SHOT IN THE DARK
Fans may be tired of Woods, but comeback is about more than them
NASSAU, Bahamas — Why do we still care about Tiger Woods? As Woods has made his eighth career comeback from injury this week playing the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club — where he shot a disappointing 75 on Saturday to fall from contention — this is a question that’s been often raised with heated passion in reader responses I continue to get through my New York Post email.
The sentiments range from those who are tantalized by the possibility of seeing Woods do the otherworldly things he used to do when he dominated in the early 2000s, to Woods haters, who wouldn’t have a nice thing to say about him even if he found a cure for cancer.
There really is no in between when it comes to opinions on Woods. He’s loved or loathed.
Whatever your opinion is, one thing that cannot be argued is the fact that there’s no one in golf — and perhaps in all of sports — who moves the needle in his or her sport more dramatically than Woods does.
Case in point: If Woods was not in the Bahamas this week playing in this exclusive, low-key 18-player-field event, the sporting public would pay about as much attention to it as it might a Saturday afternoon TV re-run of “The Love Boat.”
I understand that Woods is about to turn 42, hasn’t won a tournament since 2013, hasn’t posted a top-10 finish since 2015 and hasn’t won a major championship in 10 years.
And surely the Woods detractors reveled in I-told-you-so mode seeing him struggle Saturday, falling from a tie for fifth to a tie for 10th entering Sunday’s final round, after posting con- secutive rounds in the 60s the first two days. But people care. Why does Woods care? For his two children, Sam and Charlie. They’ve never seen him do what he does best. They know his accomplishments on the golf course only through YouTube. And Woods burns to be able to show it to them without the wonders of the Internet.
Woods loves to tell the story of when he took his kids to see Lionel Messi play a match last year in Miami, being invited into the locker room so they could meet Messi and Woods asked them, “Isn’t it neat to meet a living legend?’’
“Yeah, we live with one,’’ Sam told her father. Her reply floored Woods. “I never thought my kids have understood what I’ve been able to do in the game of golf because they always think I’m the YouTube golfer,’’ he said. “They’ve never seen me in action. Charlie was there at Akron [Ohio] when I won last time [at the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational], but he doesn’t really remember it, he was too young.
“So most of the stuff they’ve watched has been on highlight packages. They’ve never seen what I can do on a golf course.’’
Nothing would be more special for Woods than having his kids witness him winning again.
“I want them to see what I’ve been able to do my entire career,’’ he said. “I’ve been fortunate enough to play tournament golf for 37 years, and I want them to experience some of that, have a better understanding of it.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing, but I want them to come to a few events. I want them to feel it. I want them to understand it a little bit more. Kind of what Jack [Nicklaus] did with his kids, you know? Having Jackie carry the bag at Augusta, how meaningful that is. My kids came last time to the Masters and they were in the par-3 contest, but that’s different. It would be neat to have one of them carry the bag in a tournament.’’
Why do Woods’ fellow competitors care about his comeback?
Because many of them grew up watching Woods, dreaming about competing against him, but haven’t had the opportunity because he’s been injured so often
Woods’ presence at tournaments, too, brings a buzz no other player can. It energizes the players and electrifies the tournaments, makes them more relevant to the outside world.
Justin Thomas said people want to see Woods again for “the same reason’’ they did “when Michael Jordan came back to play basketball.’’ Why do the fans care? I can understand the sentiments of those who might have Woods fatigue after all of these comebacks and because of the fact he’s spent so much time in the news for all the wrong reasons — the extramarital-affair scandal in 2009, the DUI last May.
But there is an undeniable fascination that follows Woods whenever he’s on the golf course. Fans who’ve witnessed the great things Woods has done in his career, yearn to see another day of it.