Could it really be that long ago?
Could it really be twenty-one years?
Two decades.
Sometimes it seems longer, a lot longer. Seems like 50 years ago when Tiger Woods actually smiled when he was surrounded by media members. Seems like 50 years ago when a bright-eyed youngster gave us “Hello World.”
The world was good for Tiger Woods back then. Most knew he would be good, really good, most never imaged he would be THAT good.
It was even more difficult to imagine the path that would lead him into a car parked by the side of the road in Jupiter, Florida, engine running, Woods passed out at the wheel, under the influence of a plethora of prescription drugs and a little marijuana on the side. The images of that 21-year-old with the huge smile were replaced by a bleary-eyed police mug shot.
For so very long it went very, very right for young Tiger Woods.
Then the twists and turns of life would make things go very, very wrong, wrong enough so that we wonder if he will ever again play the game he once dominated.
It was August 29, 1996 that the young Tiger teed off in the Greater Milwaukee Open. Crowds were huge, so was the press corps. There were actually newspapers back then.
Woods would shoot 67-69-73-68 to finish in a tie for 60th.
He collected a check for $2,544. That wouldn’t pay any of his bills these days.
Humble beginnings and there was a bit of humility in the young Woods but that wouldn’t take long to vanish.
Things were good in those days when he worked with Butch Harmon and played Titleist equipment.
He was tall and slender and created unreal club head speed. He was spring-loaded.
Under Harmon’s eye, Woods prospered on and off the golf course. As years passed, the majors stacked up and so did his bank account.
There was only one thing wrong. No one really knew Tiger Woods.
We know more about him these days. More in the sense that as he grew older, he would develop a secret life.
Fourteen majors, a bunch of swing changes, too many fired swing coaches and a body that is giving out on him have led Woods back to his massive mansion on Jupiter Island in Martin County, Florida.
Woods has taken on more of a Howard Hughes persona these days. He’s in semi-hiding, he comes out to take his children to events. He’s a tabloid target.
We used to count championships, now we count surgeries.
He used to do things on the golf course that amazed everyone.
Unfortunately he’s done equally stupid things off the course.
He’s made more than a billion dollars in his career, a testament to his world-wide popularity. The word icon comes to mind.
But the guy who seemingly had everything, did his damnest to throw the best of it away.
What happened to Tiger Woods is that in some ways, he turned into Earl Woods.
Tom Callahan wrote about it in his book: His Father’s Son.
Earl was a womanizer.
So was Tiger, but very few knew.
It was the start of his fall from one of the highest pedestals ever built by an athlete.
The journey of Tiger Woods has been one incredible roller coaster ride.
It’s been thrilling and pitiful and everything in between.
The one thing we have learned after 21 years is despite the fact that he appeared super-human on the golf course, Tiger Woods, like the rest of us, is so very, very human.
