On Oct. 23, 2018, golf fans marveled as they gathered around one player that was surprising the nation. Tiger Woods, a golfer that many thought was done has been showing glimpses of his old self in 2018. With many close matches, he has struggled with securing a victory. The 42-year-old found it, though, at the PGA Tour Championship.
Woods is considered by most to be one of the best golfers in history. With a decade long stretch of victories, it seemed like he would easily surpass the record of 82 tour victories set by World Golf Hall of Fame member Sam Snead. At 65 PGA tour victories, the title of being the most decorated in history was in sight for Woods.
Things got complicated in 2008, however, when he was forced to get knee surgery and miss two months of play. The next year, Woods was back, adding six more victories to his total. This was also the last time he has won the Player of the Year Award.
It was a few more years before Woods saw success again with eight wins in the span of 2012-13. Many believed that this was the end for Woods. In the following years he had four back surgeries and not a single tour victory. During this time, Woods also was convicted of a DUI and went into rehab in 2017. After this, Woods didn’t come back at the same level of play.
Woods scored victory number 80 at the East Lake Golf Club’s Tour Championship, a feat that many would have never expected less than a year ago. With a strong first hole, Woods sunk the shot to get a birdie. After this, Woods focused on maintaining his score and was able to remain at the top for the entire tournament. Saturday, the second day of the tournament, Woods was back, coming in extremely clutch as he was tied for first with Justin Rose.
Woods entered the day as calm and collected as ever, sinking a birdie at the first hole. This gave him a two-point lead since Rose had a bogey for the hole. However, this lead was minimal, since there was a total of 35 holes left to go. But this birdie gave Woods the spark he needed, driving him to sink five more birdies on the next six holes. This gave Woods the edge that he needed to stay in the lead. In the end, he took home the victory with only two fewer strokes than second place Billy Horschel.
Not only was Woods ecstatic about his victory, but many of his fellow golfers and famous golf enthusiasts shared their thrill as well. The victory was a long time coming and proved to the world that Tiger Woods isn’t done winning quite yet.
Woods will be playing again this weekend, Sept. 28-30, for team USA at the Ryder Cup. Woods was selected in early September as a wildcard by team captain Jim Furyk. After this recent win, the results are quite promising. Woods has been on team USA eight times for the Ryder Cup, but this is the first time since 2012. The question now is: how long do we have to wait for victory number 81?
