Could anyone have ever imagined Tiger Woods as a comeback story? A few years back, before his personal life and body fell apart he was the biggest thing in sport. And he was one of those magical figures that transcended his sport like Muhammad Ali, Michael Jordan and Arnold Palmer. He was wealthy beyond belief, jetted around the world on his whim and socialized with any one he chose.
Unfortunately for some time he chose poorly and that led to his personal indignities and then the collapse of his broken body wasn’t far behind.
But my oh my how times have changed.
Tiger’s showing at the Valspar and his climb back into the upper echelons of golf from golfing Siberia is nothing but astonishing. He fell as low as 1193rd in the World Golf Rankings last November but is steadily moving upward and with his finish at The Valspar he’s 149th. Is it top ten….no. But anyone who has seen his game of late knows that he can win again.
And it’s almost incomprehensible that he has come back to where he is. His swing speed was clocked at 129 MPH, the fastest recorded on tour all season. Faster than Dustin Johnson, faster then Rory McIlroy, faster than Justin Thomas and all of the kids that hammer the ball but are half his age.
His short game looked to be back to vintage Tiger and his driver has been tweaked to relative perfection. It’s hard to believe that a man with four back operations along with a dozen other injuries and procedures could get back to this point. But it’s Tiger and he always has done things differently.
More impressive to me was the “new Tiger” we got to see on the course. Of course he was greeted by innumerable fans and that’s nothing new but it was his response to them that changed. There were smiles and head nods and even a few waves and eye contact. This from a man who was so singularly focused he’d bypass his own mother without recognition.
I joked that he had more smiles in his post round interview with Steve Sands than he had in his entire career. The difference in Tiger’s demeanor has been noted by the commentators as well as his fellow players. And they all agree he’s more open and friendly to more that just his inner circle.
We can speculate as to why but maybe it was just a matter of him realizing that life is short, nothing is guaranteed and to be content with what you have. And in his case that’s a lot.
But Tiger in his prime never had enough. Whether it was wins or money or girlfriends. He was the ultimate hunter for all trophies large and small.
But time, injuries and some perspective have changed Tiger. And from our standpoint it’s for the better.
The PGA Tour is better with him back in the game. Golf is better with him back in the game. Sport is better with him back in the game. And we fans are so much better with him back in the game.
With The Masters around the corner this is only going to get better.
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