No matter how much we try to pull away, he keeps dragging us back in. Eight months after he took leave of absence for another back surgery, Tiger Woods is always the trending name in golf.
Case in point was ahead of this week’s self-proclaimed “fifth major”, the Apostropheless Championship.
It was big news last week that Tiger did not enter, even though anyone who had paid a modicum of attention to his career knows Sawgrass, a venue he openly loathes, would probably be the last place on earth he’d attempt his long-awaited comeback.
It’s the same every week. Two weeks ago Tiger registered – that’s registered, folks, not entered – for the US Open at Oakmont.
Rampant hysteria ensued and my favourite example was the Irish golf website which confidently predicted he’d start his comeback at the Irish Open, because he loves the Emerald Isle so much. Bless.
Even in Masters week some thought that Tiger would show up. Instead, when he did it was just for the champions’ dinner, and then on the Friday of that week he let it be known he was hitting drivers again. For a man who famously guards his privacy, he doesn’t like to be ignored.
Writers “close” to Tiger (there is actually no such beast) have predicted various points of re-entry. Quail Hollow last week was one; Jack Nicklaus’ forthcoming Memorial Tournament, which Woods has won many times but was roundly humiliated at last year, is another.
We don’t even know for sure whether he has yet played an entire 18 holes of golf, one after the other. After all the frenzy of the Oakmont registration, it emerged that the most holes he’d played in a row was just five.
The anticipation is hysterical certainly not because of Woods’ record prior to departure – that was T69-71-MC-T32-MC-T18-MC-T10 if you recall. It’s been part fuelled by two long and excellent pieces of writing on Tiger by Sports Illustrated’s Alan Shipnuck and Wright Thompson of ESPN. I’d urge you to seek them out online.
Neither exactly uncovers anything startlingly new. But they do an excellent job of organising the Gordian Knot of Tiger’s tangled life since 2005 into some sort of understandable order.
Thompson’s piece, for my money, contains the killer element and one that has largely been ignored in the fevered rush to see Tiger come back.
It’s not Thompson’s forensic detail on Tiger’s possibly destructive dalliance training with the Navy Seals, as interesting as that is. It’s a simple and direct statement of fact we can’t forget.
And it is: This comeback will be Tiger’s last.
If he is not healed, fully fit and ready again, if he relapses once more, then his career is over. Tiger has said that he will not undergo any more surgeries to make himself right just to play tournament golf.
He’s contradicted himself and downright lied many times, but there’s no reason not to believe him on this.
Part of the reason his latter career is such a mess is because an impatient Tiger couldn’t wait to properly heal. He’s been injured more than any top line golfer in history, and so much of it has been self-inflicted.
So far he seems to have shown remarkable self-restraint – I bet every instinct in his broken body wants to get out there again. But if he has any sense and is well advised – for once in his career – he’ll resist it for now.
I think we may see Tiger hit a few balls at his own Quicken Loans event the week after Oakmont. Beyond that, maybe his World Challenge Invitational in December. He then hosts the old Los Angeles Open at Riviera in January 2017.
Each of these is the ideal place to return, giving him enough rest to have every chance of prolonging his career into his 40s.
He has to be cautious and be right physically. This is surely the point of no return.
The reddest of red herrings
One of my friends noted last week there was an “unaswerable” question about single-sex golf clubs, namely why is there more women’s clubs in Scotland than men’s.
I think he was maybe trying to justify all-male Royal Troon hosting the Open. So let’s answer his “unanswerable” question.
First of all, no women’s club exists for any other reason than it was formed when women couldn’t join the local men’s club. Let’s not pretend all-women clubs exist because of inequality on the part of women, it’s the other way around.
Secondly, no women’s club in Scotland actually owns a golf course, much less restricts male access or hosts an Open Championship.
That last element is the key part. I have no problem with single-sex clubs existing if they really want to, although I do feel they are silly and anachronistic.
I do have a problem with the game’s most public profiled event, with the attendant importance to growing the game, being hosted by an all-male club. I hope that clarifies things.