Tiger and his indomitable ego march back from injury and into the PGA Championship

It seemed like a relatively benign shot. Sure, the stance was awkward and he stumbled a bit, but this is a shot that Tiger Woods has hit many times in his career. Usually with above average results. But as the day continued, we found out that the greatest golfer of a generation was hurt. Again.

Less than four months ago, Woods had surgery on his back. And it’s not like this was the first time he had surgery or an injury. As with many athletes, injuries happen, but this is golf. Catosprohic injuries don’t happen very often but the patient file for Tiger Woods is a lot different than most on the PGA Tour. For Woods, who has always been an athlete in a sport of generally unathletic people, he has been hobbled by knee, Achilles, neck, and most recently back problems.

But this isn’t just about injuries. Injuries can be overcome. This is a story about the indomitable ego of the most dominating force in the history of the game.

From the time he was a little kid, Tiger Woods was conditioned to be the best. His father Earl burned a singular focus into Tiger’s brain, draped in the ideals of hard work, integrity, and respect. They were the ideals of a lifelong soldier, conveyed to his son in the form of golf. But there was one more thing Tiger hammered home from his father. Eldrick was going to be the best. If he continued on the path his father set for him, he would be the best golfer of all time.

He hit golf balls on the Mike Douglas Show at 2 years old. He was in Golf Digest before his sixth birthday. He broke 70, a feat most golfers will never achieve, before his 13th birthday.

As he continued throughout his golfing career, at every point, he truly believed he would be the best ever. And why not? He won three straight U.S. Amateur titles. He turned pro with more fanfare and attention than anyone ever in golf.

When he won the Masters in 1997, he was only 21 and one of the most popular athletes on the planet. A new generation of golf fans and golfers in general were born. Golf boomed worldwide. New courses were built. Ratings on TV soared. The phenomenon was called the “Tiger Effect.” But it was still about being the best ever for Tiger.

Photo credit: Stephen Munday

From the U.S. Open in 2000 to the Masters in 2001, Woods dominated the golf world. He was the first person ever to hold all four major championships at the same time. During that run, he overwhelmed the fields he played against. He won the U.S. Open by 15 shots. No one was under par except for him and it is probably the best tournament anyone has ever played. I don’t think that’s hyperbole. It was the best tournament anyone has played. Ever.

And he kept on rolling. From 2000 to 2002, he won half the major championships that were played. HALF. Six out of twelve. It was so unbelievable that many golf experts had Tiger winning 25 or more majors, a mark that would obliterate the record of 18 set by Jack Nicklaus.

As 2002 moved to 2003, Tiger inexplicably began to slump. A slump in the sense that he wasn’t winning majors. People, mainly Phil Mickelson, noted that as equipment evolved, Tiger opted to stay with the same gear that he had dominated the golf world with just a couple years prior.

The golf world had it with Tiger’s domination. Courses got longer and tougher in a direct response to the way Tiger played the game. Equipment manufacturers also adjusted. They made clubs that went longer and higher. They made balls that spun more and stopped on a dime.

But Tiger tried the new stuff, and almost defiantly, went back to the old equipment. He played his smaller Titleist driver, even when Nike was paying him millions. He ditched the club that won him the 2002 Masters and U.S. Open and his performance suffered. He slipped out of the top 10 in driving distance and he struggled during the 2004 season.

While he eventually changed his equipment to adjust to the times, it was an interesting twist in the career of Tiger Woods. He was willing to forgo new technology, maybe partially based on the belief that he could do anything on the golf course, regardless of equipment.

As the 2004 season came to an end, Tiger could have already been considered one of the best golfers of all time. He had a Hall of Fame resume and the endorsements that went with it. He was one of the most recognizable people on the planet. And he was only 28 years old.

A funny thing happened around 2004 though. Tiger began reducing his schedule. After playing 8 years on tour, Woods had identified the courses that suited him well. Torrey Pines, Bay Hill, Muirfield Village, Firestone. You know the list by now, but Woods has a disproportionate number of his 79 wins at a small subset of courses.

I wonder if this was an attempt to win everytime he teed it up. Sure, he was the biggest golfer on the planet and didn’t need to play every week like most regular Tour pros. But it is a little curious that he started teeing it up at the courses he liked the best rather than challenging himself at new venues.

And while he was still winning all the time, Tiger wanted to get better.

It seemed an impossible notion, but Tiger Woods thought he could be better. Sure he was slumping but after a short winless streak, a perfectly acceptable result for any golfer, Tiger changed swings. He worked with a new coach, Hank Haney, in an attempt to improve.

It was the second of three coaches that he has had so far in his career. The irony is, there seems to be consensus that his swing never looked better than it did when he was working with Butch Harmon, his first professional coach. So why wouldn’t he go back to him? Ego. He burned that bridge.

But back to Haney. Tiger began winning again. More majors. More tour wins. The most important record Tiger was chasing (Jack Nicklaus) was within sight and he barrelled ahead towards it. Almost to a fault.

In 2008, Tiger underwent surgery for some lingering knee problems. It kept him out between the Masters and U.S. Open. When he did return at the 2008 U.S. Open he was probably still hurt. He pushed himself to return in order to play at a course (Torrey Pines) that he had owned over the years. This was going to be HIS Open, no matter what happened to his body.

And that became evident as the tournament played out. At times, Woods could barely stand. He doubled over in pain, wincing and yelling in the same way a prize fighter would in the 15th round. But he pressed on. He won the U.S. Open on one leg, sacrificing his long-term health for another major championship.

He proved he can do anything on the golf course, but more importantly, he proved that his will was stronger than pretty much any athlete on the planet. It was impressive, but his need to play that Open cost him the rest of the PGA Tour season.

Ego gave Tiger Woods one of his greatest victories. He needed to prove he could come back from knee surgery and win the U.S. Open. He did just that. But ego also cost Tiger Woods most of a PGA Tour season. It was his golf ego that got the best of him. But most of us didn’t know Tiger’s ego wasn’t confined to the white ropes of a golf course. As he continued to win in 2009 with his rebuilt swing, it seemed his injury problems of 2008 were a mere blip on the radar. But on Thanksgiving night in 2009, as Tiger wrapped his Escalade around a fire hydrant, we learned that his ego on the golf course wasn’t the only thing that was could become an obstacle for Tiger.

In the weeks following that night, we learned that Tiger had numerous affairs with numerous women. This may be a stretch, but Tiger wanted to have it all in his professional golf life, and it appeared he wanted to have it all in his personal life. From the outside, he had the perfect family, but it seemed he needed more.

Back on the golf course, Woods was lost. He spent months trying to repair his shattered personal life and neglected his job, understandably. If you wanted an indication that Woods’ ego had taken a hit, look no further than his return to the game from his scandal.

Tiger came back to competitive golf at the 2010 Masters with little-to-no practice. For maybe the first time in his career, Woods took to the course wearing sunglasses. And not just regular sunglasses. Giant, cover-the-entire-face-sorority-girl sunglasses. He blamed the glasses on allergies. But the judgement of the public was real and tangible at Augusta. He didn’t know what they were going to think or say and seemed to hide from it.

As 2010 went on, Tiger struggled on the golf course. His swing was a patchwork of every thing he’d ever learned and he almost made it work. He tied for 4th at that Masters and same at the U.S. Open. But he knew he had to get back on top, not just tied for 4th.

He changed swings again, this time working with Sean Foley. Rather than revert to what had worked in the past, pick one: Harmon or Haney, he decided to work with a new coach in an attempt to become even better. To this day he is still trying to get better, but has only gotten worse.

And while the swing definitely remains a question mark, the bigger question is if Tiger’s body will hold up.

When a book written by Hank Haney came out in 2011, it gave us a little more insight into the private life of Tiger Woods. One thing that stuck out to me was his workout regimen. Woods would run for miles with a weight vest on. He would hit hundreds, if not thousands of golf balls every day. He even trained with Navy SEALS at one point. He became as big as a house. It seemed like being the best golfer on the planet wasn’t good enough. He needed to prove he was the best athlete on the planet as well. We may never know whether his workout routine contributed to his injury problems. But the fact is that his body is breaking down. Part of it is age, and part might be the side effect of a singular blind drive to fulfill his need to be the best.

★★★

As he struggled to take off his shoes leaving Firestone Country Club, we are again asking ourselves, has Tiger come back too soon?

The answer is most likely yes. After his back surgery in April, many speculated that Tiger would miss the remainder of the 2014 season. Instead, he came back three months later. And for the most part he looked healthy. But it only takes one shot to tweak something that isn’t 100%. And that’s what happened last Sunday. A bunker shot from an awkward angle and we could be without the best player of a generation for another season. He wants to be the best of all time and the best right now. He’s not right now, and isn’t going to be over the next four days at the PGA Championship. Many are asking why he doesn’t just step away until he’s completely ready, and they’ll ask it again on Friday or Sunday night. The answer is the ego that’s both given and taken throughout the career of perhaps the best golfer ever