Sunday at The Masters is always one of the most memorable days in golf but the 2019 Masters will hold one of the most special places in a history of memorable days for this storied tournament.
Tiger Woods and his fifth Masters win is almost beyond description. Almost, I say but a Google search of Tiger and The Masters will produce an unending amount of results exulting his victory. And even Woods himself knows this one, his fifteenth major may be his most amazing one yet.
But this wasn’t his most dominating win. His first Masters win in ’97 which changed the face of golf forever had him twelve strokes clear of the field. And this is a man that crushed the field at the 2000 U.S. Open by fifteen shots. Yesterday he held a two shot lead on the eighteenth tee and his bogey left him one shot ahead of game challengers Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele and Dustin Johnson.
It wasn’t dominating but it may well be his most meaningful. And to a man that has been to highest of highs in a world that had placed him on a pedestal above anyone in sport and anywhere else, this is more than a win. It’s redemption, it’s relief, it’s rewarding and in his own words,”it means the world to me.”
Winning a major at 43 is rare. Winning majors eleven years apart is uncommon. And winning a major after your life has been destroyed by self inflicted wounds and recovering from them is unheard of. But playing golf with a body showing scars from four knee operations and four back operations along with dozens of other maladies and beating the world’s best can only be called miraculous. Or maybe another word that Woods had brought along with him in he heyday used by scribes to describe his improbable feats: Tigeresque.
This certainly is a Tigeresque victory.
He came back from injuries. He came back from shame. He came back from the yips. He beat old age and he beat a generation of golfers he inspired.
His one shot win wasn’t his most dominant and his competition faded under the pressure while he thrived late in his round. But watching his reaction on the eighteenth green he seemed to be saying that this is the one. This one means as much as any win, anything he has done in golf.
His ’97 win was christened “one for the ages” but this win goes beyond that. This is the greatest, most significant and most improbable comeback the world has ever seen. 
Woods will bask in this glory for awhile and so will all of sport. Many said he was done and gave him little chance of ever returning to his past greatness but this win has reset the Woods narrative. It’s no longer “will Tiger win another major?” It’s no longer “will he ever comeback?” Those questions have been answered by a determined, resilient Tiger Woods.
Questions answered. Masters won. Comeback complete.
He’s Tiger Woods and he’s many things to many people. But today he is the greatest comeback story in history of sport. Period.
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