The long walk of Tiger Woods
A golfer unlike any other ... plus links of the week: a language savant, an old-school FAQ, and retiring away in Margaritaville
It wasn’t much of a limp but you could tell it was there. The Augusta National Golf Club is one big slope with a bunch of smaller ones along the way. It’s a long way down from the first tee to the bottom of Amen Corner, and a long way back up to the 18th green. Tiger Woods looked tired as he limped up that last hill Thursday afternoon. But he shot a 71, 1-under, and at the end of the day he was tied for 10th and four shots off the lead.
The leader is Sungjae Im. You do not know who that is. Chances are, given the headshots of every player in the field, many of you would not be able to ID any of them except for Tiger. He is the only golfer who matters. The only other golfer who sort of matters is Phil Mickelson, but he is taking a self-imposed timeout from the sport after saying that it was OK to collude with the Saudi government on a new golf tour, even though they hate gay people and killed a journalist, because it would give golfers like him a chance to have more control and make more money.
But Phil doesn’t matter that much anyway. Tiger is the only reason some of the people at Augusta this week spent scads of money to be there, and he is the only reason some of us will watch this weekend — assuming he makes the cut — and he is absolutely the only reason I logged onto the CBS Sports site Thursday morning. I never watch golf on a Thursday. Except when Tiger is playing the Masters.
To say he is the only golfer that matters is not to say that there are no other great golfers. There are incredible golfers on the tour right now, probably more than ever before. On Thursday Tiger was paired with Joaquin Niemann, a 23-year-old Chilean who is built like a baguette but outdrove Tiger on nearly every hole. He was pure entertainment to watch, and he eagled the 9th on the way to shooting 3-under, tied for third. The field is full of big names from the golf world, past and present — Bubba Watson, Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler. Scheffler, in case that name did not ring a bell, is the top-ranked player in the world. Tiger Woods is ranked 973rd.
He’s ranked that low because he hasn’t played a tournament since the Masters in 2020 — it was in November that year because of COVID. Four months later he rolled his SUV in California, shattering his right leg so badly that he said there was a discussion about amputating it. That was just 14 months ago.
There are two tracks to Tiger Woods’ life — the staggering achievements and the equally staggering mistakes. He is second on the all-time majors list, behind only Jack Nicklaus, and tied for first in tournament wins overall. He owns the two most dominating tournament performances of all time — the ‘97 Masters, which he won by 12 shots at age 21, and the 2000 U.S. Open, which he won by 15 shots and was the only golfer under par. I knew both those scores but went back and checked because they still seem impossible.
That’s one track. Here’s the other: He wrecked his car in his own driveway following reports that he had cheated on his wife with multiple women. He was found asleep at the wheel at 3 a.m. on a road near his home in Florida — he told police he had been taking prescription drugs and didn’t realize how they would react together. He rolled that SUV after going what police estimated as more than 80 mph.
And none of that even gets into how his racial identity — not just how others see him but how he sees himself — has led to a 25-year debate about how much Tiger really changed golf, or whether he really wanted to, or even if any of that matters.
He is both the greatest golfer in history, and far less than what he could have been.
My guess is that he knows this. That is why, with hundreds of millions in the bank and children waiting at home, he wills himself around the course at 46, chasing one more major, one more chance at catching Jack Nicklaus and proving that he is the best of all time.
On Thursday he reminded me a little of Muhammad Ali. Not the very end of Ali’s career, when he took such terrible beatings, but the few fights before that, when he was still winning but you noticed the punches he couldn’t throw and the moves he couldn’t make.
Old boxers put themselves in physical danger. With old golfers, it’s different. The saying about golf is that your opponent isn’t the other players, it’s the course. But that’s not quite true. In golf the real opponent is yourself.
No golfer in history has fought himself more fiercely than Tiger Woods.
He might have a big fight or two left in him yet. But what I noticed on Thursday, more than anything, was that limp.
10 things I wanted to share this week:
My other post this week was about creating fearless drafts.
My weekly for WFAE was about the feeling of deja vu around a failing uptown entertainment complex in Charlotte.
Story of the week was this Jessica Contrera piece on a carpet cleaner who speaks 24 languages — and is content with his life, even though other people wish he’d make more of his gift. Something about the story reminded me of the old Mexican fisherman joke.
Nick Paumgarten on retiring to Margaritaville. I have to say, this doesn’t sound bad at all.
DOG NEWS: While I work on my book about the Westminster Dog Show and the bond between dogs and their people, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: People aren’t the only creatures that have been getting COVID.
My friend Stephen Rodrick has a gripping story on how two U.S. soldiers who grew up in Afghanistan took huge risks to get their families out safely.
Another friend, Allison Braden, has a lovely and smart story about an analog cache of pre-Google FAQs kept by some clever librarians in Savannah.
Really enjoyed this NYT profile of Molly Tuttle, the astonishing acoustic guitarist who has a new album with a feminist twist on her bluegrass roots. I didn’t know until this story that Tuttle has alopecia, which you have heard about recently from that Chris Rock joke at the Oscars.
Nick Cave on love and hope: “Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, Valerio, such as reading to your little boy, or showing him a thing you love, or singing him a song, or putting on his shoes, keeps the devil down in the hole.”
For those of you who had to go to bed before it came on — like me — here’s “One Shining Moment” from this year’s men’s basketball tournament. Hell of a run, Tar Heels.
Also, I haven’t mentioned in a while that you can still buy my book, THE ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. It’s available in hardback, paperback, audiobook and e-book. I’d be grateful.
Enjoyed this one. Tiger does look tired. And thanks for the link to the Molly Tuttle piece. She’s impressive.