Order has been restored in the golf universe.
Tiger Woods is back, back with victory No. 80 in the books, back with a frenzied mob scene at his heels while he walked quickly to the 72nd green Sunday at the Tour Championship.
Woods left no doubt, answered all the questions that lingered the past five years and capped a comeback for the ages.
All he did was crush the hopes of his closest rivals — Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose, Europe’s two best players.
Woods let them know from the start that this would be his day. He stuck his approach at the first hole from 160-yards to 10 feet and promptly drained his first birdie of the day.
From that point, it was reminiscent of his prime when his opponents simply melted down. McIlroy went down first. Paired with Woods, McIlroy made three bogeys and a double over the first nine holes to take himself out of the competition. His driver was wild and his short game was its usual undistinguished self.
That left Rose, who started the final 18, tied with McIlroy at nine-under, three back of Woods.
“Plan A was to try and catch Tiger,” Rose said after a sloppy 73 dropped him into a tie for fourth. “I went to plan B quickly.” That Plan B took a birdie at the 72nd hole to rob Woods of the Double-Double — the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup. Two putts from 30 feet saved it for Rose, who tied for fourth.
No one cared what Rose did.
Woods reeled off eight straight pars after his initial birdie, built his lead to three shots for most of the final nine. A late run by Billy Horschel cut it to two after Woods bogeyed the difficult par three 15th then suffered another when his tee shot found the deep rough at 16. He made a great par save at 17 that sent him to the 18th tee with a two-shot lead. “That chip at 17 was huge,” Woods later admitted.
Woods didn’t let himself get complacent. “You can hit it out-of-bounds at 18 so I told myself let’s suck it up and hit some shots here.” He hit a perfect drive, an imperfect five-iron from 227 out into the greenside bunker at 18. No worries. Woods knew at that point it was virtually finished. He blasted to six feet but missed the birdie. His five-inch tap-in left him emotional.
“I started to tear up before the tap-in then I caught myself and said we’ve got work to do.”
A huge throng of spectators broke through the ropes at 18 and pressed Woods and McIlroy as they made their way home. “I was trying not to get run over, I can’t run anymore,” Woods said with a huge smile on his face.
It wasn’t the prettiest 71 but his 11-under par total was good enough to end his 1,876-day winning drought.
“At the beginning of the year, it was a tall order,” Woods said of No. 80. “To fight and grind in tough conditions….” his voice started cracking as emotion engulfed the 14-time major champion who is now just two wins shy of Sam Snead’s all-time PGA Tour victory mark.
As he headed for the scoring area, he was surprised by manager Mark Steinberg, who lifted Woods in a huge bear-hug. Billy Horschel and Rickie Fowler were waiting nearby to congratulate him and Woods said that meant a lot to him.
“It’s been tough,” Woods said at the presentation. “I just can’t believe I pulled this off. It’s been tough, it’s just hard to believe I won the Tour Championship.”
Believe it.
Believe it big-time.
The man is back, looking a lot like he used to albeit a 42-year-old version.
Didn’t matter to the crowds.
As he stood there afterward, they chanted:
“Tiger, Tiger, Tiger, Tiger!!!”
It was loud.
And the entire day was simply amazing.
2 Comments
JimmyD5cc
Once he was the greatest golfer of the modern era, now he is back. Frankly, I never thought he would win again, let alone an event with the best players in the world. I tip my hat to him, he’s back!
Tom Edrington
Tiger has surprised everyone, himself included. He won the fans over with his change in attitude that became one of gratitude rather than arrogance. He said after Saturday’s round how grateful he was for the support from the fans this entire year during his comeback.