The questions the golf press should have asked Tiger Woods after saying Ernie Els "could have worked a little bit harder" in knee rehab
We hope this is our last post on this issue. Just to be clear, The Golf Blog did not expect the golf beat writers to demand some kind of apology. They are journalists and are supposed to report and investigate the news. But we do think those duties entail asking follow-up questions to comments of Tiger Woods that might be construed as slighting the work ethic of Ernie Els during knee rehab. For example, here are 2 honest questions that could–and should–have been asked:
1. “Tiger, in what ways do you think Ernie could have worked a little harder rehabbing the knee?”
2. “Tiger, how do you know how much work Ernie put into rehabbing the knee? Did you two talk on the phone or text each other and compare notes?”
These are fair questions that we believe a good journalist would ask as a follow up to Tiger’s remark. However you want to spin it, the gist of Tiger’s comment was that Tiger believed he did more work rehabbing the knee than Ernie Els and that Ernie “could have worked a little bit harder.” It’s hard to imagine any scenario in which such a comment by one world famous athlete about another athlete’s work ethic in rehabbing after an injury doesn’t deserve a follow up question, at least for clarification purposes. We tried to think of some other examples that would not warrant a follow up question, but didn’t think any of these comments should go unquestioned:
1. Imagine Phil Mickelson, who had wrist problems, saying to the press that he believed Michelle Wie “could have worked a little bit harder” in rehabbing her wrist after injuring it.
2. Imagine Jack Nicklaus, who had hip replacement, saying to the press after this year’s British Open that Tom Watson “could have worked a little bit harder” in rehabbing after Watson’s own hip replacement.
3. Imagine another golfer saying to the press that John Daly “could have worked a little bit harder” in trying to lose weight and get in shape after his lap band surgery.
4. Imagine Roger Federer saying to the press that he believed Rafael Nadal “could have worked a little bit harder” in rehabbing his knees after injury.
5. Or, to borrow Tiger’s own example, imagine Tom Brady said to the press that he believed that Ernie Els “could have worked a little bit harder” in rehabbing his knee after ACL surgery.
Even if these comments were made along with some words of praise for the person discussed, we believe each comment would clearly warrant a follow-up question by a member of the press.
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