Golf doesnt do field stormings. Patrons tend to hold themselves to somewhat higher standards or somewhat more restrained expressions of emotion than college students. Politely applaud achievement from outside the ropes, thats the customary golf way.
Except for September 23, 2018. On that day, the final day of the 2017 Tour Championship, the golf world did indeed see a field storming. As Tiger Woods walked up the 18th green at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, just a few steps away from his first victory in five years, the gallery burst right through the flimsy barrier of rope and decorum. Thousands followed in Tigers wake, a reverential congregation delirious with joy, gratitude and communion wine in the form of $15 beers.
The delirium that ran through the crowd on that afternoon at East Lake was the kind of communal disbelief that sends college students pouring out of the stands after a shocking upset. Its the kind of transcendent joy that comes when youve seen victory so unlikely you didnt even dare believe in it, when you cant believe youre lucky enough to be a part of it all. Its why people hold their phones high when rushing onto the playing surface; you want to hold onto this moment as long as you can, because deep down you know that even if a victory like this happens again, it wont feel like this one.
Woods did win again after that 2018 Tour Championship, capturing an even more impressive achievement by winning the Masters seven months later. (No one dared storm the 18th at Augusta.) Tag on one more did-that-really-happen? win in October 2019 at the Zoso Championship in Japan and, well thats it to date for Tiger Woods victories.
Since that magnificent September afternoon in 2018, Woods has spent far more time on the operating table than in the winners circle. Over the weekend, as he was recovering from one catastrophic injury (ruptured Achilles), he announced hed undergone surgery to repair a collapsed disc in his back. Were not orthopedic surgeons, but that doesnt seem like the kind of surgery the seventh that Woods has had on his back alone that allows for a quick return to the links.
The full list of Woods injuries is, frankly, stunning in its scope. Golf Digest prepared or, more likely, just updated a graphic listing all the procedures Woods has endured in his career. Consider that almost any one of these would sideline normal humans for weeks, months, or years, and then remember that Woods has fought his way back from virtually all of them:
Maybe thats why the golf world greeted the news of Woods latest surgery with grim resignation. OK, so, maybe hes not ready to play with Charlie this December at the PNC Classic, but with a bit of rehab he can tee it up next spring at Augusta
We know how unlikely it is that Woods will ever play again at a competitive level. And still, we hope, because golf has a way of gifting its fans with these one-last-ride happy endings. Jack Nicklaus at Augusta in 1986 remains the standard, the Sunday that made our fathers and grandfathers weep even if we didnt understand why at the time. Tiger at Augusta in 2019. Phil Mickelson in 2021 at the PGA Championship, inspiring a field storming of his own at Kiawah Island (sand storming?) that, in retrospect, was the last high point of his career. Hell, Nicklaus made the cut in a major in the 21st century. (T54 in the 2000 Masters at age 60. Its true.)
We hold onto these moments, because to admit the Tiger Woods train has come to a full stop is to give in to the passage of time. Woods seemed hell, was so untouchable, so invulnerable, so unbeatable in his prime that it seemed impossible hed ever falter. And he recovered so many times from so many little injuries that every new one seemed to be just another speed-bump to be navigated and put behind him.
Everyone fans, media, sponsors, the majors, the PGA Tour, the entire golf-industrial complex as a whole has invested so much for so long in Tiger Woods, its still daunting to imagine what the sport will be like without him.
At some point, though, the hard numbers start to add up. Woods will be 50 later this year, an age where hed struggle to keep up with the current game even if he was in perfect health. He hasnt won a tournament since before the pandemic. He hasnt made the cut in all four majors in a year since 2013. He hasnt made the cut in any non-Masters major since the 2020 PGA Championship. Time and the surgeons knife are doing what generations of players couldnt, bringing Woods down to earth at last.
And yet, no matter how realistic we are about the numbers, the recovery prospects, every single Tiger Woods fan still keeps alive a tiny flicker of possibility, a candlelight of If anyone can do it… The other option sad acceptance is too grim to contemplate. If Time can bring down even Tiger freaking Woods, what chance do the rest of us have?
Even though we know its never coming around again, we keep hoping for one more run up the leaderboard. One more victory. One more chance to walk the fairway alongside Tiger Woods, on one more triumphant Sunday. Wouldnt that be great?
This topic really needed to be talked about. Thank you.