I was born in 1992. I grew up admiring athletes like Kobe and Iverson, Tiger Woods and Serena Williams. A lot of the names I grew up watching are retired. Some are not. Tiger is somewhere in the middle.
No athlete took their respective sport by storm quite like he did. To date he has won 4 Masters, 3 U.S. Opens, 3 British Opens and 4 PGA Championships. 14 Major championships in total. 79 PGA tour victories (2nd most of all time) and 40 European Tour victories (3rd all time). Needless to say the man knows how to play golf.
Until his "scandal" happened. Was it a scandal? Maybe. I think it was more of a poor showing of character than anything else. Scandal is defined as "an action or event regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing general public outrage," and by that definition then what he did was absolutely a scandal. Between that, age and several surgeries his career seemed over.
Until yesterday. Yesterday he finished 2nd in the PGA Championship at -14, losing to Brooks Koepka (possibly the blandest due in golf) who shot a -16.
So is he back? It's hard to say for sure. Jim Furyk won't commit to Tiger as a Ryder Cup pick, and who can blame him? Yes Tiger has had a mixed bag of a year so far; he finished 32nd in the Master's in April and he missed the cut for the U.S. Open in June, but he placed 4th in the Quicken Loans national, 6th in the British Open and 2nd yesterday.
Regardless of opinions, there is no doubt that Tiger's success is PGA's success. Consider this: CBS Sports' Final-Round PGA Championship Rating is Highest in Nine Years. Their coverage of the 2018 PGA Championship was up 69% from last year. Can you guess why? Because Tiger was competitive. He draws attention. Golf hasn't seen the likes of him, Phil Mickelson or Furyk yet. Yes the you guns like Rickie Fowler, Rory Mcllroy and Jordan Spieth, not to mention Jason Day, Dustin Johnson and Koepka are all entertaining, but none of them have dominated like Tiger did, and not one of them has a rivalry - and friendship - quite like the one we saw between Tiger and Lefty.
I have no doubt that golf will be in good hands when Phil and Tiger retire, but until then I can say that watching Tiger don the red on Sunday's is a beautiful sight. And in the words of Clay Travis, “Tiger Woods is the most beloved athlete in America right now. More people watching the PGA yesterday rooted for Tiger Woods than any athlete this year. In a huge hater generation, he is a uniter.”
Agree? Disagree? Let me know!
