Many reasons to celebrate
Tiger Woods turned 44 Monday to cap big year
A mere five days after ruling over the hallowed grounds of Augusta National for the fifth time, a comeback for the ages by all measures, Tiger Woods pulled the ultimate boss move in celebration.
Donning the iconic, fabled green jacket over a long-sleeved Nike shirt and Oakland Raiders mesh shorts and topping his attire with a black hat featuring his driver headcover named Frank, Woods strutted to a table in The Woods Jupiter, his upscale restaurant in South Florida.
Over cocktails, appetizers and the main course, the newly minted 15-time major champion reminisced about his special, uplifting week in April, when he held off a slew of world-class talent including world No. 1 Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele, Francesco Molinari and Jason Day to win his first major championship since 2008 and his first Masters title since 2005.
With a final 2-foot putt, Woods glowed in the light at the end of the tunnel he feared he’d never see just two years prior, when he told the green-jacket fraternity at the Champions Dinner his playing career might be over. The win was an exclamation point on his decade-long climb out of the abyss that included public scandal, a shattered reputation, divorce, an addiction to prescription painkillers, and debilitating injury that led to four back surgeries.
On that night at The Woods, he thought back to the moments on that gray Sunday in Augusta that will sparkle in his mind forever – the calamity he watched on 12, the 8-iron to 2 feet on the 16th, the perfect drive on 17, the emotional embraces with his two children and mother just past the 18th green.
It was a hearty celebration, but more was in store. If Woods wanted to replicate his green jacket power move at The Woods on the 30th day of December in 2019 to ring in his 44th birthday, he could add to his ensemble the Presidents Cup and a memento from Japan, where he won his record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title in his last Tour start of the decade.
After blowing out the candles and overlooking a stretch of futility after his Masters triumph that included missed cuts in two majors and a fifth surgical procedure on his left knee that had caused so much pain he could hardly kneel to read putts, Woods could rejoice in remembering his becoming Tiger Woods again.
In October, in his first start since his latest knee operation, Woods overcame three bogeys to start the inaugural Zozo Championship to control the tournament and tie Sam Snead for most victories on the PGA Tour.
Then, in December, the captain of the USA was also the best player in the Presidents Cup as the Americans edged the Internationals. In going 3-0-0 at Royal Melbourne, Woods surpassed Phil Mickelson for the most wins in Presidents Cup history with 27.
There might not be enough Dom Perignon
to celebrate his remarkable 2019. Especially considering that while his future once looked bleak, Woods and Co. can salute his 44th by happily looking ahead to 2020.
His back willing, there will be more partying to come.
The No. 6-ranked player in the world has a lot to look forward to when he likely makes the first of about 14 to 18 starts in the Farmers Insurance Open Jan. 23.
There is his title defense in Augusta, where he can tie Jack Nicklaus for the most Masters titles.
Every start affords him the opportunity to become the all-time leader in wins on the PGA Tour.
He’s won at Harding Park in San Francisco, where the PGA Championship will be held.
The British Open Championship at Royal St. George’s suits him to a tee.
The Summer Olympics in Tokyo is a goal, for Woods knows it’s likely his last chance to make Team USA and win a gold medal. There is the Ryder Cup, the biennial bout against Europe that will be held the last week of September at Whistling Straits in Wisconsin. Another humiliating defeat in Paris in 2018 will drive Woods and his fellow Yanks to make the team and play for payback.
And then there’s Jack. Tracking the Golden Bear and his record 18 majors is back in the conversation for Woods. History and time are not on Woods’ side, however, as only eight players have won majors after turning 44 – Harry Vardon, Roberto De Vincenzo, Lee Trevino, Hale Irwin, Jerry Barber, Nicklaus, Old Tom Morris, and Julius Boros, who at 48 became the oldest winner of a major at the 1968 PGA.
Bagging the Golden Bear is a tall order indeed. But during his celebrations of the road to redemption that was his 2019, Woods can think back to all of the times he was written off, to the dark days three years ago when he could barely walk. Now bright days are on the horizon. It was surely a 44th to celebrate.