“As if he never went away,” Butch Harmon proclaimed late on Sunday, the one-time architect of arguably golf’s greatest player captivated in his current role as television analyst.
But that’s just it, he did go away. Some ways away, too.
From the sport’s summit, a space that once constituted his sole property. From winning regular golf tournaments, let alone major titles. From competing or even swinging a club, incapacitated by personal shame, the subsequent and debilitating fall from grace, the numerous back surgeries.
Not long ago, he confided to those close to him that he was done. On the eve of the 81st US Masters, he required a nerve block to take his place at the pre-tournament Champions Dinner.
But then Tiger Woods won the 83rd US Masters. He held off the reigning British Open champion and the winner of the past two US Opens, keeping his cool when those around them lost theirs in the mid-April Augustan angst. Incredibly, he captured a first major in nearly 11 years and a 15th overall.
Slipping into a fifth Green Jacket, Woods completed one of the greatest comebacks in all of sport. Hogan, Ali, Lauda, Seles and the like have company. Perhaps Tiger’s transcendent status, and the glare that induces in this celebrity-obsessed 21st century, elevates his achievement above all else. The debate will rage.
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Tiger Woods: Two years ago he told golfing legend Jack Nicklaus "I'm done" before undergoing spinal surgery. Now Woods has succeeded in what many thought was impossible by winning his fifth Masters and first major in 11 years. The triumph completed a remarkable comeback for Woods following years of surgeries and personal problems that convinced many that the American would never again win one of golf's four majors. Reuters -
Monica Seles: She looked poised to rule women's tennis in the early 1990s, becoming the youngest woman to reach the world No 1 in 1991 before winning three out of four grand slam singles titles in 1992 with victories at the Australian, French and US Open. In 1993 she again looked set to dominate, opening the year by winning the Australian Open with a defeat of German rival Steffi Graf. In April, however, Seles was stabbed by a deranged spectator while playing at a tournament in Hamburg. Although she soon recovered from her injuries, Seles would not play for two more years. She returned in 1995, and the following year she won her 10th and last grand slam singles title with victory at the Australian Open. Getty Images -
Alex Zanardi: The American driver was involved in a horrific crash in the American Memorial 500 CART race in 2001 which resulted in him having both legs amputated. However, he returned to racing in the FIA World Touring Car Championship less than two years later and then became a gold medallist at the 2016 Paralympic Games in para cycling. Getty Images -
Muhammad Ali: After refusing to be inducted into the US army in 1966, the world heavyweight champion was effectively banned from boxing for three years as sanctioning bodies across the US refused to grant him a licence. The ban meant Ali missed some of the peak years of his career. He attempted to regain his title in 1971's "Fight of the Century" against Joe Frazier but suffered the first defeat of his career. In 1974, Ali was given no chance as he attempted to regain his title against George Foreman in the "Rumble of the Jungle". But the then-32-year-old Ali pulled off one of the great upsets by confounding Foreman with his "rope-a-dope" tactics before scoring an eighth round knockout. He would go on to win the world heavyweight championship for a third time in February 1978 with a unanimous decision over Leon Spinks. Getty Images -
Lindsey Vonn: Considered one of the greatest skiers of all time, the American suffered multiple broken bones and joint ruptures from high speed crashes on the slopes but kept returning. She holds the women's record of 82 World Cup wins, and has finally decided her body can go on no longer in competitive skiing. Getty Images -
George Foreman: The American had faded into obscurity after his stunning defeat to Muhammad Ali in the "Rumble in the Jungle" in 1974, fighting six more times before retiring in 1977 after a defeat to Jimmy Young. But in 1987 he confounded the boxing world by returning to the ring at the age of 40, fighting in a series of low-key bouts at a time when Mike Tyson ruled the division. He failed with his first attempt to regain a world title when he was beaten by Evander Holyfield on points in 1991. However three years later Foreman was on top of the world, defeating Michael Moorer by knockout to claim the title 20 years after he had last held it. At 45 he was the oldest ever heavyweight world champion. Getty Images -
Niki Lauda: The Austrian driver appeared to be cruising to a second Formula One drivers' title in 1976 when disaster struck at the German Grand Prix at the Nuerburgring. Lauda's Ferrari swerved off the track and struck an embankment, before exploding in flames. He was trapped in the wreckage and suffered severe burns before being pulled to safety. Incredibly, he returned to racing 43 days later at the Italian Grand Prix. He would go on to win two more drivers' championships before retiring. Getty Images -
James Cracknell: Winner of two Olympic gold medals for Great Britain at rowing, his physical feats were almost ended when in 2010 he was knocked off his bike by a lorry in the US and suffered a fractured skull. The lasting impact was memory loss and a change in personality, but earlier this month he became the oldest person to compete in the Cambridge-Oxford Boat Race at 46-years-old – and his Cambridge team won. Getty Images -
Babe Didrikson Zaharias: As well as winning 31 golf tournaments she also excelled at athletics, winning Olympic gold in track and field. Her last seven golfing wins – including the 1954 Women’s Open - came after she was diagnosed with cancer and had a colostomy. She won twice more in 1955 but died in 1956 aged 45. Getty Images -
Lance Armstrong: His was, for a time, the greatest sporting comeback story, until he finally owned up and admitted to being a drugs cheat. After being treated in 1996 for advanced testicular cancer for which he was given a low chance of survival, he returned to cycling to win seven Tour de France titles between 1999 and 2005. After years of denials, in 2013 he confessed to doping to win all of his titles. He was subsequently stripped of all his Tour wins. Getty Images
What is clear, though, is that after the sex scandal, the excruciating mea culpa, the public divorce, the loss of sponsors and his aura, the spinal surgeries and the times he lay stricken in front of his daughter unable to get to his feet, the 2017 police arrest and the mug-shot humiliation, the catharsis feels complete.
If the troubles humanised Woods, the turnaround only amplifies his appeal.
“It fits,” Woods beamed in green in Butler Cabin as Jim Nantz tempted the tears to provide a Hollywood script its Hollywood ending. Didn’t it just?
Twenty-two years on from the most dominant display Augusta National had witnessed, Woods was back again, not in that prime, but Masters champion all the same, the game’s latter-day lightning rod its darling once more. Outside, the typically contained Augusta gallery carolled his name.
Barack Obama offered his congratulations. Ditto Serena Williams, Kobe Bryant and Tom Brady. Contemporaries and competitors cheered golf’s latest champion, celebrating possibly golf’s most remarkable resurgence.
They had often lamented an inability to challenge Woods in his pomp. How they should be careful what they wish for.
Woods’ principal victory?
He beat into submission his opponents at Augusta in 1997 to seal a first major title, aged 21. He triumphed there again four years later to hold at once all four of the sport’s premier prizes, somehow remaining resolute as the "Tiger Slam" tension reached its crescendo. At the 2008 US Open, Woods emerged, barely, from a Monday play-off with arms clasping the trophy. He did so despite a double-stress fracture of the leg.
But Sunday’s success, the first major crown since Torrey Pines, must rank as his finest professional accomplishment to date. Woods overcame the doubt and the deterioration, forging forward on the foundation of recent close runs at the Open and the PGA Championship. On last September’s Tour Championship, as well, when he rose above the other 29 best players on that season’s PGA Tour to secure a first win in more than five years.
The first since the back issues took hold and the naysayers nestled.
Irrespective of a career spent pushing the boundaries, and the sheer bloody-mindedness that demanded, Woods had already conceded privately that he was spent. Anything else, he offered in public, would be “gravy”.
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The highs: 1997 Masters – Announces himself to the world with record-breaking 12-shot victory at Augusta. Getty -
2001 Masters – Prevails at Augusta to hold all four majors at once, dubbed the “Tiger Slam”. Getty -
2008 US Open – Captures 14th major with superb play-off victory against Rocco Mediate at Torrey Pines. Getty -
2013 Resurgence – Returns to form after high-profile scandal surrounding his personal life. Won five times, including the Players Championship. Getty -
2018 Tour Championship – Wins for first time in more than five years, and after fourth back surgery. Getty -
2019 Masters – Triumphs at Augusta to secure fifth Green Jacket and 15th major crown. Reuters -
The lows: 2009 PGA Championship – Creates unwanted history by losing his first major when holding the 54-hole lead. AFP -
Personal scandal – Exemplary public image erodes when found bleeding and semi-conscious after car hits tree and fire hydrant outside Florida home on 2009 Thanksgiving weekend. Getty -
2014 Honda Classic – Withdraws after 13th hole of final round citing back spasms. Heralds beginning of persistent back problems, leading to four operations in four years. Getty -
2017 DUI arrest – Arrested on suspicion of DUI in Florida in May after being found asleep at wheel of car with engine running. AFP -
Rankings low – Battle with injury leads to time away from game and loss of form, prompting a fall to No 1199 in the world by December 2017. Getty -
2021 car accident – Involved in serious crash in Los Angeles, sustains multiple leg injuries. AFP
Yet following Sunday, he has now the appetite, and patently the aptitude, for more. Jack Nicklaus’ 18-major haul has returned to within view, no longer far beyond the horizon.
Next month, the PGA Championship sets in at Bethpage Black, the scene of Woods’ 2002 US Open victory. Four weeks later, the US Open returns to Pebble Beach, the devilish coastline course recognised for its contribution to the “Tiger Slam”.
Most probably previously convinced his major record was secure, on Sunday Nicklaus chirped of Woods: “He’s got me shaking in my boots.”
The rest of golf quivers with excitement.
Woods is back, from the brink and looming large again. Gripped by an undeniably compelling storyline, enchanted by his former pupil’s repertoire, execution, control and steel in his eye, Harmon declared that those at Augusta and the millions glued to screens worldwide were witnessing “vintage Tiger”.
At 43, he is some way from that – no one will likely ever match his early-millennium mastery – and the game today traverses a different landscape. But, reinstated as a major winner, Woods gleams with a rekindled spirit.
So, too, does golf.
