In the same way that the world of tennis is hyperexcited, expectant of the hypothetical return of Rafael Nadal, the world of golf is also hyperexcited, as Tiger Woods has returned.
Woods is a legend and fodder for biographies.
His portraits are displayed in bookstore windows.
Woods is already 47 years old and has had dozens of surgeries, a body as muscular as it is injured, pain in his back, knees and ankles, he walks leaning forward and is somewhat behind in his set-up, as he had been out of the scene for seven months after his last exercise, his uncomfortable time at the Augusta Masters, from which he had ended up withdrawing, battered and lame.
Woods also sports fifteen grand and an aura that stops time, and that is why his return this Thursday, at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, has aroused unusual interest.
Its history is common knowledge, we refer to the biographies, but perhaps laymen want to know more.
Tiger Woods has touched heaven and hell in sport, more heaven than hell, and along his journey he has transformed the discipline, today more athletic and forceful, he has broken racial molds (he is Cablinasian, as he defines himself: Caucasian, black and Asian, there are no precedents in the discipline) and it has marked an era.
There are dozens of those who consider him the best specialist of all time.
He has also suffered strange police and judicial incidents, flashes of play caused by his physical problems and a traffic accident in February 2021 that almost caused the amputation of his right leg.
With his ankle definitely damaged last April, Tiger Woods had been forced to withdraw from the Augusta Masters and the augurs were wary of his return.
Hours of surgery, rehabilitation and bodybuilding have silenced the most pessimistic. Woods returned to the scene this Thursday, but not before warning that his appearances will develop in dribs and drabs:
“One tournament a month at most,” he has been saying while, in recent months, he has tested his stability and endurance by serving as caddy for Charlie Woods, his fourteen-year-old son.
From that experience as his son’s assistant, a golfer has emerged who is still excited, as much as the community of fans is.
On his first day in the Bahamas, Tiger Woods did not end up having a good round and presented a card with 3 strokes over par, 7 behind the co-leaders Brian Harman and Tony Finau.
