LJWorld.com

Straffan, Ireland — It's not always easy being Tiger Woods. We found that out on a miserable day when the wind was howling, rain was blowing sideways, and it seemed like half the Irish Sea had been dumped on the golf course.

Just the kind of day many in Ireland like to spend comfortably positioned in front of a cozy bar with a pint of Guinness in hand.

Not Woods. The best player in the world always has been more of a water and Gatorade kind of guy, anyway, and the idea of him quaffing a few with the boys in a pub is laughable.

So were the pictures the Dubliner magazine claimed to have found of his wife, but Woods apparently didn't get that joke.

Then again, it's hard to find humor in a magazine when you open it and find links to what were purported to be topless pictures of the woman you love inside.

"Ryder Cup filth for Ireland," the headline crowed.

The pictures, of course, were not of Elin Nordegren. The magazine said as much later when it admitted it was all just in fun, a good way to have a laugh.

Some humor. Probably sounded awfully funny when the magazine's editor and his buddies were planning it down at Blarney's corner pub.

It didn't sound all that funny to Woods, who was so upset he made an early trip to the press tent just to defend his wife.

It was a rare public showing of sentiment by Woods, who guards his private life so jealously it was big news when he went out to dinner with the four American Ryder Cup rookies last month.

He's not the kind of guy who is going to invite a camera crew down to his Florida mansion for a peek into the way he lives. The big events of his life, from his marriage to the funeral of his father, are usually held as far from the prying eye of the press and public as possible.

The price of celebrity can sometimes be high. Woods acknowledged it earlier this year when he talked about how it's hard not to be able to go out in public.

Still, running links to what purports to be nude photos of a guy's wife crosses the line, even in a culture obsessed with the famous and beautiful.

"I don't think it shows too much about your profession," Phil Mickelson told a journalist.

Actually, that profession has helped make Woods much of what he is today, treating him for the most part with respect and even awe for what he has done on the golf course over the last 10 years. For the most part, the press has left Woods' private life alone, even when things became juicy when he took up with Nordegren, then a Swedish nanny.

Of course, every other player had to be asked about it, leading to some interesting exchanges, despite the best efforts of European Tour officials to steer the discussion elsewhere.

The whole thing had to horrify the Irish, whose prodigious efforts to play host to the Ryder Cup have so far been swamped by bad weather and bad taste. Not only is their golf course under water, but fans logging onto the Internet are searching for photos that have nothing to do with guys in hats swinging golf clubs.

Could it get any worse? Yes, and it didn't take long.

Turns out Woods loves the Irish but not their national drink, which is so prevalent here it seems even babies are weaned on it.

"I don't drink Guinness," Woods said.

At least he was honest about it.

Which, come to think of it, is more than can be said about the Dubliner.