“Successful.”
That’s how Tiger Woods chose to describe his journey spread over four painless rounds of the Hero World Challenge before a global audience of millions.
Indeed. It was a success.
Back on the course after 10 months that saw him use his golf clubs as crutches to lift himself out of bed, get caught for driving under the influence (DUI) and plead guilty to reckless driving, Tiger had every reason to feel that it was a job well accomplished at Albany’s championship course in picturesque Bahamas.
For someone hailed as one of the greatest ever, in the league of Muhammad Ali and Pele, Tiger is battling stiff odds on his comeback trail.
At 41, Tiger exceeded expectations with his shot-making in the company of some of the finest golfers of our times. The 18-man field, including eight of the top-10 players, also had former World No. 1 Jordan Spieth. “When I turned pro [in 1996], Jordan was still in diapers, right?” said a laughing Tiger two days before yet another comeback.
Tiger looked happy to be back on the golf course. Aware of the rising expectations, he consciously tempered them without making it look like an obvious exercise.
Busy fulfilling sponsor commitments and media obligations, Tiger smiled more than he was ever known to do before a ‘big’ event. As part of the invitational field he hosts every year, his every movement was under scrutiny.
After a fourth back surgery in April kept him indoors for the better part of the year, Tiger announced towards the end of October that he was ready.
Interestingly, the course at Albany was witness to how unsure Tiger was of his future two years ago, on the eve of this tournament’s 2015 edition. At the practice green for a photo-shoot, Tiger picked up a putter, addressed a ball and soon straightened his back. He tossed the putter into the waiting hands of a caddie. The pain on Tiger’s face was hard to miss. Minutes later, at a press conference, Tiger said he could not set a timetable for his return to the PGA Tour.
Hopes dashed
The golfing world took the announcement with dismay. At the same time, the 14-time Major winner was wished good health, a painless existence with his children, away from golf.
Twelve months later, Tiger returned to the same venue. He fired more birdies than any other player during the week but finished 15th. In February 2017, he withdrew from the Dubai Desert Classic following a first-round 77, citing back spasms.
In April, Tiger underwent successful back surgery to alleviate persistent pain in his back and leg. The announcement, on his website, explained that the surgery entailed removing the damaged disc and re-elevating the collapsed disc space to normal levels.
Just when the world felt Tiger was firmly on the road to recovery came the news of his arrest in Jupiter, Florida, on suspicion of DUI in May. On October 28, Tiger pleaded guilty to reckless driving and entered a diversion programme.
Two days later, Tiger announced yet another comeback, for the third time in four years, at the Hero World Challenge in November-December.
But the golfing world remained sceptical. Those following his fortunes hoped that his back would hold. Not without reason, no one expected him to challenge the best.
What one saw in the days leading to the event was a smiling Tiger, his sense of humour intact. He showed no hurry to be done with the questions. He was willing to take an honest, hard look at the past and stare at an uncertain future.
Fact-finding mission
“I’m just looking forward to getting through these four rounds and having a better understanding of where I’m at. I don’t know where I’m at. What I mean by that is I don’t know how hard I can hit it, what shots can I play. It’s [the wind] supposed to be low this weekend and if it blows 30 miles an hour, I’m going to have to hit some shots. I’m going to have to lean on a few and take something off of it, hit some shots, some creative ones. I may have to blast a few. I don’t know what the future entails in that regard because I’m still learning this body.”
Tiger, who has not added to his 14 Major titles since 2008, has often battled self-doubt since November 2009 when controversy of an extramarital affair erupted. Soon, Tiger was involved in an accident after running his Escalade into a fire hydrant outside his house. Elin Nordegren, Tiger’s wife at that time, pulled him out of the vehicle. Ticketed for careless driving, Tiger took responsibility for the accident.
Before long, multiple affairs involving Tiger surfaced. He apologised and took an “indefinite break” from professional golf.
This freefall from fame followed a natural progression. Before Tiger and Nordegren announced their divorce in August 2010, many of his sponsors dropped him and coach Hank Haney resigned. Tiger then fired long-time caddie Steve Williams, and fell out of the top 50 before back and knee injuries began to worry him.
Surgeries followed and in 2015, for the first time, Tiger missed all four Majors. The ranking continued to plummet, and comebacks proved either too hurried or very painful.
In such a grim scenario, daughter Sam and son Charlie played a huge part in getting Tiger back on track.
“I want them to see what I’ve been able to do my entire career,” he said. “I’ve been fortunate to play tournament golf for 37 years and I want them to experience some of that. I don’t know how long I’m going to be playing but I want them to come to a few events, I want them to feel it.
“I never thought my kids have understood what I’ve been able to do in golf because they always think I’m the YouTube golfer. They’ve never seen me in action. Charlie was there at Akron when I won last time, but he doesn’t really remember it, he was too young. Most of the stuff they’ve watched has been on highlight packages. They’ve never seen what I can do on a golf course. Charlie wants to compete. He wants to play with me. These are things that are special.”
It was in this background that Tiger staged another comeback. This time, for some reason, it appeared different. He steadily hit the ball past the 300-yard mark, hit shots that tested his back at times and putted like a dream.
The whole gamut
On the second day, Tiger briefly led the field! But on a windy third day, he struggled to read the speed of the greens well and went three over. The final day saw Tiger once again shoot a 68 to go eight-under for four rounds!
For someone who started the event ranked 1199, Tiger held all the attention in a world class field! Rickie Fowler’s title-clinching record-making final round of 61 was in danger of being reduced to a footnote had Tiger putted a few on the final back-nine.
“Well, 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 was my scoring 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. You know, 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. Overall I’m very pleased. I showed some good signs, I hit some really good shots out there and a bright future.”
The quality of Tiger’s play triggered a new level of excitement. On the final day, Rafael Nadal walked all 18 holes to show his support to his good friend.
Television ratings hit a new high. According to NBC, the official broadcaster of the event, Tiger’s encouraging showing raised the viewership by 29% as compared to the 2016 edition. The stream of 22.4 million minutes on NBC was up 201% on last year.
As the new season beckons, the point of interest revolves around when Tiger will be seen in action again. Does he have enough in the tank to win another Major?
Tiger, quite understandably, is treading carefully.
“I think that we’re going to figure out what’s the best way for me to build my schedule for the Major championships. Play, how much, what my training cycles are going to be, and play enough but don’t play too much.”
For now, the important thing is that Tiger is back. That’s good for him, better for golf.
(The writer was in the Bahamas at the invitation of Hero MotoCorp)
