Tiger Woods is Back

Matt York / AP

While not a Cleveland story, yesterday Tiger Woods returned to golf for the first time since willing his way to victory 8 months ago on a bum knee.  And it was no ordinary tournament or bum knee.  Woods’ last tournament before surgery was the U.S. Open, which he won over Rocco Mediate.  Most people will admit that Tiger Woods’ win in that tourney at that time was one of his most remarkable due to the fact that he played the end of the tourney practically on one leg.

His injuries after that performance included a torn ACL in addition to a double stress fracture in his tibia.  Having had two ACL surgeries myself, I will say that prior to having surgery, the potential instability of a knee while walking is terrifying.  I can only imagine the feelings and pains that must have through Tiger’s body as he was forced to shift his weight back and forth on that knee without some major stabilization ligaments.

As if to rub everyone’s face in just how amazing an athlete he is, Woods is now back.  And he is back in a mere 8 months.  Sure, that speaks to the wonders of modern medecine, but don’t be fooled.  If there is ever another debate about whether the world’s greatest golfer can be considered an athlete or not, I will simply point to this as the argument ender.  He is.

Yesterday Tiger made his debut at the WGC Accenture Matchplay Championships with a match against Woods’ most recent historical footnote, Brendan Jones of Australia.  Tiger won his match 3 and 2.  For you non afficianados, that means Woods was up by three with only two holes left, thus ending the match.  Woods’ final stats were 2 eagles, 3 birdies, 8 pars, and 3 bogies in defeating Jones.  It isn’t as impressive a round as we have ever seen Woods play, but it was a match and was certainly enough to beat his competition.  Next up, Woods will play Tim Clark (32nd in the world) on Thursday.

But his next match isn’t the important part of the story.  Woods is back.  The game of golf hasn’t been the same since he went down to injury last year.  He isn’t going to win every tournament, but the air of excitemtent and air of potential history that he brings to every tournament he plays has been missed.  Golf fans should be happy to finally have Woods back.  And they are second only to all those TV execs that will be counting on huge numbers of fans tuning in and watching advertisements from home.