WHEN Tiger Woods won the Tour Championship on Monday (September 24 PHL time), the biggest winner, too, aside from Woods, was golf. The sport was in decline, and Woods’s triumph was more than a shot in the arm, so to speak.
It will automatically trigger a resurgence in the game.
Woods’s win will cause worldwide euphoria once again, and the biggest barkers of celebration, loudest laughters, are big businesses seeing another bonanza as a result of the second coming of Tigermania.
Like in the days of old, golf was so popular that fairways are crowded even on weekdays. On weekends, tee times are advanced almost a month on some courses. In Tokyo, at least two courses require each player a one-year advance in reserving a tee time.
As Danny “Sir John” Isla vibered to me from his new base in Auckland, New Zealand:
“In Tiger’s prime, more than 1,000 golf clubs were built around the world. During his slump, more than 600 courses closed.”
It’s so clear by now: Woods’s resilience spells golf’s rebirth no less. Endorsements are again there for Woods’s picking.
But is Woods’s win to halt a five-year slump the greatest comeback in golf?
How about the case of Ben Hogan, who survived a car-truck collision to win majors again?
His entire anatomy almost declared a total wreck after he flung himself into his wife’s body when a truck was about to slam into the car he was driving, Hogan was deemed through with his golf career.
Winning the Professional Golfers Association in 1946 and the US Open in 1948, Hogan figured in that near-fatal accident in 1949 and was diagnosed unfit to win majors again, let alone play the game.
But no. Sixteen months later, he won the Masters in April of 1951. Next, he won the 1953 British Open on just his first try to become one of only five to win all four majors—the others being Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen and, yes, Tiger Woods.
But Hogan remains the only one who won the Masters, US Open and PGA in the same year. He died after a stroke at age 84 on July 25, 1997, after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease—his wife his constant companion and caregiver up to his final breath.
So, does Woods, a 14-time Slam champion, need also to win two more majors to equal the impact of Hogan’s comeback?
Like Hogan, Woods also went through physical pain, going under the knife four times for a fusion back surgery, plus knee procedures.
Likewise, he suffered emotionally, if not mentally, an offshoot of a shattered marriage due to his serial infidelities that cost him at least $100 million in alimony.
It was a humiliation more than an embarrassment for him to play again, his “sexcapades” put on a public microscope in his early attempts of a comeback.
More than an uphill climb, Woods, now 42, had to go through, stumbling, scrambling and scrapping most of the time as he painstakingly tried to rediscover his path to glory.
Now that he has found it, can he hang on to it—and complete a narrative for a virtual Hollywood script?
His legion of loyalists, who seemed to have stood by him all these years, can only agree.
After all, they say everybody deserves a second chance.
THAT’S IT I thank all those who threw their support behind the Philippine Sportswriters Association Golf Cup held at the Manila Southwoods on Tuesday. It did not only make the beneficiaries, such as the likes of legendary sportswriters Ernie Gonzales, Lito Tacujan and Recah Trinidad, amply rewarded but the event also proved that many out there are kindred souls who would not hesitate to pitch in when called upon to do so for the cause of humanity. I’m sure Doods Catacutan, the PSA president, was overwhelmed by the immense outpouring of support. Again, our deepest gratitude.