TIGER’S TURNAROUND
After PGA, Woods major threat to win titles again
ST. LOUIS — The Masters can’t come fast enough.
In his return to the game after a two-year absence, a battle with prescription drug medication and spinal fusion surgery, Tiger Woods steadily built up his body, swing and will to again contend against the best players in the world. And it didn’t take long to find him in contention Sunday on three occasions this year.
But since he began his assault on Jack Nicklaus’ record 18 major championship triumphs with his record-breaking tour de force in the 1997 Masters, Woods has been judged by his results in the game’s four biggest tournaments.
After his magical turn at Bellerive Country Club in the 100th edition of the PGA Championship, even Tiger haters need to give him props for his performance in the majors in 2018.
Not for the first two majors — the flat outcome in the Masters, where he tied for 32nd and had no control of his wedge game, or the missed cut in the U.S. Open, where he started out with a triple-bogey and
never recovered.
No, we’re talking about the last two majors. With a tie for sixth in the British Open, where he took the outright lead with eight holes to play, and a runnerup finish to Brooks Koepka in the PGA Championship, the 14-time major winner proved to the golf world and his peers that he will be a force in majors again, that his pursuit of major No. 15 and beyond is not a pipe dream.
He’ll be 43 when the best players in the world arrive at Augusta National in April, but the old Tiger is feeling young. He now expects to win after wondering if he’d ever play again on this level or play again period.
On Sunday at Bellerive, Woods closed with a 64 — his lowest final round in a major — and his 266 total was the lowest of the 80 majors he has played. He came within one stroke of the lead on three occasions in the final round, the sixth time this year he was in Sunday contention.
When his comeback started in the Bahamas at the Hero World Challenge in December, Tiger was ranked 1,199th. Now he is No. 26 and will likely be on the Ryder Cup team and will be in the mix to become the only player to win the FedExCup three times. He’s the only one to win the series twice.
“This has been a process on building,” Woods said. “I didn’t know when I was going to start this year and how many tournaments I was going to play, how well I was going to play. I didn’t know what swing I was going to use either. I’m in uncharted territory. So I had to kind of figure this out on my own, and it’s been really hard. It’s a lot harder than people think. And I’m just very pleased at what I’ve done so far, and now to be part of the Ryder Cup conversation, going from where I’ve come from to now in the last year, it’s been pretty cool.”
Players including Justin Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Patrick Reed were confident Tiger could be Tiger again when they played rounds with him in the early stages of his latest comeback. They saw it coming.
Sixteen months ago, Woods could barely walk. Now he’ll stride down the fairways next year as one of the favorites in every major. Especially at the Masters, where he has won four green jackets. And at the PGA at Bethpage Black, where he won the 2002 U.S. Open. And at the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he won the 2000 U.S. Open by 15 shots.
This year in the majors, heck, this whole year, has been remarkable. Next year could be magical.