FORE Magazine

Top Menu

  • About Me
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Home

Main Menu

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login

logo

FORE Magazine

  • Current Issue
  • Profiles
  • Sustainability
  • Travel
  • 19th Hole
  • Classic Course
  • FORE Her
  • More
    • Know the Rules
    • Handicap Hints
    • SCGA Junior
    • Where Are They Now?
    • News
    • Public Affairs
  • scga.org
The PodiumWinter 2022
Home›The Podium›Taming the Tiger: A Kinder, Gentler Woods Seems Likely

Taming the Tiger: A Kinder, Gentler Woods Seems Likely

By John Strege
January 24, 2022
1035
0
Share:

Mark Twain, the preeminent scratch wordsmith, once made a comparison of the hypothetical speech of dogs and cats and noted that “the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much.”

This would apply to the man known as the Big Cat, too: Tiger Woods, for whom reticence was so ingrained in his public persona that he treated his words the same as he did his strokes. The fewer the better.

So it was refreshing recently when he went off script and was unusually forthcoming about his future in golf following the horrific, possibly career-ending accident nearly a year ago in Rancho Palos Verdes that damaged both legs and left one mangled to the point that amputation was an option.

“I think something that is realistic is playing the Tour one day — never full time, ever again — but pick and choose, just like Mr. [Ben] Hogan did,” he told Golf Digest. “Pick and choose a few events a year and you play around that. I think that’s how I’m going to have to play it from now on. It’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it.”

We did not learn much from his playing the PNC Championship, thrilling as it was to see him back on a golf course, enjoying father-son time and, well, competing. He was noticeably limping at times and required a golf cart, on a flat course. It was a start, at least — good for him, for the game and for Charlie. But it wasn’t Tour golf.

“After my back fusion, I had to climb Mt. Everest one more time,” he said. “I had to do it, and I did. This time around, I don’t think I’ll have the body to climb Mt. Everest, and that’s OK.”

The Masters was his Everest and he scaled it to victory in 2019, two years after his spinal fusion surgery, his 15th major championship and in all likelihood his last, leaving him three behind Jack Nicklaus.

He is 46 now and not a young 46, given the litany of knee and back surgeries he has endured, compounded by the injuries he suffered in the crash. But if he never hits another tournament shot, his place in golf history is secure. In March, he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame.

Satisfaction was never his goal. Perfection was, even in a game that will never yield it. But he got close at times. He was able to author his own story, more or less, for more than two decades, but the ending inevitably will write itself.

And, in his words, that’s OK, too.

Previous Article

New Year, New Handicap?

Next Article

A Tropical Gem: Kapalua, Maui Keeps Evolving

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

John Strege

Related articles More from author

  • The PodiumWinter 2020

    The Podium: A Vote For Bob Goalby

    January 27, 2020
    By Bill Dwyre
  • Spring 2021The Podium

    Mulligan’s Wheel: Surfer, Teacher, CEO Jaime Mulligan Gets His Due

    April 23, 2021
    By John Strege
  • Spring 2016The Podium

    Golf The Greatest Game: Despite Subjecting Us to More Ups and Downs Than Riding a Pogo Stick, We Love You

    April 1, 2016
    By Bill Dwyre
  • Fall 2019The Podium

    Elegance and Eloquence: Remembering Jack Whitaker

    October 15, 2019
    By Bill Dwyre
  • 19th HoleWinter 2022

    Feast & Fairway: Double Your Pleasure at Coronado GC

    January 24, 2022
    By Tod Leonard
  • Spring 2019The Podium

    A Moral Penalty Stroke: The PGA TOUR Needed to Step In and Make a Bold Statement on The Saudi International

    April 26, 2019
    By Bill Dwyre

Leave a reply Cancel reply

Recent Posts

  • FeaturedNewsSpring 2022

    Not Your Father’s Game: With Two Facilities Newly Open and Callaway at the Helm, the Topgolf Explosion Comes to the Southland

  • FeaturedProfilesSpring 2022

    Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

  • FeaturedSpring 2022State of the Game

    Tee Time Tribulations: Searching for the Elusive L.A. County Tee Times

  • 19th HoleFeaturedSpring 2022

    A Community Staple: With Zaidee’s Bar & Grill, Ojai has a Place to Gather

  • FeaturedSpring 2022Travel

    The Pubs of St Andrews

FeaturedSpring 2022Travel

The Pubs of St Andrews

The challenge seemed daunting at first. On an eight-day trip to St Andrews, my job was to rate the pubs in this lively college town where golf began six centuries ...
  • Scotland Must-Plays & Hidden Gems: 10 Terrific Tracks that Prove the Old Course Isn’t the Only Game Around

    By Joe Passov
    April 21, 2022
  • Bob Does Hollywood: The Hardest Working Man on Instagram Finds Gold in Golf

    By Adam Hawk
    April 21, 2022
  • Not Your Father’s Game: With Two Facilities Newly Open and Callaway at the Helm, the Topgolf Explosion Comes to the Southland

    By Scott Kauffman
    April 21, 2022
  • The Provisional Ball: What? How? When?

    By Jimmy Becker
    April 21, 2022
© 2016 FORE Magazine About Us | Contact Us | Advertise