Tiger Woods Voted Athlete of the Decade

The last three weeks have been hell for Tiger Woods. His personal life has been turned upside down. But one point has just been proved, he is more famous for his golf than he is infamous for his personal life. Members of the Associated Press (AP) have voted him as the "Athlete of the Decade". And why not, his records and achievements just cannot be ignored. Editors of major US newspapers are members of the AP.

In this decade, Tiger Woods has won 64 tournaments, out of which 12 are major golf championships. His record is so good, that he has managed to win more than 1 out of every 3 tournaments that he took part in. He even won the 2008 US Open with a foot injury. He has won a tournament on every continent around the globe.

But of course, he did not get it easy. Out of the total 142 votes polled, Tiger Woods got 56 votes. Lance Armstrong, who won the Tour de France 6 times this decade polled 33 votes. Roger Federer, the tennis star who has won more singles Gram Slam titles than anyone else, polled 25 votes. Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps managed to take fourth position with 13 votes, New-England quarterback Tom Brady got 6 votes, and world-record sprinter Usain Bolt got 4 votes. Then there were five other athletes who got 1 vote each.

Phil Kaplan, deputy sports editor at the Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel said, "No athlete dominated a particular sport the way Tiger Woods did this decade." Mike Strain, sports editor of the Tulsa (Okla) World said, "The only reason I wouldn't vote for Tiger Woods is because of the events of the last three weeks. And I didn't think that was enough to change my vote. I thought he was a transcendent sports figure." Seattle Times sports editor Don Shelton who voted for Woods said, "I'm not sure I would change my vote. I looked at him as an athlete, I really did. I separated him a little bit. If this had happened three years ago and his performance had dropped off, that's a different factor. Stu Whitney, sports editor of the Sioux Falls (S.D.) Argus Leader said, "Despite the tsunami of negative publicity that will probably 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. The only proof needed are the television ratings when Tiger plays in a golf tournament, compared to those events when others have to carry the load." Dan Lebowitz, executive director at the Center for the Study of Sport in Society at Northeastern University said, "It seems like everybody has jumped on the 'slay Tiger' bandwagon. I understand the dynamics around that. But I'd also like people to recognize how great he operated under a microscope for a long period of time."