Back in 2008, Tiger Woods was unstoppable. His most astonishing golf victory came at the U.S. Open that year, at Torrey Pines in California, despite an injury that made his legs and left knee feel “like they had been hit with a thousand hammers.” On the final hole, down by a stroke, Woods hit a putt in a difficult spot for a birdie, tying Rocco Mediate and forcing an 18-hole playoff the next day. Woods pumped his fist, but he had work to do. On Monday, he and Mediate tied for 18 more holes. Woods looked injured and wounded, yet somehow kept swinging. Then, in the first sudden-death playoff hole, Mediate missed, giving Woods a chance to win with a par. He delivered, giving him his 14th major title at age 32. “It’s probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had,” he said at the time. He was right—and everyone thought he would win again and again. Jack Nicklaus, the famous champion of a record 18 majors, didn’t win 14 majors until he was 35. Woods, no doubt, would break that record, along with everything else.
I was reminded of all this while reading the excellent new book Tiger Woods, by Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian (the vivid thousand-hammers quotation about Woods’s legs belongs to them). The book, rich and clean, couldn’t have been published at a better time, now that Woods is trying—after years of struggle and injuries and little golf—just to stay alive in a tournament, never mind win it. Improbably, he hasn’t won a major since that dramatic victory in 2008. If that was his peak, what followed was a steady and sometimes steep decline in both his professional and personal life. He ruined his marriage with affairs. He struggled with painkillers. He injured his left Achilles tendon, had back spasms, and had back surgeries four times in three years. He couldn’t cure all that, and it eventually knocked him off the tour. Last year he had a DUI arrest that also involved painkillers and sleep drugs; in his booking photo, he looks disheveled and tired. During all this time, Woods could barely play.
This year’s Masters tournament, played from April 5 to 8, was Woods’s first major since 2015. The most one can say is: Woods is back now—or for now, and who knows for how long. He achieved at least one goal at the tournament: He competed and everyone either watched or kept track of his performance online.
It is remarkable that his arrival was itself seen as an achievement. The man who was once expected to surpass Nicklaus hasn’t come close to winning a major in 10 years, a decade that no one would have predicted. For a while, a tie with Nicklaus seemed possible. People used to wonder who would win more titles, Woods or tennis star Roger Federer, who has since moved well ahead (he has won 20 major titles and was recently ranked No. 1 in the world at age 36). Now no one expects Woods to come even close to Nicklaus, and most golf fans have settled for just watching him, not knowing how much time is left. Despite the continued support of many admirers, at 42 he’s not the old Tiger Woods anymore, and he likely never will be.
Woods started off the tournament with a shot way off target, into the crowd. On day two, he had a double bogey after he hit a shot into the trees. By the time play started on Saturday, there was little doubt that Woods was done in terms of winning. Yet everyone still wanted to watch him. The television ratings jumped, a big score for ESPN and CBS, especially since Woods survived to play over the weekend. His just being in the mix was enough, considering that CBS turned on its program after Woods was finished for the day—he shot even on the third day—and didn’t immediately show his results. It wasn’t pretty. Late at the 15th hole on Saturday, Woods hit a shot that bounced out of the green. He put his face down and shook his head, looking disgusted. He ended the hole with a bogey. Woods never capitalized on the five-shot holes, much to his disgust.
“I played the par five awful,” he said. Woods was at four over par, with all his chances of winning gone. The last day was his best, finishing three under par to end the tournament at one over par.
Woods won the Masters four times in his career, but the last one was long ago, in 2005. He was thinner then, with a smaller build and a healthier body. He seemed in those days to be in control of all aspects of the game. One putt, from the corner of the green in a tight 2005 match, is among of the most memorable moments. He hit the ball slowly into the green and it began to curve and drop near the hole. Then, for a long moment, the ball stopped at the edge, with Woods leaning forward, as if he could fire a force from his body to push the ball in the hole. It fell. He pumped his fists. Then there’s the most impressive Masters victory, in 1997. He finished 18 under par, a record that stood until Jordan Spieth tied it in 2015.
Victories and records like that one added to Woods’s popularity, even though he often avoided the media and didn’t have a reputation for friendliness. Despite all that went terribly, painfully wrong—much of it in full public view—with his life, love for Woods among fans seems strangely undiminished.
There’s also a lot to be said about what Woods has done for other golfers. Seeing what Woods was capable of, younger players grew up with new and feistier efforts to hit the ball deep and putt well. Sometimes they look and play much like Woods used to—as was apparent from seeing them at this Masters. Just watch Spieth, now 24, who won two major titles in 2015. Or Rory McIlroy, the 28-year-old who nearly hit a hole-in-one on Saturday as he moved into second place (he has four major titles in all) and then tied for first, at nine under par, by flicking a ball up high for an eagle (he eventually fell back). Patrick Reed, 27, in the first two days birdied every par-five hole and overall putted better than anyone. Rickie Fowler, a 29-year-old from California, essentially taught himself to play.
After Woods finished on Sunday, the rest of those men fought for the title with style and precision that would have made it a tough contest for Woods when he was at his best. There was an elegance to the competition, with Spieth making a charge from 5 under par all the way to 13 under. Fowler did even better, ending the day at 14 under par. But it was Reed, under pressure and trying to win his first major title, who held on through the end. On the 18th hole he ended the event with a two-putt finish that left him at 15 under par.
There’s still a chance that Woods will, somehow, win another major title. In 1986, Nicklaus found himself in a somewhat similar spot. He was 46 years old, hadn’t won a title since 1980, and trailed at the Masters. Then he made a miraculous comeback, inspired by an eagle and consistent shots throughout. When he won, he hugged his caddie—who was his son.
For Woods, there’s time if he stays committed and, above all, healthy. This could be the beginning of a decent stretch, but winning a title won’t be easy. Woods has inspired his opponents to make it that way—he was that good. The edge you see in them used to be seen only in Woods, to the point where he was expected to win every tournament he played. Now it’s just a question of how long his body can last and if he can rise to outdo the golfers who learned so much from watching him.
