Tiger Woods in front of the Golf Masters in Augusta "I am a walking wonder"
It was not so long ago that Tiger Woods had to rely on someone picking him up in the morning. For months, it was not about the 42-year-old, when he would make his comeback on the golf course. The question was rather, if he will ever be able to walk properly again. Just before the Masters in Augusta, Woods wrote on his homepage: "I've got a second chance to live, I'm a walking wonder." "A walking miracle" - how true. Four back surgeries alternated with failed comeback attempts. No day without pain. In May of last year he was taken asleep at night behind the wheel of his car in police custody, a wild drug cocktail in the blood. He went into withdrawal, the third of his life. A golf course was as unattainable for Woods these days as he was even for years to the competition.
It's easier to count the records he does not keep Woods has won over a hundred professional tournaments in his career. It's easier to count the records he did not put up than the ones he holds. One who is missing: golf pro Jack Nicklaus collected 18 major titles. Woods has won 14 majors in eleven years, he was well on the way to a record. But suddenly it was over. His last victory: 2008, not long before his first withdrawal due to a sex addiction. The 15th major title would be almost as far away from the 14th as the 14th from the first. And yet he is considered a favorite on the title for many bookmakers. Last November, just before returning to the tour, Woods privately played a round with Rory McIlroy. He said only one word afterwards: "wow". He had never seen Woods so well personally. Can this 42-year-old win the Masters? "Absolutely possible," says McIlroy. "It would be the biggest comeback in sports history." A wonder. Once again.
At the age of 21 Woods turned the elitist, white golf world upside down It was in Augusta in 1997, when Woods at the age of 21 turned more than just the golf world on its head. Where the white and elitist sport is still a little whiter and more elitist, where they did not want to receive black members until the 1990s, that son of an African-American and a Thai woman suddenly wore the famous green club jacket, the one next to it Members only get winners.
Golf was not the same as before - even though Woods wrote in his book "The 1997 Masters: My Story" twenty years later: "It would have been naïve to me to believe that the victory would have been tantamount to ending that gaze, though a person of a minority enters a golf club. " This look, he accompanied his life. When Nike advertised an astronomically-endowed talent contract in 1996, the sporting goods maker said, "Hello World, there are still golf courses in the US where I can not play because of my skin color." He also spoke of being "unwilling". The second look that accompanied Woods was a completely different one, admiring, amazed. The first look always drove him. He lived on the second.Check out today's free tips on Tipsbetting.co.uk.
Woods and the competition: strictly speaking, two different sports Between his Masters win in 1997 and the success despite cruciate ligament rupture and tibia fracture at the 2008 US Open Woods was in the majors in total at 136 strokes under par. Compared to this number with all the other golfers who played at least 40 major rounds during this time , the next competitor lands at 63 over par - 189 strokes behind Woods. Strictly speaking, these would be two different sports. Woods revolutionized golf course design by squeezing the squares, opening the sport to new audiences, becoming the dominant economic factor in a whole industry - and the world's first billionaire sportsman.
In its prime, viewership rates rose more than 170 percent when Woods was around. In March, when the returnee again played for victory on the PGA Tour, the odds were the best in five years. At that time he had last won a tournament. Even three of the four majors of the year 2017 could not keep up with these quotas. Justin Thomas, number two in the world, says, "Everyone comes to see him, but no accusation: I would do it that way." Wonder where you look. In February, Woods accelerated his club to 128 mph. A new record. At 42 years old. After all this suffering. How is that possible? Almost ten years ago, after a knee injury, there were never-heard rumors about taking growth hormone. Nobody talks about it. Woods says he's been symptom free for the first time in many years. But is that enough? Woods has made up about 1000 places in the world rankings over the past few months. Nevertheless, he is likely to be the first number 104 in the world, which goes as a favorite in a major. This is normal for everyone. Because it's Woods. Because everything is a miracle anyway.