When Tiger Woods’s wife could finally stand no more of his appalling behaviour (namely, screwing a succession of women who, oddly, closely resembled his spouse), his very public excoriation threatened to destroy his career. Then, as often happens in life, misfortune piled on misfortune, and he developed a severe back problem, not good for any golfer, never mind one who had looked like becoming the greatest of all time.
He dropped out of the world’s top 1000 players, and we all (certainly myself) thought it was all over.
“He’ll never win another tournament” I said, “let alone another major.” Well, the PGA Tour Championship is considered by many to be the unofficial 5th major, and yesterday he won it in magnificent style.
Pelagius loves a comeback kid. When Roger Federer fell victim to the Epstein Barr virus in 2008 this correspondent wrote him off, saying he would never win another big tournament. He went on to win another seven Grand Slams, proving me spectacularly wrong and securing his reputation as history’s greatest tennis player. Going a little further back, I will always remember the 1980 Moscow Olympics, when Seb Coe failed to win his favoured event, the 800 metres, losing to his great rival Steve Ovett. But a week later he came back to win the 1500 metres, his rival’s strongest event. I am not Coe’s biggest fan, but for that achievement alone he deserves to placed in the sporting Pantheon.
Now we can place Tiger Woods alongside those immortals of the Great Comeback. He has yet to win a Major, but, you know, I am no longer saying it’s never going to happen.
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