Tiger is back at just the right time
Just 10 months ago, Tiger Woods was on the verge of becoming a cautionary tale, basically the literal and non-acronym version of the goat.
He was found drugged up in his car on May 29 as he battled effects from his fourth back surgery, in addition to stalling during a sensational career and going without a major victory for a decade. He had been playing with pain, internally and externally.
Woods is still searching for his 15th major win, but over the past couple of months the 42-year-old has changed the narrative. The G.O.A.T is back.
Make no mistake, the 2018 Masters is all about Tiger.
He hasn’t won, mind you, since the back fusion surgery on April 19. But he has converted many skeptics into Tiger believers after strong finishes (tied for fifth at Arnold Palmer Invitational; T-2nd at Valspar Championship; 12th at Honda Classic) leading up to Augusta.
Woods certainly has one friend in his corner: Notah Begay, Albuquerque’s famed golfer who is now an analyst for the Golf Channel.
Will Tiger ever win another major and draw closer to his idol Jack Nicklaus, who is
at the top with 18?
“Absolutely,” Begay said. “This guy has done more extraordinary things in golf than anyone in our history. I don’t think the last great Tiger feat has been done yet.”
Winning a fifth green jacket would be one great Tiger feat.
I caught up with Begay after Woods finished even at PGA National, where Justin Thomas won the Honda Classic on Feb. 25. Begay lamented that Woods shot 5-over-par on hole No. 15 and finished eight shots out of first, a score shared by Thomas and Luke List.
“He just needs to clean stuff up,” Begay said then of his former Stanford teammate and friend, a label that can certainly still apply. “We talked about every round. I gave him some observations. He’s doing a great job. He’s rebuilding.”
Begay had said that Woods was playing loose off the tee. Over the past couple months it’s almost as if you can tell that Woods is playing painfree golf.
“Things are going real well for him,” Begay said. “I’m happy for him.”
Things weren’t going so well 10 months ago. Back then all the losses, all the wayward shots and all those frustrating injuries appeared to have gotten to Eldrick Woods.
Five drugs were found in his system back then. Those losses were painful and so were the injuries/surgeries/procedures. In addition to four back surgeries within three years, Woods also went through four surgeries to his left knee and dealt with a torn right Achilles, a left elbow sprain, a bulging disc and back spasms.
Woods is now on the comeback trail.
It would be an unreal, dramatic story if he were to win
the Masters for the first time since 2005.
WHO YOU GOT? Woods enters the Masters as the favorite to win at 9-to-1. He was 55-1 back in November. Picking him? Not me. I’m going with Thomas, who’s not far behind at 10-1.
REMINDER: Callia Ward, an 11-year-old from Albuquerque, won’t be on an Easter egg hunt today. She’s competing in the Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals at Augusta National.
Ward, who was featured in the Journal on March 24, is in the girls’ 10-11 division, which starts at approximately 7:45 a.m. It will be televised on the Golf Channel and streamed online at www.drivechipandputt.com/finals/live.
She advanced to the national finals after qualifying at her local regional in Albuquerque and winning the sub-regional in Aurora, Colo. and regional in Tulsa, Okla.
LAST YEAR: The Masters Tournament has produced some of the greatest moments in sports. This year is shaping up to be one for the ages.
The 2017 Masters was quite memorable, for Newport Beach, Calif., and for my former employer, the Daily Pilot, a community newspaper for the Los Angeles Times. Of course, it was more important to amateur Stewart Hagestad of Newport Beach. The USC business grad finished as the low amateur at last year’s Masters. What a thrill.