On the weekend that the Masters said goodbye to Jack Nicklaus, it said, “Welcome back,” to Tiger Woods.
If you still aren’t convinced of Tiger’s greatness, the fact that not winning a major since 2002 was considered “a slump” ought to tell you something.
Golf is a sport where most players hope to win one or two majors in the course of a career, and Tiger was scrutinized because he was stuck on eight for two and a half years.
In order to win his ninth major, this Tiger had to show he had nine lives.
He putted his ball off a green and into a creek. It didn’t faze him. He hit a perfect golf shot that was unlucky enough to hit the flagstick and bounce into a green side bunker. He weathered the storm and marched on.
Speaking of “weathered the storm,” Tiger, along with the rest of the field, had to sit around for portions of Thursday and Friday wondering when they would be able to continue play.
Of course, that wasn’t easy for anyone, but after the freaky mishaps mentioned earlier, Tiger had a lot of unsettling thoughts to rattle around his mind.
He started play on Saturday 4-over par and well back of the leaders. It was the familiar story of the past two years repeating themselves. Tiger was mired under par and showing no signs of breaking loose.
Except this time he did. He went from damp to on fire in an instant. He started a chain of birdies late in the day on Saturday that left him behind only Chris DiMarco when darkness fell.
The next morning, Tiger rolled out of bed and birdied his first four holes, making it seven in a row all together. By the time that he finished the suspended third round on Sunday morning and returned to the club house to grab some lunch, he was two shots clear of DiMarco and all alone in first.
Then he changed into his invincible red shirt, a Tiger trademark in the final round.
Nobody had ever caught him when he started a final round in a major in the lead, so the question around Augusta National became, “How much will he win by?”
As with the entire weekend, it wasn’t that easy.
DiMarco hung around all day long, matching Tiger hole for hole and clawing his way back into the tournament.
Clinging to a one-shot lead at 16, Tiger had hit his ball over the green while DiMarco was looking at a birdie putt.
It looked like it could very well be a one-shot lead for DiMarco when the smoke cleared, but Tiger hit a shot that will go down as one of the greatest in history.
He chipped it up and watched as it trickled down the hill, hanging on the lip of the cup for a second that seemed to last forever before falling in the cup for birdie.
A shaken DiMarco made par, and Tiger was up two.
It looked like he had just slammed the door, but he would still need a couple more lives before the green jacket was on his back.
Tiger’s driver failed him on 17, leading to a bogey while DiMarco made par.
Still up one on 18, Tiger missed the fairway again, leading to another bogey while DiMarco made par again to force a playoff.
On the first playoff hole, with the sun falling low in the western sky, Tiger stood over virtually the same putt that Phil Mickelson had made last year to win his first major.
Tiger calmly stroked it in from there also to break his own major streak and finally close the door on a competitive DiMarco.
After the round, Tiger kissed his new wife and celebrated with his mom.
Moments later, he broke down into tears as he dedicated the win to his dad, who was at Augusta but not healthy enough to attend the tournament.
It was a rare glimpse at the man inside the invincible armor, and it was a glimpse that spoke volumes.
While the weekend win at Augusta gave Tiger his ninth major and put him halfway to Jack Nicklaus’ record of 18, it showed us that the reclusive prodigy has gone a long way toward becoming a man.
As for this young golf season, it looks like the game is on.

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