"Tiger" (2021 release; 2 parts; 190 min.) is a documentary about the life and times of golf legend Tiger Woods. As the first part opens, we see Tiger's dad Earl Tiger reflect at the 1996 Haskings Collegiate Award: "The world will be a better place to live in with him", yea, modestly was not lost on Earl. We then go back to "1978" as two (!) year old Tiger is on a TV show with Bob Hope, and swinging away. More troublesome, as Tiger grows older, he asks his school teacher to talk to Earl to let him play other sports as well. (Did you notice that Tiger couldn't even ask his dad himself?) Earl refuses outright... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.
Couple of comments: this documentary is directed by Academy Award nominee and Emmy-winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman ("Cartel Land") and Emmy nominee Matthew Hamachek. In other words, no slouches or amateurs. The picture they paint of Tiger is a complicated one: on the one hand his golfing talent is immense, perhaps the best golfer ever, but on the other hand Earl and his wife to a lesser degree are so overbearing that young Tiger doesn't stand a chance to develop into his own. The film makers interview tons of people that were (are?) close to Tiger. Of particular interest is Tiger's very first serious girlfriend Dina, who provides a ton of insights on how things were back in those days. "There is fame and then there is mania", she comments on the crushing social and other pressures on Tiger. Part 1 concludes around 2006, a year with lots of upheaval and change for Tiger. Can't wait to see Part 2!
Part 1 of "Tiger" premiered this weekend on HBO and is now available on HBO On Demand and other streaming services. Part 2 is scheduled to air this coming weekend. If you have any interest in Tiger the person and/or Tiger the golfer, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.
