Tiger Woods: A golfer still, but on whose team?

BOSTON — If there were a sportswriter’s award for maturity and self-restraint, I would put forth my name in nomination.

It has been two full weeks now since a certain famous golfer hit the now famous hydrant and I have not yet mentioned his name.

I simply decided that while it may have been a global affair, it wasn’t really a global matter. Now all that has changed with the stunning report from Fox News that Tiger Woods is contemplating leaving the country to live with his wife, Elin Nordegren, and their children in Sweden — a distant piece from tabloid America. The New York Daily News had already reported that Nordegren purchased a $2 million home on a secluded Swedish island, a ferry ride away from Stockholm.

Which raises an important corollary question (besides whether Tiger can swim). Just two months ago, Woods was the centerpiece of a successful lobbying campaign to propel golf into the Olympics. He promised the International Olympic Committee (IOC) he would play the Olympic tournament and I have no doubt he intends to honor that commitment. But now I have to wonder which flag will he be wearing on his Nike uniform — the red, white and blue or the blue and yellow?

The Olympics never truly coveted the sport of golf itself. It had golf more than 100 years ago at the St. Louis 1904 Olympics and dumped it. That was a good decision. Those of us who have watched Olympic tennis recognize that sports in which the gold medal is not the ultimate prize are never quite as riveting as the other competitions. And there isn’t a tennis player alive who wouldn’t rather win the Wimbledon silver cup and plate, or a golfer the Masters green jacket.

What the Olympics did covet, of course, was Woods himself, the next sports mega-celebrity — in the wake of Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Lionel Messi — to provide an Olympic-sized boost for sponsors and TV rights-holders.

Tiger displayed a fair amount of hubris when he committed to playing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, when golf returns to the Olympic fold. Tiger will be 40 come Rio ’16. And coming off a string of injuries as well as a season in which he failed to win a major title, he hardly seem assured of the same exalted status seven years down the road.

Even if he does still warrant inclusion in the Olympics, Tiger is unlikely to rate an elevated place on the U.S. Olympic roster. It was reasonable to think — back in October when golf got the nod from the IOC — that Woods might even have been chosen as flag-bearer for the U.S. team at Opening Ceremonies.

No longer. The Americans tend to tap exemplars for such singular honors, as they did in Beijing with distance runner Lopez Lomong, one of the “Lost Boys” of Sudan. And while Tiger’s marital indiscretions might be only be a minor media sensation by 2016, it’s unlikely that Woods could play the leading man on the American team.

Then there’s this potential Swedish problem. Believe me, I have nothing against the country. I am a big Bergmann fan, have watched every episode of “Wallender” on “Masterpiece Mystery,” have toured the Volvo factory in Goteborg, can smorgasbord with the best of them and even like herring in virtually all forms. But while there have been a number of U.S. Olympians, like Lomong, who emigrated to America, I don’t recall a single ex-pat making the American Olympic team.

Marriage and family is certainly a far more important concern for Tiger Woods right now than any Olympic aspirations or promises. But the Olympics had its hopes and dreams wrapped up in him too. Maybe the IOC is entitled to a mulligan. Then it could leave the golfers to all those many games they seem to play on the pro tours. And instead, maybe invite back those nice ladies who play softball and never embarrass anybody.