After a massive five year deficit, Tiger Woods has come out of the blue to show he’s still in the game.
Woods won the Professional Golfers’ Association World Tour on September 23rd, at the East Lake Golf Course in Georgia. His victory had many golf fans raving about his success, as many thought his career was simply over.
Woods used to absolutely own the game, highlighted by his 1997 Masters win, his 2000 U.S. title, and his win in the 2008 U.S. Open despite a broken leg. Woods was often considered the greatest golfer of his time, and of all time for that matter. The thing that made Woods’ Masters win in Augusta, 1997, so significant was his record score and victory at age 21, giving him the title of the youngest man first African American of his time to win a Masters. Woods had an unbelievable finish of 18 under, still to this day his best performance.
However, in November 2009, Woods’ career began the decline that many thought was the end of his career completely. Woods was involved in a car crash outside his home in Orlando, FL, and suffered media attacks of alleged affairs with other women. Woods then later divorced his wife and aired an apology on TV for his previous actions.
“It [Stunk] to watch Tiger Woods fall off the scene. He was really something to watch,” said sophomore Peter Montavon.
Another contribution to the decline of Woods was his constant injuries that cost him many tournaments and opportunities to play. All the way back in 2002, Woods had a surgery to remove fluid from the ligament (ACL) of his left knee. After this, Woods’ ACL remained a constant source of pain, and in 2008 he had another surgery due to more damage in his left knee. And now, just 18 months ago, Woods talked about how he had back and leg pain making him miserable. Woods questioned if he was going to live the rest of life in pain.
After receiving a spinal fusion surgery in April of 2017, Woods was able to emerge and shatter everyone’s beliefs. In as late as June in the U.S. open, Woods was ranked 79th, and his hopes of making the Ryder Cup team had seemed to slowly slip away.  But then, Woods had a miraculous five top six finishes, along with his astonishing victory on September 23rd. His newfound success is also not being labeled as a walk off, but more a chance to show that he’s still got game.
“Watching tiger dominate the tournament gave me hope for the world,” said sophomore Matt Zimmerman.