Tiger’s triumph injects joy back into the golf world
It was one of the most astonishing celebrations in the history of sports. As Tiger Woods began his victorious walk up the 18th fairway at East Lake, a massive human stampede practically devoured the most dynamic player in golf history.
You can’t blame Woods’ adoring public for eating him up now more than ever. After all, he just pulled a Lazarus, bringing his game back from the dead.
Suddenly, with his milestone 80th career PGA Tour victory, Tiger’s career trajectory is in a far different place. If he stays healthy, tying or breaking Sam Snead’s record of 82 wins is very much in play, maybe as soon as The Players Championship in March.
It’s too early to know if chasing down Jack Nicklaus’ 18 majors is realistic, but it looks far more doable now than it did last December when Woods’ future was murky and his World Golf Ranking plummeted to No. 1,199.
Only 17 months ago, there was a real possibility he might never compete again after coming off a fourth back surgery. Woods talked of maybe healing well enough to play with his kids, never about making another run to the top of the golf world.
But there was the self-proclaimed “walking miracle” Sunday, raising his arms in triumph and basking in the glow of his first victory in five-plus years at the Tour Championship. Everyone who appreciates golf excellence could feel the energy from this comeback for the ages.
There’s been nothing like it in golf since Ben Hogan recovered from a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus and two months of hospitalization in 1949 to win six more majors, including the 1950 US Open.
Given where Tiger was after having his lower spine fused in April, 2017 – followed by his DUI arrest a month later that revealed he had painkillers in his system – he showed a massive appreciation for navigating an emotional, gut-wrenching journey back to golf relevance.
“Probably the low point was not knowing if I’d ever be able to live pain-free again,” Woods said in his postmatch news conference.”
When asked how it felt to be back in the winner’s circle and moving a big step closer to Snead’s record, he added: “80 is a big number. I’ve been sitting on 79 for about five years and to get 80 is a pretty damned good feeling.”
Obviously, the gallery following him up to the 18th green felt the same way. It’s not often you see golf spectators act like they’re participants in the “Running of the Bulls,” but the frenzied rush to get near Tiger on the final hole was reminiscent of that Spanish spectacle.
This is all very good for golf. Interest soars when Tiger is on any leaderboard, as evidenced by the 5.21 television ratings for the Tour Championship, a 206 percent increase from last year.
By no means was this some kind of lightning bolt out of the blue. Since missing the cut at the US Open, he had four top-six finishes coming into the last leg of the FedEx Championship. Woods held the lead briefly on the back nine of the British Open, then finished second to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship.
With 14 scores of 68 or better in his last 28 rounds entering the Tour Championship, you could see Tiger’s confidence growing. Everything was trending toward this historic moment. Between driving more accurately off the tee, plus finding a putter that improved his feel on the greens, it was no surprise Woods delivered a performance that ended a 1,876-day streak since his last win.
Woods is not in early 2000s form, but his days as a declawed Tiger appear over for the foreseeable future. He’s moved up to 13th in the world, maybe even getting back a little of that intimidation factor when he held the No. 1 ranking for separate stints of 264 and 281 consecutive weeks.
There’s no telling what the 42-year-old Woods might deliver in his golfing twilight or at this week’s Ryder Cup in France. What matters is that there’s an unbridled joy in the golf world we haven’t seen in a long time.
Tiger is back. Everybody who loves golf wins.
(Florida Times-Union/TNS)