By: William Burns
On Sept. 23, 2018, Tiger Woods finally got his long-awaited 80th tour win of his career. Woods, who has been sidelined with injuries for a while, has completed his comeback and was able to raise both arms in victory again.
Woods teed off the first round and promptly got a bogey on his first hole, however, that was not a commonplace over his four rounds. He finished his first round with twelve pars, four birdies and an eagle to finish the round at a scorching hot five under par.
The second round followed like the first, with 11 pars and five birdies. However, with a bogey and double bogey, Woods finished the round just two strokes lower than his first, seven under.
The third round really cemented his victory. While only shooting nine pars, he turned over a ridiculous seven birdies and two bogeys to push him even lower to 12 under par for the course, allowing him to cruise through the final round.
On the 16th hole of the fourth round, Woods felt the pressure and missed the fairway, and his lead was cut to two strokes with two holes left to play. With two tense holes left, Woods knocked out two pars to maintain his lead and finished one shot over par on the fourth and final round of the tour to end the course 11 under par for the tour and won by two strokes thus earning the $1.6 million purse.
Woods’ first struggles came with a back surgery in April of 2014. After he recovered, he missed three out of four major tours and in September of 2015, he had another back surgery which set him back yet again.
Woods came back in February of 2017 to play one round at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic only to leave after the round due to back spasms. Once again, in April of 2017, Woods had a fourth back surgery to put discs back together in his lower back; not even a month after the surgery Woods felt better.
“It has been just over a month since I underwent fusion surgery on my back, and it is hard to express how much better I feel,” Woods said on his website May 24. “It was instant nerve relief. I haven’t felt this good in years.”
The problems didn’t end there. In May of 2017 Woods was asleep at the wheel in his parked, running car and was jailed for several hours in Jupiter, Florida. In October he was charged with reckless driving after being found asleep at the wheel beside the road. Then, after this long, painful journey, his comeback began.
In August 2018, Woods closed with his lowest ever final round at a major, a 64, and finished runner-up. In September Woods was picked for the Ryder Cup, his first appearance since 2012. Then, at the end of September, he won the PGA tour for his 80th win at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.
Woods didn’t have much time to bask in his newfound glory, for one short week later Tiger was taking part in the Ryder Cup, a biennial golf tournament between men’s teams from the United States and European teams. The 42nd Ryder Cup Matches were held in France from Sept. 28–30, 2018 on the Albatros Course of Le Golf National in Guyancourt, a suburb southwest of Paris.
All of the critics and writers who had praised Woods on his return to the podium after winning the tour just one week prior, ate their words as Woods closed the Ryder Cup with an 0-4 record for the weekend. Woods never had the lead but was tied briefly with his opponents several times. Since the Ryder Cup started in 1979, there have only been four golfers from the United States to score zero points in four or more matches, Woods included.
Woods was displeased with his performance saying, “It’s frustrating because we came here, and I just didn’t perform at the level that I had been playing, and just got behind early in the matches and never got back.” Woods’ career record at the Ryder Cup is 13-21-3.
