Dubai: If it was a Hollywood script, no one would believe it. Tiger Woods wrote another chapter in his already monumental biography when he scored his first victory in more than five years on Sunday.
His two-stroke win at the Tour Championship in Atlanta was his first title in a fairy-tale comeback after a near two-year absence.
Eighteen months ago, Woods needed help getting out of his bed due to back injuries that looked to have ended the 14-time major winner’s career. He had four surgeries and had his lower spine fused in a last-resort effort just to get back out playing once again.
On Sunday, Woods fought back tears as he answered all the questions, silenced all the critics and naysayers, and holed out on the 18th green to notch up his 80th PGA Tour tile.
Once the most dominant force in golf, Woods’s road to recovery has been long and painful. he has suffered many setbacks and stalls, leading many to predict his days of contending with the best were behind him as age and a punishing schedule looked to have done irreparable damage to his body.
Now we can be sure, Woods never, ever gives up.
After the 42-year-old carded a one-over-par 71 at East Lake Golf Course on Sunday, he raised his arms aloft with several thousand fans ringing the green roaring their appreciation. It will be hard for him to recall it sounding sweeter.
Woods will have little time to celebrate his victory before joining the US team for the Ryder Cup against Europe starting on Friday.
He was one of Jim Furyk’s captain’s picks for the event taking place in Versailles this weekend. His skipper’s faith looks to be bearing fruit as the seven-time Ryder Cup Team US player is back to somewhere near his best this year, finishing second at the Valspar Championship in Florida in March, sixth at the British Open and second at the PGA Championship, two shots behind the winner and fellow 2018 Ryder Cupper Brooks Koepka — his best result in a major since 2009. He has now capped off his comeback with this triumph at the Tour Championship.
Woods admitted he had nearly been overcome with emotion as he walked up the 18th fairway. “I was having a hard time not crying coming up the last hole,” Woods said, whose most recent win before Sunday had come 1,876 days ago at the 2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
“I kept saying ‘Hey, I could still play this out of bounds.’ But once I got the ball on the green I gave (caddie) Joey (LaCava) a high five because I knew it was done.
“It was just a grind out there,” Woods said of his final round. “I loved every bit of it. The fight, the grind, the tough conditions.
“To win it’s certainly up there with obviously all the major championships I’ve won, Players, World Golf Championships but then this is under different circumstances.
“I just didn’t know whether this would ever happen again. If I could somehow piece together a golf swing this year, I felt like I could do it somehow I’ve been able to do that, and here we are.
“I realised all of sudden I was going to win the tournament.
“My eyes started tearing up a little bit. I just can’t believe I pulled this off after I’ve gone through.
“It’s been tough. I’ve had a not-so-easy last couple of years. I’ve worked my way back. I couldn’t have done it without the help of all the people around me. “Some of the other players knew what I was struggling with. It was really special to see them at the green on 18. It’s just hard to believe I won the Tour Championship.”
