It's one of the greatest comebacks of all time. And for Tiger Woods,
getting back to the winner's circle was only half the story. Written by
a New York Times bestselling author and reporter who "knows the world
of professional golf...like few others" (The Wall Street Journal)
comes "the most insightful and evenhanded book written yet about one of
the signature athletes of the last twenty-five years" (Booklist,
starred review).
Tiger Woods's long descent into a personal and professional hell reached
bottom in the early hours of Memorial Day in 2017. Woods's DUI arrest
that night came on the heels of a desperate spinal surgery, just weeks
after he told close friends he might never play tournament golf again.
His mug shot and alarming arrest video were painful to look at and, for
Woods, a deep humiliation. The former paragon of discipline now found
himself hopelessly lost and out of control, exposed for all the world to
see. That episode could have marked the beginning of Tiger's end. It
proved to be the opposite.
Instead of sinking beneath the public disgrace of drug abuse and the
private despair of a battered and ailing body, Woods embarked on the
long road to redeeming himself. In The Second Life of Tiger Woods,
Michael Bamberger, who has covered Woods since the golfer was an
amateur, draws upon his deep network of sources inside locker rooms,
caddie yards, clubhouses, fitness trailers, and back offices to tell the
true and inspiring story of the legend's return. Packed with new
information and graced by insight, Bamberger's story reveals how this
iconic athlete clawed his way back to the top.
This is a "gripping" (Kirkus Reviews) and intimate portrait of a man
who has spent his life in front of the camera but has done his best to
make sure he was never really known. Here is Tiger, barefoot, in
handcuffs, showing a police officer a witty and self-deprecating side of
himself that the public never sees. Here is Tiger on the verge of tears
with his children at the British Open. Here is Tiger trying to express
his gratitude to his mother at a ceremony at the Rose Garden. In these
pages, Tiger is funny, cold, generous, self-absorbed, inspiring--and
real.
The Second Life of Tiger Woods is not only the saga of an exceptional
man but also a celebration of second chances. Bamberger's bracingly
honest book is about what Tiger Woods did, and about what any of us can
do, when we face our demons head-on.
