Tiger Woods: What the world is saying

Around the world, people are transfixed by Tiger's tale of 'multiple transgressions.'

(Image credit: CJ GUNTHER/epa/Corbis)

last updated 8 January 2015

Since the now-infamous car crash in the early hours after Thanksgiving, Tiger Woods' increasingly salacious scandal has dominated the headlines. (The story has covered the New York Post for 11 straight days.) So, with news of Gatorade dropping their Tiger drink, and speculation of other sponsors distancing themselves from Woods still in full swing, here's a look at what major international newspapers are saying about the fall of the world's greatest golfer.

AFTONBLADET (Sweden)

Hurray for Elin!: For any celebrity, "fat bank accounts, beauty or power" mean little "when humiliation becomes a reality," argues Ann Söderlund in Aftonbladet. But unlike "Hilary [Clinton] and Posh Spice," who chose to "stay quiet, starve themselves or become female doormats," Elin Nordegren "refused to be treated like garbage." I agree with Swedish golfer, Jesper Parnevik, who introduced Nordegren to Woods, when he said, "'I hope she uses a driver instead next time'" she goes after her husband.

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He's was a hero—and he's let us down: "Many argue that great athletes owe the world nothing more than their virtuoso displays on the pitch, court, links, track or in the pool," writes David Ngiau in Today. But Tiger Woods, who has earned "millions and millions of dollars" off of fans "who want to play, dress and even be like him," is not a mere athlete "but a sports hero." And we should "expect more from our heroes."

The sooner he starts playing golf again, the better: This "meltdown" couldn't have happened at a worse time for Woods, says Douglas Lowe in Scotland's Herald. A "major triumph" on the golf course "would help to divert attention" away from the scandal. But his next opportunity to do so may not come until February's Buick Invitational. Fortunately for Woods, the "forthcoming championship season ... looks as if it has been designed with [him] in mind." If he's able to find "sanctuary" on the golf course, "eventually we will be back to counting the birdies he has scored on the course and not off it."

Are there any limits to this invasion of privacy?: That Tiger Woods has "made money by presenting an image of himself that has turned out to be 'a lie'" may subject him to the "scrutiny" that comes with his particular brand of celebrity, says Lawrence Donegan on The Guardian's website. But "where does it end?" "Does buying a Nike hat entitle the purchaser to know exactly how Woods conducts himself in his private life?" If you ask me, "it is time for this voyeuristic ... examination of Tiger Woods' private life" to "disappeared to where it belonged - down the toilet of newspaper history."

Even the best celebrites make mistakes: Everyone holds up celebrities "as role models," says Robert McCafffrey in The National. "But why?" Nobody's "perfect," not even "a bloke who hits a little white ball into a hole better than anyone else who's ever lived." So, despite the fact that Tiger Woods "hurt his family, and probably his head," I won't see Woods "in any different light than a great golfer."

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