PARAMUS, N.J. – Just two weeks ago at the PGA Championship, fans pushed in along every corner of Bellerive’s 18th hole chanting, “Let’s go Tiger,” undeterred by the oppressive heat or the hopelessness of Tiger Woods’ title chances.
It was a fitting send-off for a player who would come up two strokes short in his quest to win his 80th PGA Tour title and his 15th major championship, not to mention an apropos snapshot of the massive St. Louis galleries who cheered Tiger’s every step.
It was also a sign of the times for the game’s most recognizable athlete.
Since Woods embarked on this most recent comeback from injury, the sense of excitement has steadily built. What began as a curiosity now looks like certainty.
Woods has repeatedly explained the 2018 season was always going to be filled with more questions than answers. He didn’t know how his repaired back would hold up under the pressure of competition or what swing he would have.
Fan didn’t know which Tiger would arrive on the first tee each week – Vintage Woods or the often-injured guy who managed to play just 19 events the last four years.
As Woods progressed, the answer seemed to be the former, with Tiger electrifying fans at the Valspar Championship on his way to a tie for second place.
“This entire year has been so different,” Woods said on Tuesday at The Northern Trust, his first playoff start since 2013. “I’ve had excitement. I’ve had people into it over the years, but this has been so different. We go back to how everyone received me at Tampa, that was very special and I had not received ovations and warmth like that.”
Woods tied for fifth at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and fourth at the Quicken Loans National. Despite Tiger’s regular calls for patience and perspective, a fan base that was reluctant to dive back in with a self-described medical miracle is now wading into the deep end.
This zeal has built to a crescendo, with the PGA Championship emerging as the new raucous standard.
“I’ve played with him a lot during that time [in his prime],” Stewart Cink said late Sunday at Bellerive. “After the round yesterday, I commented it sounded like the old times, but the truth is it was more intense yesterday then I remember it being at any time.”
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A portion of that Bellerive buzz was the byproduct of a community starved for major championship golf. And, to be fair, eventual champion Brooks Koepka earned his share of cheers for his third major triumph in his last six major starts. But the majority of that fervor was attibutable to Woods’ play.
Woods is not playing the role of ceremonial golfer and this is not a farewell tour. For the first time in a long time, his play has lived up to his legend.
There’s nothing better in sports then a comeback, and Woods may end up being the most compelling reclamation project golf has seen in decades.
“I think that everyone can relate to that because they have all gone through it. Everyone has got aches and pains, and whether you’ve had kids or not, you get to your 40s, you’re feeling it, and I’m not the only one,” Woods explained. “The only difference is I’m an athlete and I’m playing at a high level and one of the best players in the world as what I do for a living. That’s hard. People understand that. They understand, trying to compete against the younger generation, and it gets a little more difficult.”
Although Woods has given fans plenty to cheer along the way, this is about more than numbers on a scorecard. Approaching his 43rd birthday in December, Tiger has embraced his newfound health as much more than simply another competitive chapter. Woods’ comeback has been defined by a perspective that only comes when one faces their own competitive mortality.
He’s openly appreciative of this opportunity, and the crowds seem to realize that.
“I think that people are more, I guess appreciative. I don’t want to make that sound wrong or anything but they know that I’m at the tail end of my career, and I don’t know how many more years I have left,” he said. “I’m certainly not like I was when I was 22. Forty-two, it’s a different ballgame.”
There’s still plenty of competitive compartmentalization, as evidenced by the all-too-familiar scowl he wore on Sunday at Bellerive. The difference, however, is that he’s more willing to offer the world a glimpse of a softer side where the sharp edges have been dulled by age and injury. On Tuesday, he was asked about his relationship with the crowds that line every fairway.
“Unfortunately, I’ve gotten to know a lot of them because I’ve hit a lot of wayward balls. I’ve signed a lot more gloves this year than I have in the past,” he laughed.
He’s also introduced an entirely new generation of fans to a concept only those of a certain age could previously understand: Tiger-mania.
