Tiger In the Rough

BA Sports Show Column

Brady Tabish, Assistant to the Sports Editor

 

Paul George, Paul Pierce, and Adrian Peterson. What do these three athletes have in common? They have all come back from awful injuries and accidents keeping them from the sports they love.
But none of their stories come close to Tiger Woods’ comeback from the shadows.

Growing up, watching him was one of my favorite things to do. I’d love sitting in the living room and seeing Tiger in his Sunday red.

I interviewed two Big Sky Varsity golfers to ask what they think of Tiger Woods’ comeback. Senior Zach Harvey said, “It’s great to see him come back and just shows any person can come back at any time.” Zach’s brother, Junior Ryan Harvey, said: “I am excited to see Tiger come back from this and see how he will perform next year.”
Going back from the beginning of the end of the beginning for Tiger. It is nothing short of amazing.

The date is July 2007, Tiger Woods ruptures his ACL while running on a golf course after the British Open. He goes on to win five out of the next six tournaments with the torn ACL, but that was the start of the injuries and problems to come. I just remember my dad talking about how amazing it was to see him play with a torn ACL, but I was too young to think anything of it.

April 2008: Tiger has arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage.

May 2008: He is advised that he has two stress fractures in his tibias, and should be on crutches for three weeks.

June 2008: Tiger wins Torrey Pines with torn ACL as well as two stress fractures, later in the month he has reconstructive surgery on his ACL and is out for 8 months.
At this moment is when I started realizing he was a once in a lifetime athlete

November 2009: Tiger crashes his SUV into a tree and fire hydrant outside his house. Later on, it’s learned about his extramarital whereabouts, as he is soon dropped by almost all sponsors.
It was almost unreal seeing Tiger go through this and was pretty entertaining to follow the coming stories.

March 2012: wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first PGA tour win since June of 2008.

April 2014: Woods has back surgery.

September 2015: He has missed the cut for the last three of four majors, then has second back surgery hoping to come back soon.

October 2015: Another back surgery.

February 2017: Woods has to withdraw from the tournament due to back spasms.
People haven’t seen Tiger do well in a long time. I had wondered at that point if he’d ever come back.

April 2017: He has a fourth back surgery to fuse discs.

May 2017: He is arrested and jailed for a DUI, later learned to be on pain medications. This year he broke a five-year dry spell by clinching a Tour Championship.

Tiger’s journey has been anything but easy, and I look forward to what he can achieve and will achieve. Perseverance and grit are a couple of words that come to mind. But we will just have to see.