Tiger Woods-Dan Jenkins feud a win-win for Golf Digest, Derek Jeter

Tiger Woods and Dan Jenkins, you may have heard, came to virtual blows Tuesday after the former blasted the latter for torching him in a rather humorless, and initially unnoticed, parody in Golf Digest. Jenkins, in turn, offered to school Tiger in Satire 101.

With the reputations of both superstars (Jenkins, a Hall of Fame writer; Woods, destined to join his nemesis in the St. Augustine pantheon of greatness) tarnished from the made-for-the-Internet imbroglio, the only real winners from Tuesday’s dust-up were Golf Digest and Derek Jeter’s fledgling website that purports to “present the unfiltered voices of professional athletes.”

Opinions voiced on Twitter were decidedly mixed as to whether shots from Jenkins — who gave satirical voice to his reported frustrations over Woods’ refusals over the years to grant him exclusive interviews — about Tiger’s 2010 sex scandal and reputation as a lousy tipper who’s dismissive of employees and friends hit the green or landed in the rough.

Woods took issue — online and in a letter from his people to the magazine — with what he considered “below the belt” cheap shots, and media reaction to both parties ran the gamut. The Telegraph’s James Corrigan wrote that Woods’ reaction to the spoof was “pathetic and the self-pitying cries of an arrogant, ignorant billionaire.” Bomani Jones, of ESPN (and, full disclosure, formerly of SBNation), offered a different view and support for Tiger in a series of tweets and retweets.

GD stands to gain the most from such wickedly wonderful -- and free -- PR.

Not that long after the publication turned negative commentary about its May cover girl, noted golf enthusiast and Dustin Johnson fiancee, Paulina Gretzky, into a ratings bonanza, editors must be doing cartwheels over the latest flap. Indeed, Jenkins’ story for the December issue, which sports the Tiger-rebuffed Johnny Football on the front, made it to the GolfDigest.com website only after Tiger urged The Players’ Tribune readers not to check it out (#urwelcome, Woods might have typed if he were Bubba Watson).

Jeter’s site, which the newly retired Yankee established as “a place where athletes can offer their side on something that has been written or said about them,” emerged as the other victor in this skirmish.

The outlet has already attracted favorable attention with columns like Blake Griffin’s take on former Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racism and Danica Patrick discussing her complicated relationship with fellow NASCAR driver and boyfriend, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Woods opting to deliver his message via the new platform rather than from his own website was certainly interesting and can only boost viewership for the self-styled “Voice of the Game.”

As for Woods and Jenkins, the former may want to learn how to take a joke, and the latter how to deliver one.