In a matter of three or so days we will get our first glimpse as to what the fuss is all about.
After declaring a return date for October in Napa, getting those folks excited beyond all belief, Eldrick T. Woods pulled the plug on his “comeback” at the eleventh hour.
Now the wait is over, he can’t possibly stiff his own event — the Hero World Challenge that will be contested starting this coming Thursday at Albany in the Bahamas.
This will be the first time Woods has competed since late August of 2015. Yes, that long ago.
Perhaps before anything else, we should get re-acquainted with one Tiger Woods.
This is the Tiger Woods who will turn 41 years old on December 30th.
This is the Tiger Woods who hasn’t won a major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open. Can it really be eight years and counting?
This is the Tiger Woods who last won the Masters in 2005. Can it really be 11 years and counting?
This is the Tiger Woods who was ranked No. 1 in the world longer than any player has held that distinction. Today he finds himself ranked 879th, just behindf American Tim Madigan, whoever he is and just ahead of New Zealand’s Sean Riordan, whoever he is.
Eleven times he was PGA Tour Player Of The Year, 10 times he led the money list and nine times he took the Vardon Trophy for the tour’s low scoring average. Yes, we remember THAT Tiger Woods but it seems like a lifetime ago.
This is the new Tiger Woods, the 2016-17 version who shocked us all before his Safeway withdrawal using the term “vulnerable.”
Vulnerable?
Three back surgeries in 21 months will do that.
This is the new and uncertain Tiger Woods vs. any notion of “new and improved.”
He’s made more swing changes than John Daly has ex-wives. He’s hired and fired swing coaches, going from the best — Butch Harmon — to guys no one knows all that well.
He’s gone from invincible to “vulnerable” and everything in-between.
He’s gone all the way from glory to shame and these days who knows what to expect from a player who had the highest expectations and exceeded them.
His last PGA Tour season (2015) saw him play in just 11 events. He missed the cut in three of the four majors two years ago, managing a T17 at The Masters. He shot 80 in the first round of the U.S. Open, 82 in round two of The Players and 85 in the third round at The Memorial. In all, there were four missed cuts and a WD and a T10 at The Wyndham.
It was so very unlike the Tiger Woods that inspired an entire generation of players now on the PGA and European Tours.
The only thing “vulnerable” when Woods was at his best was the rest of the field.
It is the past that will make this comeback for Woods more difficult.
He has already admitted that we may have well seen the best of him and that anything in the win column from now going forward would be “icing on the cake.”
Will there be any “icing” on the Woods career cake?
Thursday can’t get here fast enough, can it?
Coming Wednesday: What Should We Expect From Tiger Woods?
