Is Tiger back?

I know most sports fans do not consider golf a real sport, and even more cannot sit and watch a golf tournament on tv.  I, however, am not one of these people.  I will admit, I am not the biggest golf fan and do find some rounds pretty boring when I don’t know the names on the leader board, but I do follow every tournament that Tiger enters until he is no longer in contention. 

Well, in case you missed it, Tiger Woods won his 5^th Memorial Championship yesterday, and a glimpses of dominant Tiger peaked through during the final round.  He started the day 4 behind the leader and came out aggressive but under control.  The turning point of the round though happened on the 16^th hole.  Tiger’s first shot went just past the hole and onto the down slope of the rough.  It was not a favorable lie.  As the camera showed the view from Tiger’s second shot, all that ran through my mind is that water is very close.  He did not have much green to work with in front of the hole, and even less past it.  If I had 10 chances to throw the ball into the hole, I probably wouldn’t come close even once.  Tiger’s competitive nature came through and he expected to make this shot. Needless to say, he did.  He made the perfect shot and let the ball trickle into the hole as his caddy walked onto the green with the putter in hand.

Then came the classic fist pump made famous in Augusta. For the next hour Tiger of old was back.  You could tell from the look in his eyes.  He calmly played the 17^th hole safely and put his first two shots exactly where he wanted and tapped in for par, then stepped up to the 18^th tee box, the same hole he was +3 in the first 3 rounds.  Again he placed his first two shots where he wanted them and knocked down the birdie putt to all but seal the victory (his second of 2012).  It has been a while since I have seen final round Tiger look like that, and I loved it.  Golf becomes must watch tv when Tiger is playing like that.  I just hope he can do it for 3 of the 4 rounds in the US Open, and if he does, look out, he will run away from the crowd for his 15^th major championship. 

Another thing that I found interesting was watching the fist pump took me back to watching the first one on the green at the Masters.  I loved the energy that Tiger brought to the course.  This energy is what made Tiger a star.  Yes, he once was the most dominant golfer of all time, but not only did he win he was different than the cookie cutter, robot, golfer.  He was the normal dude on the course getting pumped when he made an amazing shot.  People loved the emotion.  Then he got injured and the winning slowed down, and Tiger continued to show emotion.  Except it wasn’t the positive energy, it was the frustration and disappointment of making poor decisions and shots.  Again, he was the standard guy on a golf course. The problem is nobody liked the emotion any longer, and Tiger was constantly ridiculed and even fined for not being a perfect gentleman.  I say you cannot have one without the other.  If you are drawn to Tiger because of the passion and emotion that he wears on his sleeve during the good times, you have to accept the negative emotion during a bad round.