SPORT’S GREATEST EVER COMEBACK
If Tiger wins another major (and Faldo says he can) it will be . . .
ARE there any doubters still out there? Not Sir Nick Faldo. Not after what he witnessed during a tumultuous final round at the 100th US PGA Championship.
Three weeks ago, he told
Sportsmail he wasn’t sure whether Tiger Woods would win another major.
Now he’s become a Bellerive believer after watching the 14-time major winner follow up his Carnoustie heroics by running Brooks Koepka close with a thrilling finalround 64.
‘I thought that 20-foot birdie putt that he holed at the 18th told him all he needed to know,’ said Faldo. ‘ He now knows that he can win again.
‘There have been times this year when I didn’t think he had a hope in hell of winning another major but now you have to say that he does. You have to take your hat off and applaud his efforts. His determination to get back to the top is incredible.
‘I think what we’ve already witnessed represents the greatest comeback in golf and if he wins again it will be, for me, the greatest comeback in sport.’
It’s worth recalling that less than a year ago Tiger sat on a cart at the Presidents Cup and confessed he didn’t know whether he would ever play again, following his fusion back surgery. When he returned last December, the 42- year- old was ranked 1,199th in the world. Now he’s up to 26th, his highest position in almost four years.
The debate that began after his tied- sixth finish at The Open on whether he should get a Ryder Cup wildcard ended emphatically with his runner- up placing at the US PGA, where he broke a slew of personal and tournament records over the course of an unforgettable weekend.
Woods’s total of 266 was the lowest of even his stellar major championship career, while his last 36-hole score of 130 shots was a new tournament record. The 64 was also his lowest final round in a major.
When the automatic standings for the US team ended on Sunday he had risen to 11th, despite giving everyone else a year’s head start.
While captain Jim Furyk remained non-committal at a press conference yesterday on whether he would get a wildcard — he will name his picks at the beginning of next month — the fact is he would get laughed out of Paris if he didn’t offer Tiger an upgrade on his vice-captain’s role.
Perhaps the most extraordinary thing about Woods’s performance was that it came on a course that didn’t suit him. It was a venue that played into the hands of the huge hitters and the driver remains the weakest club in his bag.
Yet all the qualities that made him the most dominant player we have ever seen in his prime are gradually returning to view: the brilliant iron play, the deft touch around the greens, the peerless putting stroke and, most of all, that indefatigable will.
‘What he’s now got to do is harness what we’ve seen this summer for the next eight months to the Masters, and knowing Tiger I think he will,’ said Jack Nicklaus.
First up, he’s got the FedEx Cup play- offs that begin next week and then the Ryder Cup. If it wasn’t already the most eagerly anticipated Ryder Cup of all time, it is now.