Mike Ehrmann/Getty ImagesTiger Woods’ exceptional skill on the golf course turned him into a global superstar. But the success and public image he’d spent his lifetime building came crashing down in the fall of 2009, when reports of Woods’ extramarital affair quickly erupted into a scandal involving multiple women, resulting in a televised apology and a therapy program. Sponsors dropped Woods as a spokesman, and his marriage to Elin Nordegren ended in divorce.
Over the next decade, Woods’ golf game suffered while he struggled through injuries that required four surgeries on his back. In 2017, an interaction of prescription drugs led to an arrest for driving under the influence. Many pundits figured Woods’ days as an elite golfer were over, but Woods clawed his way back to the top with a win at the 2019 Masters.
The two-part HBO Sports documentary Tiger (Sundays, Jan. 10 & 17 at 9pm ET/PT and streaming on HBO Max) uses rare footage and interviews to paint the portrait of a man whose athletic brilliance carried along with it the burden of unattainable expectations. Says executive producer Alex Gibney, “This is an epic tale for sports fans and for anyone interested in the pursuit of greatness and the price of ambition paid by athletes, particularly when parents and the society-at-large push them to win at any cost.”
