Woods' people attack new biography: authors stand by accuracy

A new biography aims to unearth the enigma that is Tiger Woods.

Charlie Lemay's picture
GolfMagic
Thu, 29 Mar 2018
Woods' people attack new biography: authors stand by accuracy


Tiger Woods’ people have hit back at a new biography on the 14-time major champion, saying the text is "littered with egregious errors", but the authors of the book stand by the accuracy of their work.

Woods' manager, Mark Steinberg, and chief spokesperson, Glenn Greenspan, said authors Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian "did zero fact checking with us of any kind” and have simply re-hashed previous works.

"They gave us no chance whatsoever to verify any of the material, which resulted in a long string of errors in the book," a statement from the duo says.

Woods’ representatives said there are basic errors in the books, such as "Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer applauding at a dinner they never attended," "quoting a broadcaster who wasn't present at an event," and "inventing a press gathering that didn't occur."

"Most of the thoughts and feelings that they attribute to Tiger are either second-hand or flat out made up," they said in the statement. "It's hard to imagine that two guys who have never met or spoken to Tiger can legitimately guess what he or his family were thinking."

One chapter of the book touches on Woods' father Earl being a 'f****** rodeo' after having an insatiable appetite for women.

The book quotes: "Women came and went. Pornography played steadily on the television. Sex toys were stuffed in drawers and sexual favours were performed at Earl's request."

An anecdote regarding Woods’ round with then President Clinton has also caused anger.

An except said the pair did not get on, and they only played together for a photo op, something Clinton aide Doug Band says is incorrect.

The authors said while they were unable to obtain requested interview time with Woods for the book, the accuracy of their work is high and they “are proud to have produced a critically acclaimed book that answers a question many have asked for many years: Who is Tiger Woods?".

They explained many subjects they wanted to talk to for the book had signed confidentiality agreements, or had to ask Woods’ permission to talk to them.

They spoke to 250 subjects, and explain they cite all text referenced in the book.

"[They] cited nine errors, and these are errors we could debate," Keteyian said of the criticism.

"There are tens of thousands of facts in this book. I fact-checked the book myself…we hired our own fact checker, we had copy editors that fact-checked. There's an enormous volume of information. So they found nine [errors] out of 404 pages?"

'Tiger Woods' was released on 27 March.