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This Day In Sports…April 14, 2019:
One of the greatest comeback stories in the history of sports, as 43-year-old Tiger Woods wins his first major title in 11 years and his first Masters in 14 years with a one-stroke victory at Augusta National. Woods’ triumph came just two years after a fourth back surgery, the most serious of all of them. That one had Tiger wondering if he’d ever play golf again. He had won only one PGA Tour event since that procedure.
Woods wasn’t in the top 10 after the first round and didn’t even lead the tournament until the final round, and then not until the 15thhole. He opened with a 70—then rounds of 68 and 67 pulled him into a tie for second behind Francisco Molinari going into Sunday. Molinari continued his workmanlike Masters run until he double-bogeyed Nos. 12 and 15, and Tiger took over. Then a birdie on the 16th suddenly gave Woods a two-stroke lead.
Tiger walked the 18th fairway knowing he needed only a bogey to claim the green jacket, and he obliged. It was the happiest bogey of his life, as he edged Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffle. Amidst an Augusta roar like no other, Woods raised his arms in jubilation—then embraced his kids. Tiger had been derailed by very public personal problems and those debilitating injuries and at one point was thought to be finished. But his popularity never really waned, and his 15th major crown triggered an emotional outpouring among fans and media seldom seen in the sports world.
It remains Tiger’s only major win over the past 17 years, and he’s stuck on 15 major victories for his career, three short of Jack Nicklaus. Once thought to be a lock to surpass Nicklaus’ record of 18 major championships, that’s probably where Woods will finish, as a 2021 car crash cost him multiple leg fractures, and his broken body can no longer effectively compete.
We can’t go without mentioning that Rory McIlroy on Sunday became the first golfer since Woods in 2000—and only the second since Nicklaus in 1966—to complete a career grand slam with his dramatic sudden-death playoff win over Justin Rose at The Masters. With McIlroy’s accomplishment, there are now six players who have won career grand slams. Woods is the only one ever to win all four tournaments consecutively, doing that over the 2000 and 2001 seasons.
(Tom Scott hosts the Scott Slant segment during the football season on KTVB’s Sunday Sports Extra. He also anchors four sports segments each weekday on 95.3 FM KTIK and one on News/Talk KBOI. His Scott Slant column runs every Wednesday.)
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