Shuddering over Tiger in the tank

Tiger Woods had a great time at Huntly Speedway - but he put sections of the US media in a spin. Photo / Amos Chapple

Tiger Woods' adventure tourism in New Zealand has drawn strangled protests from some members of the golfing media.

"What insurance policy will cover golf's gaping hole if Woods' presence is erased because of a faulty bungy cord?" asked Rick Arnett, vice-president of AvidGolfer magazine in an article for Sports Illustrated.

Woods plunged more than 134m - twice - from New Zealand's highest bungy jump, the Nevis Highwire near Queenstown, in a warm-up for charity celebrity races at a dirt-track speedway at Huntly on Monday.

The races were organised by his caddy, New Zealander Steve Williams, to raise funds to provide sporting careers for disadvantaged youth.

But American media were more interested in the risks to Woods.

"It does make some shudder over a golf landscape sans Woods," Arnett said.

If the PGA Tour was left without Woods - ranked first in world golf - for any extended period, fan interest and television ratings in the tournaments he normally played would drop off.

As to whether Woods had any moral duty to prop up the Tour, Arnett said: "Woods knows how important his presence is for the Tour to keep fan and sponsor interest at optimum.

"Ponder what your immediate reaction would be reading the headline 'Tiger Woods Perishes in 440-Foot Bungy Jump Mishap!'," he said.

Arnett conceded that a happy Tiger Woods was good for golf, and that he had the funds for any adventures he wanted. "His life is a fantasy filled with unparalleled talent, rock star celebrity status, sprawling beachfront property, private jets, and expansive yachts, he wrote.

"However, he does have a rare gift that comes along once a generation - if that.

"Let's hope future decisions and 'accomplishments' add to, rather than needlessly shorten, his profound career."

And Jim Brighters, golf editor of the Sports Network, said in an online column that "apparently Woods' good judgment left him somewhere over the Pacific".

Brighters noted he had previously written a scathing column about world golf No 2 Phil Mickelson's "idiotic attempt" at being a minor-league baseball pitcher because of the possibility of him being injured.

"Mickelson has a job, a lucrative one at that, and putting his physical person in jeopardy was dumb. He was a professional golfer and no matter how interested he was in certain activities, his obligation was to protect his body," Brighters said.

"Woods is one of the smartest athletes in the world when it comes to his body. Why on earth would he try two of the most dangerous stunts a common man can try?"

Woods' primary goal was to be the greatest golfer in the history of the world and bungy jumping was not a smart way of attaining that goal.

"Maybe it was Williams," said Brighters. "Stevie is into all of that kind of ridiculous macho crap and maybe Woods made a deal that he wouldn't cut him a wedding cheque or pick up the new dinette set for a gift."

- NZPA