Woods out to write new script in Tinseltown as a last act in stellar career
WHEN it comes to the perfect Hollywood ending to a movie about the life of Tiger Woods, nothing could compare with his stunning victory at the Masters last year. But how about this for an on-screen postscript before the acting credits roll: In 2020, at the age of 44, Tiger went on to win his hometown event, the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles, for the first time to break the all-time record of 82 PGA Tour wins set by Sam Snead in 1965. That would be quite something, wouldn’t it? Here in Tinseltown, therefore, there are some tantalising possibilities in play this week as Tiger plays the host trying to gatecrash his own party. On Sunset Boulevard, the fabulous Riviera clubhouse is full of magical photos from the golden era when stars such as Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn would leave the studios to hone their single-figure handicaps. There’s a statue of Ben Hogan, at the place where he established such a hold that it became the first of several venues known as Hogan’s Alley. For Woods, by contrast, it has been a blind alley. The great mystery he has yet to figure out — and the best event by some considerable distance he has not won. ‘When you think I’ve won a number of times at other venues in Southern California like Torrey Pines and Pebble Beach, it is hard to accept,’ he said. ‘I’ve been coming here since I was a kid. I’d watch the likes of Freddie (Couples) and Tom (Watson) and all the other greats of the time. I remember rushing to the eighth green to watch Watson, and his caddie Bruce Edwards pushed me out of the way because I was standing near the ball. ‘I remember telling Bruce what happened years later when I came out on tour and he just laughed and said I should have known better than to stand so close.’ As for that baffling record of just one near miss in 1999 — he finished tied second — in 12 previous attempts, Woods offered: ‘I think, for the most part, it has been because I have struggled on the greens. ‘I just haven’t had enough good putting days.’
Why might this year be different? Well, for a start, the weather is playing ball, with warm sunshine predicted for all four days. Then there is his recent form, winning his 82nd tour title in Korea in November, before captaining America to victory in the Presidents Cup in Melbourne. ‘I’ve been asked what it would mean to me a few times,’ said Woods. ‘I hope we’re having a great conversation on Sunday.’