Alright, we’ll admit it: We here at The Loop are card-carrying members of the Tiger Woods cult. Partly because he’s good for business (like really good) and partly because he has it. The presence. The magnetism. The skill to back it up and the performances to prove it.
We don’t hang on every movement of his jet or every anchor drop of his yacht for the same reasons the paparazzi follow Machine Gun Kelly and Megan Fox to the top of Everest and back. We do it because to watch Tiger Woods play golf is to watch something that will never be repeated. Say what you want about his blemishes, he has a few, but from a pure sports standpoint, that is irresistible.
And yet, despite our affliction, our Big Cat fever can’t hold a shrine candle to KOTV, the local Oklahoma CBS affiliate that sent up a literal news chopper to document Woods’ putting practice at Southern Hills on Thursday. Behold the shakey, grainy, zoomed-in insanity.
You think we’re sick? We have nothing on this. News choppers are normally reserved for police chases, traffic reports, weather, and so on. In all our years watching golf (and, to a lesser extent, the news), this is the first time we’ve seen a heli diverted to cover putting practice on a scouting trip for a golf tournament that a player may or may not play in. It’s one thing to pull out your phone and grab a quick clip for Twitter.
Woods is currently in the PGA Championship field, but has yet to fully confirm whether or not he’ll compete at Southern Hills next month. If he does, look out. News on 6 might trade that chopper for a tank.
