TIGER DOESN’T SCARE US
(Are you sure about that!)
EUROPE’S Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn says there is no fear about facing a resurgent Tiger Woods this weekend after his epic Tour Championship win.
He conceded that Woods’ first tournament triumph in five years has added spice to the clash but insisted: ‘We don’t fear anyone because we’ve played against them so many times before. But we respect our opponents and know what we are up against.
‘These are 24 of the best players in the world and they are all capable of amazing things. It is one of the strongest American teams of all time and we know we’ve got to play our best. It’s not one individual, it’s the whole team that we are up against.
‘Any time Tiger does anything great, that’s a story and that’s where we want to see him. He does so much for the game. For everyone in golf, it’s brilliant.’
US captain Jim Furyk called Woods’ victory a ‘nice buzz for our team’, adding: ‘It brings that much more excitement. He won yesterday as an individual but he’s flipped that page pretty quickly and is really excited to join his team-mates.’
Whether it be the 42nd ryder Cup starting in Paris on Friday or the Masters beginning at Augusta in 199 days’ time, it is impossible not to look at tiger Woods’ stupendous return to the winners’ circle and wonder what the miracle man will conjure up next.
A story that began as a golfing curio in January when he took baby steps back into the big arena now has not only the sporting world in its grip but people who never read the back pages of newspapers from one month to the next.
If you hadn’t cancelled all plans this long weekend, the temptation to do so now must surely be irresistible. And he’s playing for the opposition! the european galleries are known for their sportsmanship but this might be the first ryder Cup where a man wearing stars and stripes gets almost as much applause as someone wearing blue and gold.
Jack Nicklaus was so overcome with excitement on Sunday he could not help but look beyond Versailles to the majors. the great man now believes it is possible Woods will win another five before he is done and overtake Nicklaus’s own total of 18.
‘Maybe tiger’s got another 40 majors to play. Out of 40, can he win five of them?’ said Nicklaus, leaving not much doubt what he thinks. ‘ he’s playing well enough.’
As unrealistic as another five majors sounds, is it really any more outlandish than the idea that someone could have four back surgeries and come back as good as new at the age of 42?
More far-fetched than a man making mincemeat of rory McIlroy 16 months after being found by the side of a Florida highway, drugged out of his eyeballs as he sought relief from the crippling, constant pain?
‘I’m very proud of him,’ said Nicklaus, and no wonder. Woods hasn’t just taken the second chance offered to him in life, he has seized it with all his might; he has taken the opportunity to redefine how we look at him not just as a golfer but as a person.
Where once he walked past his fans without a second glance, now he is smiling and acknowledging their support. After every round he signs plenty of autographs, something that would not have even occurred to him when he had his head down and didn’t give a second’s thought to smelling the roses.
Sure, there will be people who cannot get past the philandering, sullen beast of old, and that is understandable. But the rest of us are enjoying this wondrous re- enactment of the Scrooge fable in a golf context.
to witness the cacophonous stampede as he came down the 18th hole at east Lake was to be taken back to his early days, when he took golf to a place it had never been. Who could have dreamed he would take us there again?
Fuelling Woods’ desire to improve his image and his return to the top are the fact his kids, 11-year- old Sam and nine-yearold Charlie, have reached the impressionable age.
‘they understand a little bit of what dad does now,’ said tiger. ‘I hadn’t won any tournaments they could remember, so this is a bit different for them.
‘the Open this year was great, where I had a chance, I had the lead, and they felt that atmosphere. they know what their dad can do on a golf course now.
‘At lot of times they equated golf to pain, because even when I played I came home hurt,’ added Woods. ‘Now they’re seeing a little bit of the joy. they’re seeing how much fun it is for their dad to be able to do this again.’
In fact, they are seeing how much fun it is for all of us that he is able to do this again.
the final frontier in his recovery, of course, is to win majors once more. One thing in his favour is the aura is back. even someone as experienced with crowds as McIlroy could not cope on Sunday, losing his swing completely in the midst of the fanaticism that accompanied Woods extending his lead over the front nine.
even Justin rose, who gutsily birdied the last to win the $10million Fedex Cup bonus, couldn’t lay a glove on Woods in the final round.
Looking at the major venues next year, there must be every chance. In April it is Augusta National, where Woods has won four times and finished in the top five on seven other occasions. the US PGA, which moves to May next year, will be held at Bethpage Black on Long Island, New York, where tiger won the US Open by two strokes in 2002.
the US Open is at Pebble Beach the following month, where he achieved the greatest of all his victories, a 15-stroke triumph in 2000. You get the picture? the Open will be at royal Portrush, where he has never played but which he is just going to love.
If he has not moved the needle for the first time since 2008 after that enticing quartet, he isn’t catching Nicklaus.
So much to look forward to next year, then. After so long when the Woods story was all about looking back with regret, the future gleams with possibility.
It begins this week at Le Golf National. the man who used to sit almost resentful at ryder Cup press conferences is now the man of the hour. the golfer who used to look upon the biennial dust-up as something of an inconvenience has the chance to be the hero who makes all the difference.
Wouldn’t that be symbolic of the caring, sharing, rebooted version of the peerless tiger Woods?