Tiger Woods: More than a golfer

Jensen Jennings
Posted 3/3/21

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the sports world was hit with the news of a vehicle accident involving professional golfer Tiger Woods.

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Tiger Woods: More than a golfer

Posted

On Tuesday, Feb. 23, the sports world was hit with the news of a vehicle accident involving professional golfer Tiger Woods. The next few hours after the news hit were a bit of whirlwind for Tiger fans everywhere.

I was at lunch when I received the news of the accident Tiger had been involved in. My multiple group chats with various friends all erupted almost simultaneously as people shared the statement released by the Los Angeles Sheriff’s department’s official Twitter account.

The statement said Tiger had been involved in a single vehicle accident at approximately 7:13 a.m. The “Jaws of Life” were needed to extract him from the vehicle, and he was transported to a local hospital to evaluate his injuries.

Immediately, my mind began to think about the reports from January 2020 when Kobe Bryant and his daughter were involved in a deadly helicopter crash. I couldn’t stop thinking it would only be a matter of time until there was an updated tweet saying Tiger had died.

Shortly after thinking the worst, photos and videos started to show up of the crash. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw the state of Tiger’s vehicle. I thought there was no possible way anyone could have survived a crash like that.

This was one of those rare days on Twitter where the whole timeline is people discussing one thing. I follow all different types of people on Twitter: politicians, athletes, other journalists, friends and family. Most of them were all talking about one thing. Tiger Woods.

What makes Tiger such a beloved figure in golf, is how he was able to completely change the professional game forever. He broke down barriers many before him never were able to do successfully. He brought massive amounts of eyeballs to the sport and helped grow the game to a large group of people who would never have liked golf if it weren’t for him.

I was one of those people. Growing up, I loved sports, especially the big three: football, basketball and baseball. Never once did I have an interest in golf. That slowly started to change during the heyday of Tiger Woods.

The first golf tournament I remember watching was the 2001 Masters Tournament when he accomplished a feat never done before. It was dubbed “The Tiger Slam.” He held all four of the major championship trophies at the same time. 

Sure, there had been players before him complete the career grand slam, but he was the first and only player to ever hold all four trophies at the same time. Ever since that tournament I was hooked on professional golf.

I got the joy of watching Tiger win another eight major titles between 2001 and 2008. I thought for sure he was well on his way to breaking Jack Nicklaus’s major championship record of 18 total wins.

But in 2009, Tiger’s world would crumble around him. It was the day after Thanksgiving and Tiger crashed his car into a fire hydrant outside his Florida mansion. His then wife Elin Nordegren heard the crash and smashed out his windows with a golf club to pull him out. 

A few days after the incident, reports started to surface of extra marital affairs that Tiger had been having for months. Gone was his good guy image and golf hero. Instead, it was replaced with shame.

From 2009-2019 Tiger went winless in major championships. Instead, he dealt with public scrutiny, multiple back surgeries and countless failed comeback attempts. Then on April 11, 2019, Tiger Woods won his 15th major championship at the Masters. The chase for 18 was back on.

Tiger has yet to win another major since the 2019 Masters, but fans still had hope for him in the coming years. All that seems to be gone now after his latest crash. Tiger suffered severe leg injuries. His tibula and fibula were fractured on his right leg and ankle basically shattered. 

On the day of the accident his team tweeted out that he had already been in surgery and that they had placed rods and pins in his leg and ankle, but that more surgeries would be required.

Watching the golf tournament this weekend, you could really see the effect Tiger has had on all of the other players’ lives. A handful of players wore Tiger’s signature red shirt and black pants on Sunday as a tribute to him. The eventual winner Collin Morikawa took time during his post win comments to talk about Tiger and to remind everyone that your loved ones could be gone at any moment.

Thankfully for me, as a Tiger fan, it appears he will recover. It’s uncertain if he’ll ever play golf competitively again. But if anyone can overcome the odds and come back from an injury like this; it’s Tiger Woods.