Tucked away at the rear end of the December issue of Golf Digest magazine is a piece that has now become global news.
It is a parody interview about Tiger Woods. And Tiger Woods didn't like it.
An article that could have easily passed quietly by will now be read by thousands, if not millions, thanks to Woods himself pointing it out and making an almighty fuss. The editors must be doing cartwheels.
The piece of golfing satire, headlined 'My (Fake) Interview With Tiger', was penned by the Godfather of American golf scribbling, Dan Jenkins, the celebrated 84-year-old who seems to have been covering this fine game since Old Tom Morris was a junior member.
In an imaginary one-on-one - or "invented fiction" as Woods called it - Jenkins whimsically trots out Woods' perceived failings; his dislike of Sergio Garcia, his womanising, his inclination to sack coaches, his reliance on his manager etc, etc.
Woods took to theplayerstribune.com to vent his anger, labelling the spoof "a grudge-fuelled piece of character assassination" during a meandering rant in which the 14-time major winner whined to all and sundry.
"Did you read Dan Jenkins' interview with me in the latest Golf Digest?" Woods wrote furiously. "I hope not. Because it wasn't me. It was some jerk he created to pretend he was talking to me. That's right, Jenkins faked an interview, which fails as parody, and is really more like a grudge-fuelled piece of character assassination. Journalistically and ethically, can you sink any lower?"
Given Woods' background - it is five years this month since his career unravelled amid lurid tales of a series of extra-marital affairs - it is rather odd to see the former world No.1 assuming the moral and ethical high ground, particularly over a piece of writing lobbed into the back of the book as a bit of light relief from all the equipment analysis and coaching tips.
Woods' current girlfriend, the skier Lindsey Vonn, stood by her man and offered her support with this insightful analysis. "That's not journalism," she declared. "It was like a fabricated interview, like what [Jenkins] thinks Tiger would say." Well, thank goodness she cleared that up for us.
The cashmere knit, it seems, has hit the fan but this will probably be just another online storm in golf's tea cup.
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