Woods wins once again

Woods’ win last Sunday in the Tour Championship marks his 80th career victory.
Photo Courtesy of Keith Allison/Flickr

42-year-old Tiger Woods wins tournament for the first time in five years

Small cohorts of students gathered around sports streaming devices of all kinds early Sunday afternoon as massive crowds buzzed across the freshly cut fairway at the 18th hole of the East Lake Golf Club just outside Atlanta, GA. “Let’s go Tiger,” was intermittently distinguishable from the crowd as hundreds of people shuffled toward the front of the group to catch a glimpse of their long-awaited champion. It had been five years since Woods has turned his Sunday red into a victory gold, or green for that matter.

The journey up to this point was one riddled with betrayal, failure, and a whole lot of back pain. After admitting to upward of 120 affairs (according to the New York Times) in 2010, to eight different knee and back surgeries, Woods plummeted, not just in the world rankings but also into the heart of controversy.

“Golf is 90% a mental sport and the other 10% is in your head,” the classic golf adage goes, and Wood’s head had been turned upside down.

Now, as Woods triumphantly reclaimed his dominance in the Tour Championship, the controversy of his past seems to be drowned in a nostalgic roar.

With Sunday’s victory rounding his Professional Golfer’s Association Tour career to an even 80, there is one record left in sight. Woods is still four Major tournaments short from becoming the greatest golfer of all time, chasing Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18 major tournament victories. Though this past weekend’s tournament was not a major, it gave hope to fans around the world that this goal may still be in reach.

With crowds of enormous proportions on hand to watch him finish, there is no doubt that Woods at the top of his game is the lifeblood of golf as a spectator sport — but could it be just another flash from a star that is burning out?

In 2018 alone, Woods has teased fans with seven top-10 finishes. Some see this as progress from his 2015-2016 seasons in which Woods did not play for 15 consecutive months, but others see it as old ‘‘has-been’’ who can’t seem to finish strong.

Regardless of the mistakes Woods has made in the past and the uncertain future ahead of him, fans across the world are happy to see Tiger finally out of the woods, at least for now.