It's an honor....
Andrew Luck and the Stanford Cardinal (11-1) will face Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon, and the high powered Oklahoma State Cowboys (11-1) in the Fiesta Bowl on January 2nd in Glendale, AZ. For the occasion Stanford will have an honorary captain. Head coach David Shaw has asked Tiger Woods to fill the role, according to a recent blog post on Tiger’s site:
Before I begin the new season, I will attend the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 2 in Arizona to watch Stanford play Oklahoma State. Cardinal head coach David Shaw asked me to be an honorary team captain, and I happily accepted. For Coach Shaw to think highly enough of me to be involved in the game and be able to talk to his kids is very special.
I’m very close to Stanford. They’ve done so much for me in my life. Everyone knows Coach Shaw and I had a class together. We go way back. It’s neat to be able to come back and help him any way that I can.
While Tiger’s year on the greens wasn’t what he would’ve liked he did finish with some momentum. Woods was victorious at the Chevron World Challenge earlier this month, his first win in what seems like forever. That should give him some confidence heading into 2012 and his first event, the HSBC Golf Championship in Abu Dhabi in late January.
Tiger also made some headway in trying to regain his marketing power after losing endorsements over the last couple of years. Over the summer he teamed up with a Japanese company to promote their heat rub. He also signed on with Fuse Science to endorse sports nutrition and energy products. While watch manufacturer TAG Heuer ended its endorsement agreement with Woods earlier this year he ended up rebounding fairly well as he joined forces with Rolex.
Tiger was on hand to see the Cardinal blowout Colorado 48-7 in October and it’s a nice gesture by coach Shaw to invite Woods to be part of the Fiesta Bowl game. Stanford fans are surely hoping Woods’ presence inspires the same kind of result. Oklahoma State is alot better than Colorado though so a motivational speech by Tiger that produces a similar score in Stanford’s favor might be reason enough for him top swinging clubs for a living and focus on public speaking.
