandably important to create perspective; was almost too overwhelming to create enough relevance in telling Tiger's story.

Glad i read it, will likely never read it again.

Great Insight

For Tiger fans much of the insight isn’t that new, but pulled together well. The books sails past some of his greatest victories and on course duals, focusing on his character and what made him.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Entertaining and Enlightening

You don't have to be a golf fan to enjoy this life story of Golf's greatest ever player. very interesting .

A well researched book

A full 360 degree look at the life and career of Tiger Woods. Based on multiple hours of research this book is candid, revealing and in some ways eye opening. The book also takes a good look at the actions of Woods but also the impact to those within his inner circle.
Clearly a sporting genius but with deep troubles it poses the question nature or nurture.

Tiger

unbelievable story of a true legend
never knew half of what he got up to
fascinating listen

A must for any golf fans; especially Tiger fans

This book is like peering behind the curtain, only to discover that the Wizard is real yet completely fallible.

brilliant listen.

a real insight on tigers struggles. a true legend of the sport who will be hard to replace

Good read, real eye opener..a little too salacious

really really enjoyable at times but too focused on sex scandals and flirty txt.. almost felt wrong reading at times. some great insights however but not what I would call a book for Tiger fans

Outstanding

I went into this book with Woods as one of my all time sporting idols. I came away with a very very different viewpoint (I'll say no more for fear of spoilers).

Obviously the world knew about many of his struggles, but this paints a far more vivid picture. It's the little details that make it stand out (again, I'll avoid spoilers).

Loved it from tee to green (sorry for golf metaphor).

An outstanding piece of work.

great insight

a great insight and a show of how ruthless pursuit of greatness devours the mere mortal. in humanity disgrace . but as a sportsman truly the best. it does how the world has the ability to give another chance. go Tiger best that record majors here we come

No punches held back in this one!

An interesting insight into the life of a living sports legend. There was a feeling that the overall book leaned towards the obvious failings of Woods and his father and hinted at other things without actually saying them. The polished finish of a champion is removed to show a man who does not value the help, friendship and support of those around him but one who is singularly focused on himself and winning - no one else is of relevance.