We Thought He Was Done, Then Tiger Woods Won the Masters to Cap Off Greatest Comeback in Sports History

by Julian Spivey
I don’t remember the exact moment I finally caved in and joined the “I don’t think Tiger Woods is going to win again” crowd, but it was after almost a decade since his last major win and probably a good two-to-three years after his first comeback season of 2013 earned him five tournament wins and a PGA Tour Player of the Year honor. But the back injuries just seemed too much to overcome, especially a fourth back surgery, which turned out to be spinal fusion surgery in April of 2017.
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Tiger Woods has been my favorite golfer, as he was for millions, since I began watching golf in the late ‘90s and it had become downright painful to watch him limp around the golf course in obvious pain. It was just as painful seeing the greatest of all-time at his sport seemingly finished before he even reached his 40s. At one point in 2017 he had fallen out of the top 1,000 in the World Golf Rankings.

But, in 2018 I was encouraged by what I saw from the newly healthy Tiger Woods. In the early part of the season he finished second at the Valspar Championship and I knew he once again had would it would take to win a tournament. In July in the British Open he took the lead briefly during the final round before ultimately falling back to sixth place and I was once again encouraged that he was returning to – not his prime, which at his age seems improbable – but at least to his winning ways. He would finish second in the year’s final major the PGA Championship in August. Then came The Tour Championship, the last event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs, in September when Woods was lights out all weekend and won the season-finale event for his first win in more than five years, the longest winless drought of his career, and the 80th PGA Tour win of his career.

The Tiger Woods I knew and loved and admired watching for almost two decades was back. He was a winner again. But he still had some doubters believing he’d never win another major tournament.

The first major of every golf year is the iconic Masters Tournament, a tournament that Woods had won four times in his career, but not since 2005. But, because of Woods’ stellar career at Augusta National I figured if Woods was ever going to win another major it would be the Masters. Predicting a major golf tournament winner is a fool’s errand. There are so many talented golfers in every tournament and a majority capable of winning any given one. I wasn’t prepared to say, “Tiger Woods is going to break through this weekend.” My official prediction was for Rory McIlroy to win another green jacket as he’s been the hottest golfer in the world this year. But I was encouraged by Woods’ play this week and as he entered the final round on Sunday two strokes behind leader Francesco Molinari, I knew he’d give the championship at least a good run.

It turned out to be the stuff of fairytales.

Throughout the front nine Woods was pretty solid but didn’t necessarily look any better than the others out there on the golf course and Molinari is not a guy who makes many mistakes. But, on the par-3 twelfth hole Molinari made a huge mistake and put his tee shot in the drink. Woods capitalized upon this and briefly took his first lead.

Woods had told the media on Saturday after the third round of the Masters that his plan for Sunday would simply be to remain patient. He did this brilliantly all day on Sunday, never seeming to panic even when he would hit the occasional bad shot – and he didn’t hit many on the day.

The lead would fluctuate a bit after Woods took the lead the first time and at one point there was a five-way tie for first and it seemed the tournament could likely go to a playoff. But, guys around Woods started to falter ever so slightly and he remained patient and calm. He birdied the 15th hold to take the outright lead once again and I could tell just by watching on television that he was feeling good. I knew it for sure on the very next hole when he almost aced the par-3 16th. That would’ve been the shot of his career had he done it. It was a gimme birdie to give him a two shot lead with two holes to play and all he’d have to do was be calm, patient and play conservatively to win the tournament from there. He did just that. With a little tap in bogey on the final hole he captured his fifth career Masters victory and more importantly his first major win in almost 11 years.

Woods had done what most of us thought he’d never do again, and it solidified the fact that there’s simply never been anybody better at the game of golf than him. For him to be done, and he told the media on Sunday that he even doubted he’d ever win again, and to come back and win the most iconic tournament in the United States less than two years after having spinal fusion surgery is the greatest comeback in the history of sports. I’m so thankful that we were all wrong about Tiger Woods and I know the game of golf is too. It also doesn’t seem like this is Woods’ swan song either. Now that he’s broken through the gates you should expect him to do it again.

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