Tiger Woods has clearly been back for most of this year, but he’d yet to win a tournament. He hadn’t won since August of 2013, in fact, and the intervening years were filled with aborted comebacks and new personal lows.
Today, though, Tiger entered the final round of the Tour Championship with a lead, and he never gave it up. He opened with a birdie to set the tone:
And as his closest competition faltered most of the day, Tiger simply held on. The only real weak moment down the stretch was a tee shot on the peninsula par 3 15th that flirted with disaster:
But other than that, the only real drama down the stretch was whether Tiger would win the $10 million FedEx Cup along with the Tour Championship. Those hopes were ended when Justin Rose birdied 18 to clinch the FedEx Cup for himself.
That meant Tiger’s walk up 18 was essentially a culmination of the comeback for Tiger, and the site of Tiger Woods once again leading a massive gallery to the green in 2018 was almost surreal.
Woods actually had a birdie putt to seal it, and while the storybook ending would have seen it fall, Tiger had to settle for the loudest tap-in cheer of all time.
It really is incredible. Tiger is still only 42, and while he’s essentially lost half a decade (maybe more) of his career due to injuries and personal life issues, if he can stay healthy he still has a shot at being the best player in the world again, even now in a completely different world of golf.
It’s not an understatement to say this has been the biggest story in sports this year.
Tiger is Tiger again.
What a moment.
