Tiger’s nine lives are spent
Main comeback now has nothing to do with golf
The Big Cat has used up all nine lives. Yet there remains among some a sliver of a hope of a dream of a longshot that Tiger Woods is going to rebuild his body and rehab his golf game one more time and bag a sixth green jacket in the 2024 Masters at Augusta National.
No one does comebacks like Tiger, right?
This Tiger cashed in Life No. 9 Tuesday morning. He was driving a Genesis GV80 and lost control after it struck a median in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. The SUV rolled over several times and traveled nearly 500 feet avoiding trees before stopping on a hillside next to the road.
There are a few reasons why Woods wasn’t killed in the crash — or didn’t kill someone else. He was wearing his seat belt — automotive safety engineering is a true modern marvel and divine providence was being merciful.
When the first images of Woods’ mangled vehicle flashed across social media and television, it was hard not to immediately recall Kobe Bryant, who died with his daughter and seven others in a helicopter crash a year ago some 50 miles to the northwest of Tuesday’s crash.
Both Tiger and Kobe are single-name athletes synonymous with their sport of choice.
Tiger has meant golf for nearly 25 years — going back to his trouncing record-breaking performance in the 1997 Masters. Not only is “Tiger” synonymous with golf, but Woods is synonymous with “Tiger.” The only other Tiger on the planet who might come close is Tony of cereal fame.
The challenge for Woods is not one of both physical rehabilitation and choice. Woods turns 46 on Dec. 30. How many hours over how many days across how many weeks and months does he want to spend to return his body not just to “normal” but rather to the elite level it takes to compete against the world’s best golfers 20 years his junior?
We’ve now seen Woods play for keeps alongside his 12-year-old son. And Charlie Woods is scary good. Does Tiger want to log an extra 5,000 hours in the gym and/ or in rehab to increase his game the 0.1% it takes to beat the PGA Tour’s best and brightest? Or would he rather be spending that valuable and fleeting time with his kids — when they’re available?
This horrible crash has given Woods the perfect opportunity to walk away from competitive golf — ghastly pun not intended.
Woods has nothing left to prove. There is no shame in not tying or breaking Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 majors — Tiger has 15. Woods has won 82 PGA Tour events, tying him with Sam Snead for the most ever. He’s amassed $120 million in PGA Tour career earnings, nearly $30 million more than Phil Mickelson, who’s in second place. As usual.
Tiger’s 2019 Masters triumph was his storybook swan song. Woods had gone more than 10 years without winning a major before that Red Sunday. Woods clinched his conquest by avoiding the water on No. 12 in the final round while
those in closest pursuit splashed down like they were Apollo astronauts. Tiger preceded that fifth green jacket by winning the Tour Championship in front of a delirious throng at East Lake in Atlanta six months earlier, his first PGA Tour trophy since 2013.
At his best — whether it was at Augusta in 1997, Pebble Beach in 2000, St. Andrews a month later in 2000, Torrey Pines in 2008 or back at Augusta in 2019 — there was no one better than Tiger. Ever. Others could match his game off the tee and on the fairway. But Tiger never choked. He improved under pressure. He mastered the mental game like no one else this side of Tom Brady.
Woods is sadly familiar with grueling physical rehab. His first golf-related injury came at age 20 in 1994. He weathered knee injuries in 2002, 2004 and 2008 — two of which resulted in surgery. An MCL sprain in his left knee during the 2011 Players Championship knocked him out for two months. Knee, elbow and back ailments dogged
him in 2012 and 2013. Woods underwent back surgery four times between 2014 and 2017. He competed in only one PGA Tour event between August 2015 and January 2018.
In January, Woods had a bone fragment removed from his back that was aggravating a nerve.
Nor was his wreck near Los Angeles the first time Woods bested fate behind the wheel. In 2009, he mowed down a fire hydrant outside his Florida home in the wee hours of Black Friday. That followed an argument with his then-wife over marital infidelities. On Memorial Day in 2017, Woods was arrested on DUI charges after police in Jupiter, Fla., found him asleep behind the wheel of his Mercedes-Benz in the middle of the road. Woods would complete a pre-trial diversion in that case. No charges have been filed related to his accident Tuesday.
Perhaps more than any other superstar athlete of the late 20th and early 21st century, Woods’ personal failings have been laid bare
for the entire world to examine and exploit. Each year or two it seems there is a new documentary or book about his upbringing or Earl Woods’ punitive tactics and womanizing. Tiger Woods’ sexual dalliances and failed marriage were late-night punchlines and front-page tabloid fodder for months. Woods has struggled against the insidious threat posed by prescription painkillers. Rumors persist about blood doping and other nefarious performance-enhancing drugs that he may have used over the years.
About the only nasty accusation Woods hasn’t faced is that he leaves up the toilet seat.
Woods was said to be in “good spirits” on Friday after follow-up procedures on his injured leg at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Take all the time you need, Tiger.
Meanwhile, we’ll leave the weekend of April 11-14, 2024 open just in case.