TIGER ROARS BACK
...and he could even be a Masters contender!
SPECIALISTS in fusion back surgery the world over must be naming their own price after the startling evidence we witnessed last week of the wonders their work can produce.
Sure, it helps if the prize specimen is perhaps the greatest golfer who ever lived and simply has no conception of the word ‘quit’. But what Tiger Woods delivered at the Honda Classic in Florida was something verging on the truly miraculous.
Think back to the crumpled, broken figure who had to withdraw following the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic last February and contrast him to the man who led the field in proximity to the hole with his approach shots and finished second in driving distance.
Twelve months ago, I didn’t think we’d ever see Tiger walk 321 yards again on a golf course, much less pummel his average drive that far. At 42, his swing speed of 128mph is one that would be impressive in a man half his age. Now he’s turning doubters into believers and daring some of us to imagine: could this be leading to the most incredible Masters of all and him wearing a green jacket in April once more?
Yes, I know. Sounds ridiculous, right? Except, there’s this: if he plays like he did for four days at PGA National, there’s no question he will contend — and if he contends, who’s going to beat him down the stretch at the Masters?
At Augusta National, you don’t need to be particularly accurate off the tee, but it’s an enormous advantage if you’re one of the longer hitters. So, he ticks that box now he’s got his length back again. More than anything, it’s a second shot golf course, for you need to be precise with your iron shots to finish on the right plateau on each green. Last week, Woods took a huge stride forward in that department too, with his irons finishing closer on average than anyone else’s.
Thereafter, you need an immaculate short game and a beautiful mind — and we know he won’t be found wanting in those departments.
Naturally, there’s plenty of work still to do before you’d put him on the first page of favourites. We need more evidence than 72 holes and, at the end of the day, he did finish 12th. Even after rising over 800 spots in the world rankings, there are still 387 players above him, and you have to go back nearly five years for his last victory. And yet….there’s definitely something in the air. You could feel it in Jack Nicklaus’s wideeyed expression as he pronounced on Woods’s ‘amazing swing’.
You could sense it when Justin Thomas, the winner on Sunday, told a lovely anecdote. ‘Every time I’ve been in contention to win a tournament I’ve heard the sound of a text from Tiger on the night before the final round, wishing me luck,’ he said, smiling. ‘All I heard this time was the sound of crickets.’
The silent treatment is what happens when Tiger thinks he can win once more. ‘The last couple of days, it felt easy to play tournament golf again,’ he said. ‘I had control of my golf.’ For a golf fan, it’s hard to think of sweeter words to hear, words we never thought we’d hear again.
Woods will either play one or two more events in the five weeks that remain before Augusta. There is a possibility he will add the Valspar Championship in Tampa next week, while he will definitely compete in the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill — an event he has won on no fewer than eight occasions — the following week. ‘I didn’t know what would happen when I came back but I do know my expectations are now up,’ said Woods.
Doesn’t that also go for the rest of us? Call me a dreamer by all means, but are we on the cusp of the greatest comeback since Ben Hogan recovered from a near-fatal car accident, that happened 69 years ago this month, to win majors again?