Virginia Golfer Voices
by SCoTT MiCHaUX
tiger Question Stands Alone:
GOLF’S HOLY GRAIL
OR JUST GREATNESS?
I
Woods’ pursuit of major championship immortality becoming increasingly elusive
Winning his first major in his first
professional attempt and his 14th on a broken
leg, Woods seemed to have bypassed all the
usual pitfalls that stand between a golfer and
his ultimate potential. We were all counting
down––in weeks, not years––to his inevitable
surpassing of Jack Nicklaus’ 18 major victories.
Then came the knee surgery. Then the
tabloid scandal. Then the third swing change.
And now here we stand––more than five
full years removed from his epic U.S. Open
playoff victory at T
orrey Pines––watching
Woods reassert himself as the No. 1 golfer in
the world and tick away the tour wins toward
the brink of Sam Snead’s all-time standard. Yet
Woods is still stuck on 14 major wins.
That 15th major victory has become as
elusive to him as the first is to everyone else.
It’s as though everything about Tiger Woods
rebooted in that murky knee/reputation/swing
reconstruction and rehabilitation period that
led to 30 winless months. Tiger 2.0 has earned
the most dreaded affliction known to elite
golfers––the greatest player never to have won
a major since 2008.
Golf is the only sport that acknowledges
reclaimed amateur status to fallen professionals.
If it’s possible to reclaim your golf virginity on
a major scale, Woods has done it.
“It kind of seems that way,” said Woods on
the eve of last month’s PGA Championship,
where his latest major failure came on the
heels of a classic eight-shot pantsing of his
peers in the W orld Golf Championship event
at Firestone. “It’s probably been the longest
spell that I’ve had since I hadn’t won a
major championship. I came out here very
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Virginia golfer | September/OctOber 2013
Master_VSGA_Sept13_MASTER2.indd 38
TOP: FILE PHOTO; ROB CARR/GETTY IMAGES
A variety of factors have
seemingly worn Tiger’s
patience during his winless
drought in majors.
In spite of what
Tiger Woods once so
effortlessly led us to be
believe, there are no
shortcuts or fast tracks
to the top.
w w w. v s g a . o r g
8/30/13 8:38 AM