Does anyone else think that Tiger

was a rank bad loser in Masters?

FROM THE TIMESONLINE WEBSITE
By John Hopkins
Am I alone in thinking that Tiger Woods was rude and ungracious at the Masters last Sunday? He was curt in his handshake with Phil Mickelson, his playing partner, brief in his comments to reporters and disrespectful to his competitors when he described his play.
"I fought my swing all day and just kind of band-aided it and almost won the tournament," he said. One possible translation of that last statement could be: even with a band-aid on my swing I almost won the tournament, which is hardly complimentary to his rivals.
Woods' words contrasted jarringly with those of Kenny Perry, who was beaten in a play-off for a major championship for the second time. Perry, 48, was so far from being curt, brief in his comments to reporters and disrespectful to his competitors that his comments deserve to be described as remarkable.
"If this is the worst that happens to me, I can live with it," Perry said. "Great players get it done and Angel [Cabrera] got it done. This is the second major he's won. I've blown two but that's the only two chances I have had of winning."
Woods, presumably, was furious because he finished four strokes out of a play-off and it meant that another year had gone by without his winning a green jacket. His last victory was in 2005. But that does not justify him leaving the course in the way he did.
Woods's reaction will be explained away by those for whom he can do no wrong.
"It was terrible. I just didn't know what was going on. It was frustrating," he said. Woods was quoted as saying that he had been one yard out all week, "and a yard out around here means you end up 40 feet away," Jaime Diaz, an American journalist with Golf Digest, reported. Clearly he was referring to his poor putting. Woods took 122 putts, more than all but three of his 50 rivals.
He also hit two pull hook drives, one on the eighth on Saturday and an even worse one from the first tee on Sunday when his ball finished 100 yards off line, not just on the adjoining 9th fairway but quite close to the 8th fairway. As well as getting a par on the 18th only once, he hit a number of really bad shots.
After a 72 in his second round Woods gave Hank Haney, his swing coach, an earful on the practice ground. Steve Williams, Woods' caddie and no shrinking violet himself, walked away when Haney arrived, knowing what was about to happen. Might we be seeing the beginning of the end of the Haney and Woods relationship?
So the question here is this: where was Woods's grace under pressure? If Phil Mickelson could be courteous after he had failed to win, why couldn't Woods?
"Playing with Tiger was fun" Mickelson said. "We've had some good matches. I always enjoy it." If Kenny Perry could make such generous comments, couldn't Woods have done rather better than he did?
It was timely to read a correspondent responding to an item about Woods in last week's Spike Bar. "I am concerned at his lack of charm when interviewed," Julian from London wrote. "Is he a champion of his sport as Shane Warne is in his? Warne is never one to decline an autograph or coach youngsters. Which is the greater champion?"
Woods rightly attracts a following that far exceeds those who play and watch golf. In the story about the Emperor and his clothes, the little boy is the only one who points out that the Emperor is naked.
Given the huge following for Woods and the general reluctance to criticise a man of such astonishing talent, we might be made to feel a little like the small boy in that story. But we felt it was worth pointing out nonetheless.

+Send your E-mails to Colin@scottishgolfview.com if you have strong views either way about Tiger Woods' "conduct" at the Masters.