Feherty: Media pressure 'suffocated' Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods has played three rounds and withdrawn from three tournaments in his return to golf. (AP)

Here’s how bad it got for Tiger Woods at his peak.

As David Feherty told it to a group of reporters in Manhattan ahead of the seventh season of “Feherty,” Woods was walking with him down the fairway at a golf tournament, telling a joke. Woods was so concerned about getting scrutiny for what he said — even if it might have been a joke that wasn’t blue — that he said the whole joke while talking down to the ground. As Feherty explained, he was concerned someone could read his lips and would report on the contents of the joke.

It’s an indication of the kind of pressure Woods felt as he was pursing record after record, namely trying to rack up as many major championship wins as Jack Nicklaus. At a time in that run, Woods seemed destined to not only catch Nicklaus but sprint past him. Now? It seems Jack has won.

For his part, Feherty has never pursued Woods as a guest on his show, even as he’s had a who’s-who of golf names on his program. He wants Woods to be on the show when he feels like Woods can be himself, let his guard down and offer some unvarnished candor about his career and accomplishments.

“I just want him to be in the right place, because I don’t want to do a show with him where he has to give padded answers. I don’t want that show,” Feherty said, according to USA Today. “I want him to be the kid that I know. I want him to lose the iron dome. You know, when he first came out, before we followed him from the car to the putting green to the range to the course and back through the press area. Before every time he finished a round we wanted him to stand in front of a microphone and answer questions for 45 minutes every single time that he played, I’m surprised he lasted as long as he did.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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