He’s Tiger Again

September 24, 2018

Home » Commentary » He’s Tiger Again

I don’t know Tiger Woods personally. Like millions I’ve instead for a generation enjoyed his mastery on golf courses and felt emotionally connected to his seventy-nine career victories, many dominant and all exciting. I’ve also winced as he struggled with personal problems and a series of injuries and surgeries and wondered if he’d ever walk normally and without pain. Would he someday return to the professional tour? Would he be competitive? And, ultimately, would he win just one more professional tournament after not doing so for five years?

Even Tiger Woods, battered and aging at forty-two, long doubted he’d again raise both red-shirted arms on the last hole Sunday. Then this summer he began coming fairly close in a few tournaments and shot sixty-four in the final round to finish in second place two strokes back at the PGA. He sensed then, I’m sure, that it could happen soon. He almost knew it would. It had to. When healthy the man was a genius on the links. He hit drives long and straight. He launched approach shots at pins. He made putts as if guided by radar. In occasional trouble he created escapes where none appeared to exist. In so doing he crushed competitors physically and emotionally.

His professional comrades no doubt tired of being manhandled but as Tiger withered they improved and some eventually yearned to have the maestro return to health so they could beat him in meaningful battle. The top players got that chance this weekend at the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Woods responded with two stellar sixty-fives in the first three rounds, led by three entering the final day during which he’d won twenty-three straight tournaments when ahead by that many or more. With a few holes to play he deserted nearest challengers Rory McIlroy and Justin Rose to lead by five, effectively ending the tournament. Even two bogeys down the stretch didn’t derail him and he won by two, showing an elite field he’s back. He’s Tiger Woods again. I didn’t watch much football today. I’d have forgotten what happened on the gridiron this Sunday. I’ll forever remember that a balding, middle-aged man overcame so much and bushwhacked the best in the world. Actually, at the moment, Tiger Woods is again the best player. Can he keep winning? He thinks so.

Tiger Woods File on GeorgeThomasClark.com

Posted in , , ,

George Thomas Clark

George Thomas Clark is the author of Hitler Here, a biographical novel published in India and the Czech Republic as well as the United States. His commentaries for GeorgeThomasClark.com are read in more than 50 countries a month.

Recent Commentary

Pete Rose Crosses Home Plate

Ruscha Torments Museum Visitor

Donald and Kamala Head to Head

Cole Hocker Sprints to Gold in Paris

Man on Roof with a Rifle

Books

HITLER HERE is a well researched and lyrically written biographical novel offering first-person stories by the Fuehrer and a variety of other characters. This intimate approach invites the reader to peer into Hitler’s mind, talk to Eva Braun, joust with Goering, Goebbels, and Himmler, debate with the generals, fight on land and at sea and…
See More →
Art history and fiction merge to reveal the lives and emotions of great painters Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, William H. Johnson, Lee Krasner, and many others.
See More →
This fast-moving collection blends fiction and movie history to illuminate the stimulating lives and careers of noted actors, actresses, and directors. Stars of this book include Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, Bette Davis, Alfred Hitchcock, Clint Eastwood, Cate Blanchett, and Spike Lee.
See More →
In this collection of thirty-eight chiseled short stories, George Thomas Clark introduces readers to actors, alcoholics, addicts, writers famous and unknown, a general, a lovelorn farmer, a family besieged by cancer, extraterrestrials threatening the world, a couple time traveling back to a critical battle, a deranged husband chasing his wife, and many more memorable people…
See More →
Anne Frank On Tour and Other Stories
This lively collection offers literary short stories founded on History, Love, Need, Excess, and Final Acts.
See More →
In lucid prose author George Thomas Clark recalls the challenges of growing up in a family beset by divorce, depression, and alcoholism, and battling similar problems as an adult.
See More →
Let’s invite many of the greatest boxers and their contemporaries to tell their own stories, some true, others tales based on history. The result is a fascinating look into the lives and battles of those who thrilled millions but often ruined themselves while so doing.
See More →
In a rousing trip through the worlds of basketball and football, George Thomas Clark explores the professional basketball league in Mexico, the Herculean talents of Wilt Chamberlain, the artistry of LeBron James, the brilliance of Bill Walsh, and lots more. Half the stories are nonfiction and others are satirical pieces guided by the unwavering hand of an inspired storyteller.
See More →
Get on board this collection of satirical stories, based on news, about the entertaining but absurd and often quite dangerous events following the election of President Donald J. Trump in November 2016 until January 6, 2021, shortly after his loss to Joe Biden.
See More →
Join Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and other notables on a raucous ride into a fictional world infused with facts from one of the roughest political races in modern U.S. history.
See More →
History and literary fiction enliven the Barack Obama phenomenon from the African roots of his father and grandfather to the United States where young Obama struggles to control vices and establish his racial identity. Soon, the young politician is soaring but under fire from a variety of adversaries including Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh.
See More →
These satirical columns allow startlingly candid Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush to explain their need to control the destinies of countries, regions, and, ultimately, the world. Osama bin Laden, Dick Cheney, Condoleezza Rice, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Karl Rove, and other notables, not all famous, also demand part of the stage.
See More →
Where Will We Sleep
Determined to learn more about those who fate did not favor, the author toured tattered, handmade refuges of those without homes and interviewed them on the streets and in homeless shelters, and conversed with the poor in the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, and Spain, and on occasion wrote composite stories to illuminate their difficult lives.
See More →
In search of stimulating stories, the author interviewed prostitutes in Madrid, Mexico City, Havana, and Managua and on many boulevards in the United States, and he talked to detectives and rode the rough roads of social workers who deal with human trafficking, which is contemporary slavery, and sometimes used several lives to create stories, and everywhere he ventured he witnessed struggles of those whose lives are bound In Other Hands.
See More →
In compressed language Clark presents a compilation of short stories and creative columns about relationships between men and women.
See More →
Political Satire for Progressives
Available now in a single digital-only volume of four books: Echoes from Saddam Hussein, Obama on Edge, King Donald, and Down Goes Trump. In his signature style, George Thomas Clark combines satire and creative writing to illuminate many historic developments this century. Echoes from Saddam Hussein – Saddam Hussein and George W. Bush candidly explain their need to control the…
See More →