Charles Barkley always says exactly what’s on his mind, speaking with great candor whenever given the chance.
And when given the opportunity to speak about Tiger Woods on the “Mike Missanelli Show” on WPEN-FM in Philadelphia, Barkley was very frank.
“We’re not friends anymore,” Barkley said of Woods on Friday, via GolfChannel.com.
Barkley went on, responding to Missanelli’s claim that Woods has “too far removed himself from the rest of society.”
“Well, I think that when you’re as great as he has been, and this probably is a negative at some point, like he was so consumed with being the greatest golfer ever, he wasn’t a very sociable guy,” Barkley said. “Even when he was a friend of mine, he wasn’t a very sociable guy. He just had a one-track mind. He just wanted to break Jack Nicklaus’ record.”
Barkley believes it’s possible that Woods has engrossed himself into golf too much, alienating the people around him and developing a “negative attitude” in the process.
“Golf is just a game. Your life don’t suck,” Barkley said. “But I think when you put yourself in that situation where your whole life revolves around how you’re doing on a golf course, you’re gonna develop a negative attitude to a certain degree, instead of saying, ‘I’ve actually got it pretty good.’ ”
Barkley told ESPN New York’s Mike Lupica back in 2011 that he and Woods spoke “once a week for every 15 years,” but then the conversations suddenly stopped.
“I haven’t talked to him in two years and I’m wondering what the hell is going on,” Barkley said.
Apparently they haven’t made amends since that time.
Photo via Twitter/@ThatNBAPick
