A year later, Tiger knows he can win
NASSAU, Bahamas – We’ve gathered again on this peaceful tropical paradise in the Atlantic Ocean to see what comes next.
For the third consecutive year at Albany Golf Club, the golf world awaits the next chapter of the irresistible storyline that is Tiger Woods. Unlike the previous two years, when few, including Woods himself, knew what the future held, let alone how much of a future in golf there would be for him, this time there’s a better grasp on the coming year.
With his health restored and his
back surgically repaired, Woods changed the narrative in 2018 and delivered a rewrite for the coming years. From the dark days of the great unknown, Woods has an unclouded vision of the future following a 2018 he called his most rewarding year in the game.
“Well, the expectations are much different this year, this upcoming year,” Woods said Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge. “Now I know I can do it. Now it’s just about managing and making sure I’m fresh for events because I know I can win tournaments again.
“There was a point where, you’ve all heard me say this, I just didn’t know if I would ever do this again.”
Spinal fusion surgery changed those fears. After playing just four times total in 2016 and 2017 — he finished 15th in the 2016 Hero — Woods had spinal fusion surgery in April 2017. He returned in last year’s Hero, where he unleashed shocking swing and ball speed en route to a tie for ninth.
While he’ll turn 43 next month, he is very much feeling like a kid again despite the four surgeries to his left knee and back. Save for the aches and pains, he’s pain-free, the pinched nerves in his back no longer causing distress. And that winning feeling certainly has returned.
In addition to finishing runner-up in the PGA Championship and Valspar Championship, placing fifth in the Arnold Palmer Invitational and sixth in the British Open, Woods capped his remarkable 2017-18 season with a victory in the season-ending Tour Championship. His stroll down the 18th fairway that day at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta was joined by thousands of spectators jovial to witness his 80th PGA Tour title and first since 2013.
It was the 18th tournament of the PGA Tour season for Woods, a far cry from the day in 2015 when he wondered, right here at the Hero, “Where is the light at the end of the tunnel?”
He again can see the top of the world rankings, a perch from which he ruled the game for 683 weeks, as he started his latest comeback ranked No. 1,199th and is now No. 13. With a win this week — which would be his sixth in the tournament he hosts — he’d climb to No. 6.
“I expect more of his greatness to come forth,” said world No. 5 Bryson DeChambeau, one of the six top-10 players and one of 11 of the top 15 players in the field. “He’ll win some more. A lot more.”
“He’ll get it going,” reigning Masters champion Patrick Reed said. “You don’t have to worry about Tiger.”
As he begins the second act of his latest comeback, Woods doesn’t have to worry anymore if he can hold his own against the best players in the world. He’ll be the captain of the U.S. team in next year’s Presidents Cup, but he is intent on being a playing captain. And his sights are set on winning his 15th major championship and first since 2008.
“You always hear me say it, it’s a process, but if you look at this entire year, it literally was a process,” Woods said. “You saw me have flashes, and then I would rework a few things here and there. Towards the end of the year I just became more and more consistent as a tournament player again.
“We’ll see what happens next year.”