"It was the luck of the draw," he said. "One of the other people didn't show up and it just fell that way. I got to be the chosen one."
The chosen one.
It is still true for Woods, even after everything.
There is little need to point out the obvious. Woods plays golf and has earnings in the billions. Walker has worked on narcotics raids and on intercepting illegal aliens at sea. Woods is self-employed, self-motivated; key word: self. Walker works, really, for all of us, for everyone but himself.
Woods is showered with fame and drowning in infamy. Walker is a man in uniformed service - doing work that is not famous, just dangerous. But they were together there on the 17th hole of the pro-am - talking and laughing and then enjoying a few minutes of gracious fun when Woods handed Walker the putter and allowed him to go about the business of finishing up the hole. Four putts later, he did.
"It's something I'll never forget," Walker said, and you knew he meant it.
The Tiger dichotomy was a phenomenon in full yesterday. Hundreds of people followed Woods' group in the pro-am while the rest of the players were pretty much followed only by shadows. His personal behavior turned him into an international punch line just a few months ago yet the line to see him hit punch shots remains unbroken.
All of which says something about the cult of celebrity in our culture, and something about us as consumers of that culture. Even more, though, it says something about golf people, about their respect for the game above all else and their appreciation for Woods' accomplishments inside the ropes.
Talking to Walker, wearing a camouflage caddie's bib, it very obviously never crossed his mind to be anything other than thrilled by the experience.
