Easy, Tiger: redemption is more than a trophy Posted: 7:00 PM CDT Wednesday, Sep. 26, 2018

Opinion

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This article was published 25/09/2018 (2186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As sporting comeback stories go, they don’t get much more dramatic.

As a tale of personal redemption? That’s another matter entirely.

Last Sunday, Tiger Woods, once the most dominant athlete in the world, pulled himself out of the ash heap of history and did something few ever thought he would do again: he won a golf tournament. By beating golf’s elite in convincing fashion at the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta, Mr. Woods recorded his first victory in more than five years.

As he strode down the 18th fairway, the 42-year-old was followed by a delirious sea of humanity that pushed through the ropes and ignored the commands of security guards, encircling Mr. Woods in a wave not seen before in modern golf.

It was a compelling moment for a man who once had it all — and then threw it all away.

His fall from grace is arguably the most spectacular in the history of sport. Mr. Woods was on top of the world, but that world came tumbling down when, on Nov. 27, 2009, after a tabloid published a story about his affair with a nightclub hostess, the world’s best golfer crashed his Cadillac outside his Florida mansion.

His then-wife, Elin Nordegren, famously used a golf club to smash one of the SUV’s back windows. In short order, a steady stream of mistresses came forward to reveal Mr. Woods’ ugly secret — he was a serial philanderer, a man who used his fame and wealth to satisfy voracious sexual appetites.

In the wake of the scandal, he lost his family, along with many of his lucrative endorsement contracts. His career began a steady decline that saw the one-time king of golf, the winner of 14 major championships, plummet to the bottom of the world rankings.

Adding injury to insult, he endured four major back surgeries that left him publicly wondering whether he would ever be able to do anything — let alone play golf — without experiencing severe pain.

Fifteen months ago, when Mr. Woods was arrested asleep at the wheel of his parked car with the motor running — he blamed it on a reaction to prescription medications — it seemed as if his story had come to its inevitable, wretched end.

When he returned to competition last December, he was rated a humiliating No. 1,199 in the world. With Sunday’s astonishing victory, he has rocketed to No. 13.

After the victory, his first comments were aimed at his children, Sam,11, and Charley, 9.

“I hadn’t won any tournaments in which they can remember, so I think this will be a little bit different for them,” Mr. Woods said. “A lot of times they equated golf to pain because every time I did it, I would hurt and it would cause me more pain. And so now they’re seeing a little bit of joy and seeing how much fun it is for me to be able to do this again.”

It is undeniable Mr. Woods has once again earned the right to be called a champion, but whether his return to the winner’s circle constitutes a step toward the more elusive goal of personal redemption is a matter of individual judgment.

While it’s true no one should be putting him on a pedestal, there is joy to be found in the fact the story of Tiger Woods is no longer doomed to be a tragedy. The final chapters, it seems, are still being written.