Tiger back in the dating game

With eerily similar announcements to a combined Facebook and Twitter audience of nearly 6.5 million, Tiger Woods and Lindsey Vonn confirmed Monday that they are dating, then asked for privacy because they want to live, in Woods’s words, “as an ordinary couple”. Good luck with that.

Woods and Vonn not only vault to the top of the list of sports couples in terms of lifetime professional achievements, but their relationship will also be a magnet for ceaseless news media attention just for its sizzle and startling inimitability.

Woods (37) was a wunderkind golfer feted on national television at age two who became the world’s most celebrated athlete until his serial adultery was exposed, leading to a divorce and a spectacular fall from grace three years ago.

Vonn (28) is a Minnesota-bred, suburban-sheltered ski racer who married her first serious boyfriend and led a tame, predictable personal life until she unexpectedly divorced that first love 16 months ago.

They immediately stole the title of Golf’s First Couple from top-ranked Rory McIlroy and his tennis star girlfriend, Caroline Wozniacki. There are, in fact, few suitable couple comparisons to offer as precedent on the athletic level.

There have certainly been potent athletic marriages, like Chris Evert and Greg Norman, or Steffi Graf and Andre Agassi. But it is rarer for two active athletes of such international acclaim to be romantically involved in or near their primes of their careers.

Between them, Woods and Vonn have 14 Major golf championships, 76 PGA Tour victories, two Olympic medals and four overall World Cup titles. Woods may be the best golfer ever, something he still has a chance to prove unequivocally. Vonn may be the best female ski racer ever and could over the next few winters become the most decorated World Cup ski racer – male or female – in history. It is a match made for “SportsCenter”.

The best comparison might be Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe. “This season has been great so far and I’m happy with my wins at Torrey and Doral,” Woods wrote on his Facebook page, referring to two of his recent PGA Tour victories.

Become very close
“Something nice that’s happened off the course was meeting Lindsey Vonn. Lindsey and I have been friends for some time, but over the last few months we have become very close and are now dating. We thank you for your support and for respecting our privacy. We want to continue our relationship, privately, as an ordinary couple and continue to compete as athletes.”

The post included four professionally composed pictures that were in the style of an engagement announcement or a school prom.Except Woods and Vonn are two of the most renowned athletes in the world, traveling in contrasting, highly-scrutinized circles, who would not normally bump into one another.