Staff Writers
Tiger Woods could feel the energy and excitement as he made his way to the 18th green on Sept. 23 at the Tour Championship. It was a remarkable scene as thousands of spectators followed him on his walk to victory while chanting and cheering his name as he was about get his 80th PGA Tour win.
But his ride to the finish line did not come easy. The PGA tour officially starts November of every year. In November, 2017 Tiger Woods was coming off back surgery and a DUI. To everyone, the game of golf seemed irrelevant to Tiger’s future. His World Golf Ranking has dropped to an all time low over 1000. Tiger was determined to bounce back and prove everyone wrong by playing in the Farmers Insurance Open late January. He played well and proved everyone, to keep an eye on him. Although at his next event a month later, the Genesis Open, he missed the cut after two days and stated: “I didn't really play that well. I missed every tee shot left, and I did not putt well, didn't feel very good on the greens, and consequently never made a run. I knew I had to make a run on that back nine, and I went the other way.”
The next three tournaments Woods played better; he tied for second at the Valspar Championship in March. This got people talking as his world golf ranking skyrocketed to 88 come beginning of April. At the first major of the season, The Masters, Tiger struggled to hit fairways and fell short of reaching 15 majors; he is second to Jack Nicklaus who won 19. Mid June brought PGA’s second major of the year, The U.S. Open. The U.S. Open typically does not favor players like Tiger as there's thick rough, skinny fairways, and a very lengthy course. Tiger missed the cut focusing on bouncing back with the final three months remaining. A month later brought the third major of the season.
Carnoustie, located in Scotland, showed glimpses of vintage Tiger as in the final round he led with seven holes remaining, but failed to close. Three weeks later, Tiger competed for the last major championship in the 2018 season. Tiger trailed by two strokes entering the final round and failed to cut the lead, losing by two. Tiger entered the FedEx Cup playoffs world rank 51 hoping to capture his first win in five years and 80th PGA tour win. Entering the FedEx Cup playoffs, Tiger set a goal to participate in every tournament, as only top 50 move on to the next tournament. Tiger was able to make it to the last tournament at East Lake golf club, Georgia. Woods shared the lead after the first day and was confident he could win to close out the season. After solid second and third rounds, Woods set himself with a lead going into the final day. Tiger finished Sunday winning by two strokes, for his first win in five years. "I was pretty emotional when Rory [McIlroy] was tapping out, he was finishing out,'' Woods said. "I looked around, and the tournament was over because I'd already put the bunker shot on the green, and I'd won 80. 80 is a big number. I've been sitting on 79 for about five years now, and to get 80 is a pretty damned good feeling.''
