WE KNEW WHAT he was — more gifted at this silly game than anybody before or since and as competitive as anyone who’s ever swung the sticks — but we never knew much about who he was.
Not until his turn from hero to heel as his personal, self-inflicted foibles were exposed, coupled with the many surgeries and the obvious and lingering self-doubt, did we ever really get to see more of Tiger Woods.
Trudging around Chambers Bay and watching as Woods went through the motions in shooting rounds of 80 and 76 to miss the cut at the 2015 U.S. Open and fall out of the top 200 rankings worldwide, it was easy to doubt Sunday’s Masters victory was even conceivable.
He wasn’t electric. He was Eldrick.
The realization that Tiger’s pursuit of Jack Nicklaus’ 18-major record, once believed to be inevitable, bordered on the impossible, was difficult to digest.
Woods’ first major victory at Augusta in 1997 — winning that tournament by that much as the first man of color to put on a green jacket — meant so much to so many and motivated myself and countless others to pursue golf as a lifelong passion.
I’ve written this golf column for the better part of a decade — since August of 2009. I’ve never been able to write Tiger Woods is the reigning Masters, U.S. Open, British or PGA champion on any of those Wednesdays.
History made
His triumph Sunday brought tears in a torrent, not a trickle. We witnessed history. We saw possibly the greatest sporting redemption ever occur a week before much of the world celebrates a most miraculous physical resurrection.
Ability itself is inspirational. And Woods possesses the greatest athletic skill set of my lifetime — nobody dominated a major sport like he has. He’s now won 81 tournaments overall — more than a year and a half of winning weeks.
That he added another big one, likely the biggest yet, against such a talented field while coming-from-behind on the final day — the first time he’d done so in 15 major victories — was even more impressive.
Strength of competition, or the lack thereof, is the biggest knock that can really be made against Tiger the golfer. He revolutionized the game during an era when there wasn’t much of a race for the crown — besides a very brief dalliance by David Duval and a much longer run by Phil Mickleson.
But now he’s beaten multiple major winners like Brooks Koepka and Dustin Johnson who tied for second, Jason Day and Webb Simpson who tied for fifth and the rest of a talented field that included Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose.
He’s also won majors at Bethpage and Pebble Beach, the sites of the next two majors.
With the PGA Championship moving to May 16-19, the Tiger hype will be unbelievable and Bethpage, known for its boisterous rooting section will be a madhouse if he makes the final-round turn in or near the lead.
Former ESPN golf reporter Jason Sobel made a great point in the wake of Woods’ win. “Over the past 10 years, whenever people would ask why we continued to cover Tiger Woods, my answer was that his story wasn’t complete,” Sobel said. “There were more chapters left. We didn’t know how it would end — and we still don’t — but we can’t abandon a captivating tale before it’s over.”
