Last November, Tiger Woods started out on his latest comeback trail, and it has gone far better than even he expected. At the start of this comeback, he had stated he didn't want his children (who are nine and 10 years old respectively) to only know their father as a "YouTube golfer".
After the sportsman underwent spinal fusion surgery, there was a good chance he wouldn't get the chance to show them what he could do. 17 months later, he is on track to break even more records in the sport, and is even a favourite to win the 2019 Masters.
“I think they understand a little bit of what dad does now,” Woods told The Guardian. “I hadn’t won any tournaments in which they can remember, so I think this will be a little bit different for them.
"To be able to have shared what I did with them at the Open this year, I had a chance, I had the lead. They felt it, that atmosphere.
“They know what their dad can do on a golf course now. It’s not what I used to be able to do. A lot of times they equated golf to pain because every time I did it, I would hurt, and it would cause me more pain. And so now they’re seeing a little bit of joy and seeing how much fun it is for me to be able to do this again."
He also spoke about how he believed his career would go, admitting that he never expected to make such a strong comeback to the sport:
“It means a lot more to me now in the sense I didn’t know if I’d ever be out here again playing, doing this again. I don’t know, 20 years ago, hell, I thought I was going to play for another 30 years. That’s just the way golf is. You can play until you’re 70 years old.
“Then, there was a point in time I didn’t know if I’d ever do this again. So yes, I appreciate it a little bit more than I did because I don’t take it for granted that I’m going to have another decade, two decades in my future of playing golf at this level.”
Over the weekend he landed four great rounds to get the first win of his comeback at the TOUR Championship. It was his first victory since 2013 and the 80th of his career.
However, what was memorable about the moment was the response he received from the crowd on Sunday.
As he walked to the 18th green, at that point only one chip and two putts away from victory, the crowd walked onto the course, chanting his name and "USA! USA!". You can catch the powerful moment below:
"I had a hard time not crying on that last hole," he said, when asked about the cheering crowd.
Now Woods is just two wins behind Sam Snead for most in a career, a record many believe he will be breaking sooner rather than later.
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