There are few people in life that can have the distinction of being bigger than their profession. Tiger Woods is one of those people.
When Tiger busted onto the scene in 1997 he was someone that nobody had seen before. Golf was largely a white elitist sport and the people in power seemed to have little interest in changing all of that. Sure, there had been minority golfers before him but there was only one Tiger. He was intense, cocky, and in your face. Not only did he tell you he was going to beat you, he then went and did it in convincing fashion.
Naturally, with a figure like that, he had many detractors. He also had far more followers. As we have seen year in and year out, Tiger inspired an entire generation of kids to pick up golf clubs instead of a football, baseball, or basketball. Not only that, he also inspired a generation of athletes that were going to beat you and tell you they were going to do it, just like him. Just look at the current landscape of the PGA Tour and you will see pieces of Tiger in them all. Jordan, Rickie, Rory, Justin, Brooks, DJ. All these guys decided to play golf because of Tiger.
It’s not just pro golfers that were influenced by Tiger. This younger generation of golf writers, myself included, are doing this because of Tiger. It was because of Tiger that I dug my dad’s old crappy clubs out of the bag of the closet in high school and started playing. It was because of Tiger that I continued to play more and more in college. And, it was because of Tiger that I found a love for the game that translated into my first writing job out of college covering golf for a small, local real estate company of all places.
That is why yesterday was so special to so many people.
Tiger has gone through many hardships in his professional career, each time bouncing back relatively quickly. The death of his father, the infidelity, the broken leg at Torrey and other countless injuries, the swing coach changes. You name it, Tiger prevailed through it.
This last one felt different though. For arguably the first time in his life, Tiger showed his mortality. After every back procedure, the thought of Tiger ever coming back seemed more and more like a dream. Then there was the DUI and the video of a clearly disheveled Tiger not knowing where he was or where he was going. The pain had taken over his life in a way that made us wonder, forget golf can Tiger ever just live a normal, pain-free life again.
Fast forward to the start of the 2018 season and Tiger said he was good to go again. Sure, we all thought, Tiger is going to play golf again but are we really going to see Tiger again. Or, most likely, are we going to see a guy that looks like Tiger become just another rank and file guy on the PGA Tour.
The close calls and almost finishes started to pile up and, with each passing one, continued to raise our hopes more and more. Still, though, that killer instinct that was a Tiger trademark for over a decade seemed to be gone. Every time it looked like he could make a real run at a win something would happen. A bad shot, a bad hole, a missed putt. The nerves seemed to take over.
Fast forward to this week. Tiger shot out to an early lead on Thursday. We had seen this one before. Has a good couple of days, then falters on Sunday. Friday came and went and he was still in the lead. Then Saturday he extended it. Suddenly it felt like this was finally it. It just felt different this time. He had the look. He had the swagger. And, for the first time all year, he had the lead. When he birdied the first hole on Sunday to extend the lead yet again, everyone knew we were about to witness something special.
For the next 4 hours, Tiger took us all through a trip down memory lane and what a trip it was. The club twirls, the fist pumps, the walking birdie putts in, the improbable par saves, and, the walk to the 18th green with the entire golf world following behind him as the culmination.
I’m not too proud to admit that coming down the 18th hole yesterday I got emotional. I got emotional as he sunk the final putt and gave us one more fist pump. I got emotional because for four days I felt like I did back when I was a kid again. Watching Tiger dominate on the golf course and using my dad’s crappy old clubs in the backyard to try and be like him.
There are some people that transcend what they do and are bigger than the field they work in. Tiger Woods is one of those people.