Tiger Woods, one of golf’s most iconic figures, played four rounds of golf injury-free and that’s worth celebrating, writes GARY LEMKE in Compleat Golfer.
The month of December is generally one in which golf slips quietly off the radar; the Christmas holidays swing into view and professionals stick their bags in the garages and put up their feet.
But not when the topic is Tiger Woods. He taunts, tantalises and tugs on the heartstrings. It has been this way for
20 years, ever since he swung into the general public’s consciousness at the 1997 Masters.
And this Christmas we’ll be talking turkey about him.
When the 42-year-old (on 30 December) teed up for only the third time in 2017, at the Hero World Challenge, the annual event he hosts in the Bahamas, the eyes of the entire golfing planet – and undoubtedly those watching from that great fairway in the sky – were on the man universally known as ‘Tiger’.
What were the expectations, given he’d only played three tournament rounds in more than a year, and the last time we saw him in competition was at the Dubai Desert Classic 10 months earlier? Woods was consistent in saying that his goal for the week was to compete for four rounds and measure himself against his own inner stamina and health, and against the other 17 players on the scoreboard.
Well, how does 69, 68, 75, 68 sound?
Good enough to compete against 17 other notable professionals, finish on eight under, tied for ninth behind Rickie Fowler in a field of 18, eight shots ahead of world No 1 Dustin Johnson and nine and 11 shots ahead, respectively, of Major champions Henrik Stenson and Brooks Koepka.
‘I think he sharpened me up a little bit,’ Fowler said. ‘If his back holds up and he keeps swinging the way he does, there’s no doubt that he can go out and win.
‘Tiger’s still going to have that familiar effect when you see his name on the board coming down the last nine holes and being in the mix. You know he’s not scared. He’s done it, he’s been there before,’ added the young American, who had closed with a 61 of his own.
It had been more than 300 days since Woods’ manager, Mark Steinberg, announced, after his client’s first-round 77 in the Dubai desert: ‘Tiger Woods went into a spasm in his lower back fairly late last night, got treatment done early this morning for three and a half hours, but can’t get it out. He says it’s not the nerve, but back spasm, and he can’t get the spasms to calm down. He can move around, but he can’t make a full rotation in his swing.’
More surgery followed and word was that the pain and restrictive nature of his ailment meant he couldn’t get out
of bed and walk around.
Things were unravelling, fast, with his life and career in a downward spiral, again. Like it had been in 2009, when
he drove his car into a fire hydrant while being chased by his then wife, brandishing a golf club, after tales of infidelity began to emerge. Woods had beaten the odds then, and although he wasn’t able to add to his 14 Major titles, he won five tournaments in 2013 to win Player of the Year.
However, the Tiger 2017 version seemed to tell the story of a man who would be lucky to get on life’s straight and narrow, let alone that of the fairways. In July he was photographed in a dishevelled, unco-ordinated and confused state, arrested at 3am near his Florida home as he sat asleep at the wheel of his car.
Prescription drugs, not alcohol, were to blame for the distressing image, and Woods underwent rehab, regrouped
and miraculously – the word is not an exaggeration – arrived on the 1st tee at the Hero World Challenge at the beginning of December.
Expectation had been mounting. After all, Tiger sightings had been rare. ‘What happened to his hair?’ came the social media gasps – and jibes – when he appeared on Good Morning America in March to promote his new book, featuring the 20th anniversary of that first Masters triumph.
Shock, horror, a 41-year-old male was going bald. But a sighting of Tiger has that sort of reaction.
Then came his arrest in May, when five different drugs were found in his system. Another stick with which to beat him, for many.
Mere mortals would have thrown in the towel, gone back to count their billions at their palatial Jupiter Island property and grown old, away from the glare of the public eye. After all, having served 683 weeks at No 1 in the world and amassed a fortune from 79 PGA Tour wins, including 14 Majors, he hadn’t exactly had a failed career.
Yet Tiger wasn’t done and soon social media shots of him with a remodelled swing were going viral. Then, as excitement grew surrounding a possible return at the Hero World Challenge, he played in a fourball with current No 1 Johnson, US president Donald Trump and former pro Brad Faxon.
According to Faxon, Tiger was outdriving Johnson, one of the longest hitters of any era, from the back tees. The excitement built. On arrival in the Bahamas he was ranked 1 199 in the world, in a limited
field of 18 and with no cut line.
But he hadn’t won in more than four years, and this was only his 20th start since the first of four back surgeries in 2014. He had played only seven rounds since August 2015.
What followed was four days of microscopic attention. It is said that when Manny Pacquiao climbed into a boxing
ring, crime in the Philippines came to a standstill. The same was said of Usain Bolt and Jamaica. Perhaps it was true for Tiger in the Bahamas, given the attention he received.
When Tiger made a long par putt on only the fourth hole of his comeback, pro golfer Paige Spiranac tweeted: ‘Tiger just fist pumped and I got chills.’
He ended up shooting a three-under 69, the same as PGA Tour Player of the Year Justin Thomas – and was even outdriving the world No 3 at times. That was four shots better than his opening 73 at the same event a year previously.
The CBS Sports analysts probably summed up the thoughts of golf watchers everywhere: ‘If Tiger can play these last few holes in three under, I think he can get in the hunt; he’s going to get so many World Ranking points and could play the WGCs in 2018. Jim Furyk should pick him for the Ryder Cup in Paris. And when is The Masters?’
Tigermania was back.
Immediately, Irish betting firm Paddy Power was revisiting its 2018 Masters odds. After one round of competitive golf, it shortened Woods to 33-1, better odds than Koepka and Phil Mickelson (both 35-1) and with European Tour Race to Dubai winner Tommy Fleetwood at 100-1.
The second round saw Tiger briefly take the lead at the 8th hole as Twitter went into meltdown. As his name was moved to the top of the on-course scoreboard, the crowd – admittedly not big at the Albany Golf Club, but a microcosm of golfing fans everywhere – started cheering.
By the time he finished his round, a 68, he was five shots behind the leader, Charley Hoffman, who had posted a 64.
Hoffman spoke to five reporters about his round, while a dozen others were 30 feet away surrounding Joe LaCava, Woods’ caddie.
‘Successful,’ Woods said, when asked to describe his round in one word. Hoffman chipped in: ‘I said at the beginning of the week, I hope he wins. It’s great for the game of golf. Hopefully, I can stop him from winning this week. But any time he’s in contention, or even playing the golf tournaments, it brings a buzz to golf that we all need.’
Reality struck in the third round as Woods dropped four shots in seven holes before regrouping late to sign for a 75, which left him 10 shots behind Hoffman and put to bed all the excitement about a fairytale victory.
‘I forget what the betting line was for me to even make it four days,’ Woods said to reporters at the end of 54 holes. ‘That kind of question … times have changed a little bit.
‘I really didn’t feel like I was that far off, that’s the crazy part. It feels good to be out here fighting again. I’ve missed the fight. And getting out there competing and fighting against the golf course and the rest of the guys, it’s so much fun. I’ve missed doing this.’
Also impressed was former world No 1 Jordan Spieth, another of those at the forefront of the game that is seeing twentysomethings from everywhere announcing themselves high in the rankings. ‘You’ve got to be anxious – it doesn’t matter who it is, or how well he’s been in the past at handling pressure,’ Spieth said. ‘It’s still a new experience for him to have that little golf. And to come out and play competitive golf and work his way into contention, that’s what’s really exceptional.’
Wearing his familiar Sunday final-round black and red, Woods quickly shook off the lows of the Saturday where he struggled off the tee and his short game let him down.
Off to a fast start, he made birdies at the 3rd and 5th holes before driving the green at the 350-yard par-four 7th. There, he sank the putt for eagle and then birdied the par-five 9th to reach the turn in 31.
More excitement built. Tiger was on the move up the leaderboard. Just like in the good old days.
A double-bogey at 10 quickly stopped that momentum and the dream died.
Just like it had after two rounds when the hype went into overdrive and people started talking of him winning on his comeback. That ensuing 75 had put paid to such a romantic notion.
But Tiger was driving well again and made birdie at the 11th, and again at 14 and 15, taking him to six under for the round. Route 66 headlines were being written.
He ended with a whimper, not a roar, with back-to-back bogeys at 17 and 18, and when the sun began to set, we started to see it for what it was: mission accomplished. No pain but plenty of gain.
‘I’m excited,’ Woods said. ‘I had the adrenaline going and overall I’m very pleased. I knew I was going to be able to play all four rounds; that wasn’t going to be an issue. The issue was how my scoring was going to be, how was my feel, how am I going to get used to the adrenaline in my system for the first time in a while.
‘That took a little bit of time. I was still good with my irons, I drove it pretty good all week, made some good putts. I showed some good signs, I hit some really good shots out there and it’s a bright future.’
The obvious question was, when can we see him again?
‘We’re going to sit down, we’ll figure it out; where I’m going to start, how much I’m going to play, rest periods, training cycles, the whole nine yards. My expectations are we’ll be playing in 2018. How many, where, I don’t know yet, but we’ll figure it out.’
And we’ll be watching, again. His finish in the Bahamas moved him 500 places up the World Ranking to No 668. He ended 2016 at 652, but somehow you get the impression 2018 is going to be a better year for him than 2017 was.
MAJOR WINS BY YEAR
1997 – 1
1999 – 1
2000 – 3
2001 – 1
2002 – 2
2005 – 2
2006 – 2
2007 – 1
2008 – 1
– This article first appeared in the January issue of Compleat Golfer
