I am a sports enthusiast but at the same time, I still don’t understand golf. Basically I don’t understand their scorecard. May be I should take up a lesson or two. Ok back to the original story. Even though I couldn’t understand the game, there is one man who is “The Man”. And he has return to the top of the golfing chain. That man is none other than Tiger Woods. His fall from grace was epic when it was revealed he’s been sleeping around with other women. After all that commotion and a horrendous year for Tiger in the PGA, he is back. Roaring too I might say. Here’s an article of his latest triumphant return as number one:
Like most of a fascinated sports world, I waited patiently for Tiger Woods to grant his post-Bay Hill victory interview on The Golf Channel on Monday. It took him about 15 seconds to get to Steve Sands for the greenside chat, and I imagine that's because he told Sands: "Hang on, Sandsy. Let me slip on this giant foam finger that reads 'I'M NUMBER ONE,' flash it toward the haters, the press and the haters in the press and I'll get right to you."
Holy smokes. Tiger Woods just accomplished one of the greatest feats of his career. Right next to winning four consecutive majors from 2000-01, right next to winning six consecutive U.S. Junior Amateurs and U.S. Amateurs, right next to 77 PGA Tour wins by age 37, I'll put "The Long Climb Back" on Tiger's all-time ledger. By winning at Bay Hill on Monday, Tiger Woods is No. 1 in the world again – for the first time since October 2010, for the first time since falling to No. 58 in the world, and for the first time since his cloak of invincibility disappeared with a public fall from grace.
And right next to that statistical fact – Numero Uno says the computer – I'd put perhaps an even more important, less numerically definable achievement: The Reclaiming of The Aura.
It's taken six wins in his last 20 PGA Tour starts, it's taken the miracle resurrection of a putter last seen in George W. Bush's first term, and it's taken the convenient digression of Rory McIlroy's career arc, but Tiger is back to being, well, Tiger.
By that, I mean The Big Kahuna, El Grande Queso, His Tigerness. No, he doesn't need to win a major to regain his status as the Elvis Presley/Mick Jagger/Jay-Z of golf. He's back in players' heads already, back rattling their comfort zones, back to the point where his name on the leader board causes bouts of gastric discomfort among the field.
Surely, you saw Justin Rose on Saturday throw four bogeys on his back nine to cough up an afternoon lead and hand the 54-hole lead to Tiger. Surely, you saw Rickie Fowler rinse two golf balls and post a snowman on the 16th hole Monday when he had crept within two shots of Tiger.
And surely you saw this quote from Keegan Bradley, a player you'd think was so young and so free of Tiger-issued scar tissue that he'd represent the new breed of challenger: "I feel like this is the Tiger I grew up watching."
Heavenly choirs and Bach sonatas could never sound as beautiful to Tiger Woods than those words from one of the poster boys of the next generation. It's the best of all possible worlds for Tiger. He spent the past 15 years obliterating one generation of golfers, only to fall on his face in humiliating fashion, opening the door for the Rory-Keegan-Rickie generation to charge in, carrying the "If It's Too Loud/You're Too Old" flag for the new millennium.
And they tried to do their parts, really. Rory won those two majors in historic style, and ascended to the top rung. Keegan even won a major and became a star. But now, over the course of three years, and with – as Tiger said on Monday after his win – "hard work and patience," those time-tested virtues, he's right back in their faces. He's their childhood TV idol, in the flesh and in a red shirt. He's a mythical figure, now very real trying to take what they thought could be theirs: victory and glory.
From 2010-12, things were different. Tiger had lost his aura. Tiger had lost his putter. Tiger had lost his health. Tiger's personal life was a mess. Rory was the new star. Everybody saw it, everybody said it. Johnny Miller said it. Nick Faldo said it. Any number of scribes, including yours truly, said it.
But things change. Putting mechanics get fixed. Young stars change golf clubs for big money. Knees heal up. New love and emotional security blossoms. Time marches on. The present is ever fluid, ever ripe for a new moment. Tiger seized on this Zen philosophy, got better, got fixed and created a new narrative.
The future is so tantalizing, so fun to ponder. Miller wondered on The Golf Channel if being relieved of the No. 1 spot will "free" McIlroy, will allow him to play unburdened. Some still wonder if Tiger can win a major now, given the obvious self-imposed pressure he places on himself to topple Jack Nicklaus. Some wonder if Tiger is a "horse for a course," meaning his wins at Torrey Pines and Doral and Bay Hill are as much about familiarity and muscle memory as anything else, that doing it at Merion's U.S. Open is a different deal.
Well, if Tiger is a "horse for a course," Augusta National is a familiar paddock. We'll see him there next, on Thursday, April 11, for the first round. You'll recognize him. He'll be the No. 1-ranked player in the world, playing like it, acting like it and, best of all, knowing that everybody knows it.
No comments:
Post a Comment