Tim Wildmon
AFA president
February 2010 – In June 2008, my 14-year-old son Walker asked me to go golfing with him. I told him no thank you – I had almost killed a man once with one of my shots 25 years ago – and it was not in God’s plan that Tim Wildmon be on the golf course. However, I told him, “I would like to come along and drive your golf cart while you play. I think I can handle that safely.”
So we went out, and as Walker played, I began to look around at some of the guys doing the golf thing. These guys were slapping the ball all over the place. I heard water splashes, watched trees limbs fall and saw guys ducking to avoid errant shots. It was then I thought to myself, I can do what these guys are doing. So I got some clubs and started trying to learn the game.
Even before I started playing golf, I enjoyed watching it on television primarily because of one person – a guy named Tiger Woods. If Tiger had a chance to win on Sundays, I tried to watch the tournament. I especially enjoyed watching him in what golf fans know as “The Majors.” The Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) has four major tournaments each year. The legendary Jack Nicklaus has 18 career major tournament wins, more than any other golfer in history. Tiger has 14 and is only 34 years old, which, in professional golf, is still relatively young. In other words, he should break Nicklaus’ record sometime in the next few years and lay claim to the title of undisputed greatest golfer in the history of the game.
Now, I would watch the big tournaments even if Tiger were not in contention – but if he were in contention, it made it all the more compelling. Even my lovely and talented wife Alison, who has never played golf, likes to watch if Tiger is competing.
I guess what has attracted millions of fans to watch Tiger Woods play golf is the fact that he is excellent at it. His self discipline. His attention to detail. His focus. His control and command of the clubs and the pressure. Wow. It is something to admire. He takes on the very best professional golfers in the world each weekend and his play often makes them look like amateurs.
And then he was a clean-living family man to boot. He had a beautiful wife and two small children.
And then, Tiger Woods destroyed Tiger Woods.
The Tiger Woods that millions of Americans thought we knew – in just a matter of weeks – was shown to be a complete and utter fraud. A phony. Reports of multiple adulterous affairs with women surfaced in the media. Women willing to tell their stories of illicit relationships with Woods.
My, how the mighty one has fallen.
At the time of this writing, Tiger has yet to make a public appearance since his automobile accident Thanksgiving night. Obviously, he does not want to come out of the house and face the public. Who would? Even as jaded, as cynical and as sexually loose as our society has become, Tiger still managed to humiliate himself before the American public. Even corporately, with his multi-million dollar endorsement deals, he is damaged goods.
During one of Bill Clinton’s sex scandals I remember hearing over and over that it was “just about sex.” In other words, “no big deal.”
Really? If adultery is “just about sex,” why does it hurt so much? Why does it destroy marriages? Why does it leave scars on the children who learn that one parent has been cheating on the other? Why? Because humans are not animals. Obviously, God puts no restrictions on the sexual activities of animals. But he does restrict people, because He knows what is best for us.
Galatians 6:7 says: “Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that he will also reap.”
Tiger is now reaping what he sowed. It happens every day to people not as well known as Tiger. We cannot mock God and expect to suffer no consequences. Tiger was deceived, but he is still responsible for his actions. I don’t think there is any other explanation for why someone would do what he has done to himself and to his wife and family.
When friends play golf, they often extend to each other a mulligan. That’s the term used for redoing a bad shot without it counting against your score. It’s a do-over or a second chance.
Like you and me, Tiger Woods needs the mulligan that only Jesus can extend. Let me encourage you to pray that in the midst of this humiliating chapter in their lives, Tiger and Elin, his wife, will come by faith to know the mercy of Christ for sinners, and that life can become a whole new game. 
