Tiger Woods is playing golf. A club is making contact with a ball, but not at a tournament or a practice round. On Sunday morning, Woods posted a brief, three-second, clip on his account with a basket of golf balls and taking practice cuts. The only words he said were in the video.
It's nice to see Woods playing golf. He on the links makes this planet feel a bit more normal, but he does notice the right leg. His leg was mangled in a single-car accident. He still needs artificial support to take a few practice swings nine months later.
His fibula and tibia were broken in the accident. The major leg bones were broken into multiple pieces and protruded through his skin. In late May, Woods told Golf Digest that dealing with the injuries from this accident was more painful than anything he had ever experienced.
This is where we are in the third part of the Tiger Woods story. The second part ended with Tiger winning the Masters. His reputation was damaged due to infidelity and drug abuse, and he fell from grace due to injuries.
At 45 years old, the only accomplishment left for Woods is Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major championships that Woods has always wanted to break, but that's not realistic. At 46 years old, he won his final major. Woods is three majors away from tying Nicklaus and he will be 46 next month. He had injuries from the car accident that prevented him from winning a major championship for 11 years.
Tiger can break the record, or even compete on the PGA Tour at an elite level, if he chooses to do so. He is a competitor who does not want his career to end in an overturned vehicle. If he is willing to put his body through the hell necessary to get back on the tour, more power to him, but for the rest of us there is nothing to expect.
As a sports fan, Woods has given us 25 years of excitement and intrigue and is one of the most compelling figures in sports. We got an in-depth look into his personal life that we rarely get from an active sports star that was a little too in-depth for me. I don't feel better knowing that Woods is fond of Perkins restaurants.
We lived in a time when a biracial professional golfer was one of the most famous people on the planet. His success made the game more accessible outside of the country club. It would be great to see him wear the Sunday red shirt one more time, but he has done enough. The storybook ending of the second does not need to be used in the third part of the story.
