In the decade when Tiger Woods was in his prime, he won his fourteen major championships in large part by his ability to out-drive his opponents, often by thirty or forty yards off the tee, and even more by the intimidation he wielded on Sundays, when he could show up on the course in his red shirt and black Nike cap and his competition would choke like rookies fresh out of Q School. Not once in that period did he fail to close out a major that he led in the final round.
That Tiger is no longer with us, if only because he no longer out-drives the field or spurs conversations of lengthening courses in order to make them Tiger-proof. That he is back in contention in any capacity is a medical miracle, considering that his back had so deteriorated that he could barely walk–just two years ago he needed a nerve block in order to endure being seated through the 2017 Masters Champions Dinner.
As unexpected as Tiger’s victory was in the 2019 Masters just past, however, the back nine on Sunday showed that Tiger had lost nothing of his power to intimidate. The turning point came when his final threesome partners, Francesco Molinari and Tony Finau, put their tee shots in the water on the 12th hole. Tiger, having hit safely, stood on the green and stared them down while they took their penalty shots. Molinari, who previously had a reputation for robotic unflappability, subsequently missed his putt for bogey and dropped two shots into a tie for the lead with Tiger. The camera close-up of Molinari’s face immediately afterward displayed his anxiety and shock for all of the nationwide television audience to see. He was done, and at that moment it could have been 1997 or 2000. Tiger was back, and with #15 subsequently in the books, it became a conversation again whether he would surpass Jack Nicklaus’s career record of 18 major championships and establish himself as the greatest golfer who ever lived. After seeing what happened on number 12, I wouldn’t bet against it, so long as Tiger’s surgically repaired body holds up. He’s still only 43, while Nicklaus won his last major at 46 and contended in another at 58.
The US Open is at Pebble Beach in June, and I have my ticket for Sunday. With any luck, I may get to see some of that history for myself–red shirt, Nike cap and all.
