Whatever people may think about Tiger Wood’s sincerity on Friday, one thing is clear to me. He’s on a Twelve Step program and is committed to finish it.

For those who are familiar with Twelve Step programs, the format goes back to the early days of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1940’s. They have been modified, particularly to make them less religious, in recent years and by different ‘addiction’ therapists, but here are the originals from AA:

THE TWELVE STEPS OF ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS
1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God, as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.
Copyright _ A.A. World Services, Inc.
Used with permission

He certainly has worked through the first 5 steps, and seemed to be dealing with 8 and 10. He admitted he is working on 9. The room was full of those people on Friday. And we had a hint, in his comments on Buddhism, that is working on the spiritual issues.

This is not to say that he will succeed, nor is this evidence of sincerity. I worked for 10 years as a Navy Chaplain in collateral duties at Drug and Alcohol Rehab Centers. Lots of those guys (and gals) were very smart, and quickly learned that they would not be returned to duty unless they ‘passed’ – and passing meant buying into the 12 steps.

Perhaps Tiger is smart and is buying in for his own reasons, rather than sincere reasons. Only time will tell.

Me – I’ve never liked the guy (but loved his talent). But for his kid’s sake, I hope he is sincere and even hope he will find a better spiritual path than Buddhism (the Fox dude was right, wasn’t he?).