For 923 days I had something in common with in Eldrick "Tiger" Woods, neither one of us had won an official PGA tour event. A lot has happened since September, 2009. Peyton Manning's neck was fine, and he had the same number of Super Bowl wins as his brother Eli. Albert Pujols was the pride of the St Louis Cardinals. Nobody knew what a damn vuvuzela was as South Africa prepared to host the World Cup of Soccer. The New Orleans Saints appeared to be an upstanding franchise with no hint of putting bounties on other player's heads. The Minnesota Twins still played inside a dome with trash bags for outfield walls. The San Francisco Giants hadn't won the World Series since 1954. Lebron James was keeping his talents in his hometown of Cleveland. The Lakers hadn't beaten the Celtics in the NBA finals again, adding another chapter to their storied rivalry. Tiger Woods was the most popular and successful athlete on the planet.
I am too young to have watched Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or any other of the old time greats play golf (in their prime). For many of us, including people that do remember Jack, Tiger Woods was the most dominant golfer we had ever seen. When you saw that red shirt on Sunday, you knew it was over. 15 foot putts drop like rain and we celebrated the ferocious fist pump. I would play a round of golf on the Tiger Woods video game and convince myself it was that easy. Somehow I had a built in confidence going to the driving range just by pretending to be this guy.
Then there was a car wreck, and just like that the free fall had begun. Never in the history of sports has someone fallen from grace like this.The pedestal had been removed and our hero came crashing down. Where there was once dominance, there was now humiliation. The jokes were flying. It might even had been good marketing for the Waffle House. Women hated him, and Tiger Woods sought after treatment for his "addiction". There were months of pure shenanigans and it seemed like nothing could bring him back in the public eye.
During this "sabbatical" we rooted on favorites like Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els along with young up an comers like Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, and Anthony Kim. We watched some good golf. We had some good moments. But it wasn't the same. Golfers can have great tournaments, great drives, great putts, but nobody embodied greatness like Tiger did. It was in this revelation that we knew that Tiger could win us all back again. All he had to do was clean up his act off the course and get back to playing winning golf. We missed what that Sunday red shirt meant. We missed the fear he brought to his opponents eyes. We missed the swagger. We missed the pursuit of history, only being 4 Major Championships away from tying Nicklaus.
This weekend at Bay Hill we finally got some of it back. Tiger built up a lead in the first 3 rounds and pulled away from most of the field keeping only Graeme McDowell in contention in the final round. He had the look in his eye. Those familiar putts were finally falling. He was crushing 3 irons 270 yards. It wasn't quite vintage Tiger, but it was close. For the first time since 2009, he put together a string of 4 solid outings. He didn't get lucky. He was the best player on the course. Golf just seems to be better when Tiger is in contention. He is at his best when he is giving snarky post round interviews, when he has the confidence in himself that we all once had in him. The Masters is only 2 weeks away and I can't wait. I don't know if Tiger will have enough to break or even tie Jack Nicholas' record 18 Majors, but with the way he looked this weekend the conversation is back on the table. Welcome back, Tiger. We are happy to have you back in the Winner's Circle.
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