I STARTED following golf casually back in high school, when I started joining sportswriting contests. Greg Norman was the top shark then, but he never really recovered after that infamous choke in the 1996 Masters when he led by six going into the final round but lost by five to Nick Faldo.
A year later, there were some early talks about the Shark, but after the first round, the buzz was all about 21-year-old Tiger Woods, who would set the first of a series of records in the Masters on his way to rewriting golf history.
He won by 12 (a record), after scoring -18 under 270 (another record) over four days to become the youngest and the first non-white player to win at Augusta. I remember how the commentators then seemed to gush at everything Tiger did and since then I’ve began to pay more attention every time Tiger was playing.
Of course, it seems that every sports fan also became a casual golf fan because of the exploits of Tiger, who would rack up 14 majors so fast people were eventually talking about when he’d finally break Jack Nicklaus’ record.
But everything went crashing down for Tiger after a domestic dispute uncovered lurid tales of adultery involving porn stars and such. Even Roger Federer, whom he had an ongoing ribbing via ads about who could win more majors, stayed away. Then there were talks that he wanted to join the Navy seals and such, that he was happy to stay away from the game.
He had a few comebacks and disappointments; so many in fact that writers began to refer to the latter part of his career as a series of comebacks and exits. Four surgeries in the past two years, also led some to write him off, while some young guns were caught saying that, “if they were around during Tiger’s time he wouldn’t have won that many majors.” Veteran Ernie Els scoffed and said that there’s no other animal in golf that is similar to a Tiger-mania. Then something strange happened.
Woods returned for the nth time in the Hero challenge and posted great scores. He would go on to take the lead in some tournaments, including the British Open, reminding the fans of what the mania was like at his peak.
Bayani Garcia, one of Cebu Country Club’s top guns, said it was only a matter of time before Woods would win again. Winning takes practice, he said, and once Woods gets used to leading, he’d win again.
Since that comeback, Woods had the golf writers dusting off their notes or took the veterans down memory lanes. The stories were about Woods’ “best score/round since” or “first time to take the lead since.” One veteran writer even posted a video of his young colleagues applauding Tiger after a good round, saying it was something new.
Then came the Tour Championships, where Woods took the lead and never let go. The result? A 206-percent increase in TV ratings compared to a year ago according to Golf Digest. The final round was also the highest-rated non-major golf tournament.
Hello sports world, Tiger-mania is back.
And of course, the chase for Jack’s record is on.