Tiger Woods selected as the Athlete of the Decade by The Associated Press.
Tiger is in the news again. This time it’s for something positive and sports related. The world’s No. 1 ranked golfer was voted AP’s athlete of the decade on Wednesday, outpolling Armstrong, Federer, and Phelps.
Woods received 56 of the 142 votes cast by AP member editors since last month. More than half of the ballots, notes AP, were returned after Tiger’s middle-of-the-night accident on Nov. 27 that set off his sensational tales of infidelity. Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France six times this decade while battling cancer, finished second with 33 votes. Grand Slammin’ tennis ace Roger Federer, who has won more Grand Slam singles titles than any other man, came in third receiving 25 votes, followed by Michael Phelps, the record-setting Olympic swimmer, who came in fourth with 13 votes.
The selection, which some are already calling it a ‘controversial one’, comes in the midst of an image-shattering and shocking sex scandal linking Woods to 14 women.
Woods, who has not been seen since the accident, was not made available to comment about the award.
AP: “Despite the tsunami of negative publicity that will likely tarnish his image, there’s no denying that Woods’ on-the-course accomplishments set a new standard of dominance within his sport while making golf more accessible to the masses,” wrote Stu Whitney, sports editor of the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader.
“Woods won 56 times on the PGA Tour this decade, a rate of 30 percent that is unprecedented in golf. Nine of those victories were by at least eight shots..Along with his 12 majors this decade — he has 14 overall, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus — Woods was runner-up in six other majors. He won 14 times out of 27 appearances in the World Golf Championships.”
No matter what you think of Tiger Woods, the reality is the man is a tremendous talent on the golf course.
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