What comes with Tiger is really a jolt in the arm, a tonic or twist in the storyline. Brandt Snedeker remarked after playing with Tiger that the surrounding noise, “is louder than (he) had heard in a long time.” What is amazing is that the viewing figures on Saturday, were so high. So high that the networks haven’t seen a Saturday spike, of this ilk, in the ratings for twelve years. Twelve years!
He really is box office, this time people aren’t expecting him to win; they are hoping to see him win with the mannerisms, the fist pumps, magnetic smile and the unexpected jail break shot. When the forty- four foot putt fed its way into the heart of the hole, on the seventy-first hole, to get him within one shot; It felt that the clocks had been turned back and we were watching the same imperious player. A birdie on the last and then a playoff, maybe it was possible. He fell short, this time, but what a comeback.
His record shows that previously when he has been within one stroke of the lead, the 69 times before, he has won 62 times. So, when he said that he felt comfortable in the thick of it, in contention on a Sunday - no wonder. In the modern era, nobody but nobody has controlled the dialogue and action on a Sunday. It appears we are on the verge of seeing the unthinkable, a Tiger Woods fully fit, pain-free and competitively ready for a comeback the likes of which the golfing world hasn’t seen since Hogan’s car crash in the fifties.
He is already looking to Bayhill where he has won eight times already. He is saying publicly that he is just taking it day by day, no expectations, just pleased to be competing, healthy and pain-free. However, inwardly, deep down where the core of the competitor lives, he must be feeling that there is a shot at winning a tournament this year. Then the mind can wander, the Masters? Is it possible? That’s what makes this so tantalising. He is closing on his 80th PGA Tour win, he has to make it past 82 to be the all-time winner on Tour. The current banner holder is Sam Snead. It could be argued that if he passes that mark he really has become the greatest player of all time.
Now I know you golfing aficionados have got a point, when you say that a true player is measured by their Majors record. Tiger is four short of the number held by Jack so Jack is the Greatest. Yet remember Jack’s last win was in 1986, that’s thirty-two years ago. The game has without argument become far more competitive over the last twenty years. So, fourteen stacked against eighteen, it’s close, but if he were to get within two majors then the argument would surely shift towards Tiger being the greatest of all time, or GOAT as they are prone to saying these days.
Now he may fall over, mentally or physically, we’ve seen the photos now. But the overwhelming feeling around the world is the game is better with Tiger in it. The advertisers, sponsors and the spectators all agree and will pay to prove it.
Paul Casey won by the way. Which is fabulous news, he hasn’t won in nine years in the States and the resurgence of his career has been slow and steady. If Tiger had not been in the field, everybody would be asking Paul if he was planning to make the Ryder Cup Squad. Yet to find a story about that, is proving to be very difficult.
Tiger is back. What seemed impossible two years ago now seems possible. He is “excited” about 2018. He’s not the only one.