With PGA win, Woods regains form

Last Sunday, Tiger Woods won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla. Three years ago, there would be no point in typing that previous sentence: Woods was by far the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world, and seemingly well on his way to becoming the greatest golfer who has ever lived. However, as we all know now, appearances can deceive. When news outlets first reported that Woods was involved in a car crash on November 27, 2009, I remember being concerned about whether he was physically injured. After all, Woods did tear his ACL the year before and was still in somewhat of a recovery mode. While the car crash caused only minor injuries for Woods, it was merely the first of many setbacks that brought Tiger further down than we thought possible.

Under speculation that Elin Nordegren, Woods’ wife at the time, was chasing him with a golf club in anger right before he crashed, the media and tabloids began digging into Tiger’s personal history. Soon, mounting evidence appeared that Woods was involved in multiple extramarital affairs. For the first time in his life, Woods was a villain rather than a deity. As famous as he had been, he always had a true squeaky-clean image: Never did fans hear about him partying recklessly, saying anything controversial or doing anything that might antagonize anyone. On February 19, 2010, Woods publicly apologized for the pain he caused Nordegren and their two young children, and soon after entered rehabilitation for sexual addiction.

With its most marketable athlete out of the public eye, the PGA was somewhat of a side event for casual fans. People were just waiting for Woods to make a comeback. I think it’s fair to say that most golf fans wanted Woods to start dominating again, because people tend to appreciate greatness and believe in giving public figures second chances. Certainly, most people who followed golf believed Woods would come back with a vengeance; he was the proverbial machine, and nothing could rattle him. Yet, when he returned, Woods was shaky. “He’ll dominate soon enough,” we all thought. “He has just been away from the game for a couple months.”

Except that, for the most part, Woods continued to struggle. When he did happen to have a great round, he inevitably followed it up with a shaky performance. Woods’ trademark consistency appeared to be a thing of the past; his putting worsened rather dramatically from his peak, and other golfers were finally able to catch up. Indeed, on November 1, 2010, Woods relinquished his No. 1 ranking that he had had for the previous 281 weeks. No particular golfer rose to Woods’ level; instead Woods fell to that of his competitors. Three years ago, we all wondered when Woods would win his next major. Suddenly, we questioned if he would win at all.

As a result, the public’s interest in golf continued to fade. The only times casual fans followed the PGA were during the four Grand Slam tournaments and any tournament in which Tiger Woods was among the leaders. Yet no Sunday afternoon after November 2009 ended with Woods hoisting a trophy for his PGA victory—until last Sunday. Those who were rooting for the return of Woods finally got their wish, albeit far later than they would have hoped or expected.

Woods, at 36 years old, is no longer the young hotshot that he was for a decade. However, his issue was never age; rather, it was whether he could mentally recover from his personal life falling apart in the most public way possible. Winning isn’t everything, even for Woods, but you better believe that this was the best reward he could have expected. And, perhaps just as importantly, it was the best reward for us, too, because, for once, we no longer took an athlete’s dominance for granted.