Tiger Woods is not about stats. To reduce him to numbers means not understanding one of the greatest athletes of all time. Yet, without stats it is hard to explain the enormity of what he has achieved.

1,876 days since his last win; four back surgeries; a rise from being ranked 656 in the world to 13 in 10 months; an 80career PGA Tour title. And, now, there is this dream of 18 Majors.

Yet, these figures are nothing if one does not see beyond them — the pain of an infallible athlete being reduced to a mere mortal with a sex-addiction and a $130-million divorce; or a pitiable police mug shot after a DUI (driving under influence) arrest. This was the ‘God’ of golf, who we discovered had feet of clay and we were not willing to forgive.

The comeback

Yet, he worked his way back not just on the fairway but into our hearts — with his smile, his “never-say-quit” attitude and, behind-the-locked-doors hardwork, and a talent that the whole world knew he had, but was uncertain if he was still in control of it.

On Sunday at East Lake on the 72 hole of the Tour Championships, the ultimate event for the Top-30 players of the world this year, Tiger tapped in what was possibly the most-watched six-inch par putt in the history of the game. And, then, as Tiger held back his tears, his fans held back none.

Yet, this comeback really is not about Tiger Woods. It is more about us; more about what we wanted to believe or maybe even what we chose to believe. At various points over the last few years and during multiple failed comebacks, he said he was not even sure whether he would be able to play at all, let alone win.

“I was thinking, this is how the rest of my life is going to be?” he said. “Then it’s going to be a tough rest of my life. I was beyond playing. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t lay down without feeling the pain in my back and leg.”

He even joked that he would sometimes wonder if he could put his golf clubs to any use other than having them as his walking-stick. More recently, we had stories of him telling a past champion at the last Masters dinner in 2017, “I’m done. I won’t play golf again.”

All of us, including maybe Tiger, thought, that was that. Maybe, the curtain had indeed come down on a great career.

‘Walking miracle ’

Yet, at this Masters, the 2018 edition, after a series of finishes that included T-12 at Honda, second at Valspar and T-5 at Palmer Invitational, Tiger was being talked off as a ‘factor’, and as a contender.

“It’s been a tough road,” Woods said that week at Augusta. “The amount of times I’ve fallen because my leg didn’t work or I just had to lay on the ground in pain for extended periods of time. Those are some really dark, dark times. I’m a walking miracle …”

Indeed, he finished T-32. But even more surprising, this was a new Tiger. Smiling and happy with his baby steps. Bonding with the players, he said he was just “happy to be playing”. That’s what he told and we believed it.

But deep inside, he probably believed that he it in him to win; maybe many wins, and maybe majors, too. He didn’t tell us and we didn’t ask beyond a point. We were happy to have him around.

As the year rolled on, that graph continued to inch towards a win — sometimes in a Tour event and sometimes — well twice — at a Major. Yet, he kept telling us he was grateful to be “just playing”. We believed him.

But those of us who had seen him in his prime, his red shirt striding the 18 Green on Sunday, will some time wonder whether a man, for whom only a ‘W’ mattered could actually be happy with “just playing golf.” Still we chose to believe him.

Then three Top-10s in four starts — two of them being The Open and the PGA — ignited the possibility that maybe deep down Tiger “actually believed” but chose not to articulate that he did think he could win at the highest levels.

Clear picture

He, however, did say he wanted to make the Ryder Cup team and the Tour Championships.

First, he made the Ryder Cup team as a player — he was a Vice-Captain last time around — albeit as a Captain Jim Furyk’s Pick. Yet within a couple of weeks he showed he was ‘worthy’ of a place as he moved up the FedExCup play-offs from Northern Trust to Dell to BMW and finally to the Tour Championship.

That was two boxes ticked — Ryder Cup and Tour Championship spot.

Midway through the Tour Championships, he had the opposition by the scruff — he was leading the best players in the world by three shots after 54 holes. Finally, he held back tears as a ‘tsunami’ of fans — like never seen before, not even in his heyday — surged towards the 18 green at East Lake. He was two clear and his birdie putt stopped inches short of the Cup. He tapped it in for a win. Suddenly, the clouds were gone — there was this clear picture we had kept imagining all this while — of a golfer in a red-shirt holding his hands aloft on an 18 green. Tiger Woods was back.

Golf had been recaptured. Golf was back to being golf. Tiger Woods had come home.

 

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW