Tiger Woods interview caused CBS reporter to ‘lose sleep,’ and her legs shook ‘uncontrollably
CBS sports television reporter Amanda Balionis says an interview with Tiger Woods would have a physical effect on her leading up to and during the interviews.
The 39-year-old reporter told Links Magazine she would lose sleep before interviewing Woods when asked who she was most nervous to interview, adding that, during her interviews, her legs constantly shook.
“I’m very thankful the camera angle was from the waist up. My legs were shaking uncontrollably from nervousness. I lost a lot of sleep before that interview,” Balionis said.
Balionis’ first interview with Woods came right after she started at PGATour.com as an on-air host in 2011. It was just her second interview for the website. She moved to CBS in 2017.
In 2011, Woods was in the midst of a comeback at age 35 after a two-year break from golf. Woods took a self-imposed hiatus from professional golf from December 2009 to early April 2010 in an attempt to resolve marital issues with his wife at the time, Elin. Woods admitted to multiple marital infidelities, and the couple eventually divorced.
His performance suffered that year, and he injured a leg at the Masters. He fell to No. 58 in the world rankings in November 2011.
Still, he did have some good moments. That year, he won the Chevron World Challenge by one stroke, his first victory in more than two years, and defeated Aaron Baddeley 4 and 3 to score the winning point in the U.S. team’s 19-15 win at the Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne in Australia.
Woods has lost sleep himself recently. In the week following the assassination attempt on Donald Trump July 13, Woods told BBC Sport the news was putting him in a bad mindset and costing him sleep.
It was a long night [because of the assassination attempt], and that’s all we watched the entire time on the way over here,” Woods said of a trip to Royal Troon Golf Club in Scotland for The Open Championship. “I didn’t sleep at all on the flight, and then we just got on the golf course.”
Woods is a 15-time major winner, including three wins at the British Open, where his last win came in 2006. However, his recent performances over the last two years have raised concerns about his future in the sport
This year marks the first time since 2019 that Woods will have competed in all four majors. While he set a Masters record by making his 24th consecutive cut at Augusta National, he was then gone by the weekend at the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open.
