Win Or Not, Tiger Woods Can Still Be A Player

The crowd watches the flight of the ball after Tiger Woods hits a shot at the 2018 PGA Championship at Bellerive Country Club. in St. Louis

No doubt you have read or heard the latest on Tiger Woods - the latest surgery, that is. Last month, Woods underwent lumbar disc replacement surgery, his seventh back surgery episode, which came as he is still rehabbing a torn Achilles tendon suffered earlier this year.

Let’s face it, the words “disc” and “replacement” go together like “tooth” and “extraction.” The pictures aren’t pleasant.

Naturally, the headlines have followed, speculating on where Woods goes from here, and whether he might ever again play competitive golf. Predictions run the gamut. Some pundits have suggested he will return to playing a full schedule on the PGA Tour - which is interesting because that’s something he didn’t do even when he was healthy. Others have him playing wheelchair golf.

All of the conclusions are made without knowing the particulars of the recent surgery, or the condition of Achilles tendon. But, you know what they say in today’s journalism - never let the details get in the way of a good story.

To be sure, it has been Woods’ modus operandi to do the unthinkable, to push his body to the limits, to go full-out Lazarus. Should anyone say he “can’t” bounce back, and insist no one could overcome the injuries he has sustained, it simply stokes his competitive fire. 

It’s like saying “Niagara Falls” around Mo Howard, like telling Bob Dylan to stick to the acoustic, like telling the Dodgers to quit spending.

Whether Woods attempts to play competitive golf again, whether he should attempt to play, only he can answer. And whatever the decision is, it’s the right one. He deserves that much; he’s earned that much. 

That said, it’s important to realize Woods turns 50 at the end of December. His son, Charlie, is 16 and competing in national junior events. His daughter Sam is 17 and in the early days of her freshman year at Stanford. 

The physical setbacks aside, it stands to reason that the time and availability Woods has enjoyed with his kids represents a silver lining in his physical challenges.   

 Stands to reason it has grown on him, and he might like to remain as involved with his teenagers going forward. 

At the same time, it is presumptuous for anyone to calculate what it might take for Woods to compete in another Masters, U.S. Open, or any golf championship. To appeal for him to do so is truly delusional.   

Personally, it makes little sense to me that Woods would go through the formidable demands of preparing his battered body to walk and play 72 holes of golf - if it’s even possible.  

That said, for the game’s sake, and for those who have followed his historic career, I do hope he reaches a point where he can still participate in the major championships in some capacity.

The term “ceremonial player” has a pungent quality for proud champions. They got into the game for the competition, not the congratulations, not to be lawn ornaments. They’re hardwired to beat their playing partners and conquer the golf course. They tee it up to win championships, not to decorate them. 

But this is planet earth and we are human beings. The “winning” window closes for everyone, for Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Watson, Gary Player … everyone. 

With all the injuries and surgeries - there have been more than 30 such incidents - golf’s hourglass has not been especially patient for Woods. If not for all the incidents and accidents, the days of wine and majors figured to last much longer. 

The height of his powers might have reached a higher ceiling. 

Notwithstanding, he is Tiger Woods, a transformational figure in not just golf, but in sports culture. People like to engage in “greatest of all time” tiles, a hollow piece of bravado if ever there was one. Nicklaus will retain his 18 major championships summit - at least for the foreseeable future. There seems to be no doubt now. 

But it is hard to imagine anyone has impacted the game in a global, cultural and economic basis as much as Woods. He supersedes his sport. He keeps company with names like Muhammad Ali and Michael Jordan in that respect. 

No matter how you slice it - pardon the golf pun - Woods is on the shortest of short lists of golf’s prominent figures. We’re talking Herve Villechaize-short.

 In that context, the term “ceremonial player” has more substantive meaning. A player who has connected so dramatically with the game and its patrons and sponsors, whose presence wields such influence, falls into a special category. He has a mandate.

He doesn’t have to contend to command the room. For so many, he is worth the price of admission, whether he shoots 68 or 82. Two-time U.S. Open champion Curtis Strange put it well, talking to reporters before last April’s Woods-less Masters:

“(Woods) is not going to play the way he wants to,” Strange said. “But I think people would love to see him, much like they saw Jack and Arnie, especially Arnie, for a long time. I think we need those people around, to be around the younger generation, to answer questions … just be part of the elder statesman society. 

“I hope he gets back to where he can play. We don’t even know if he can play ever. Again, it’s going badly. But especially, here, where he can come back and be comfortable and just be around. The people can’t get enough of him … It would be sad that he wouldn’t come back here and play in the future. But what the future holds, we have no idea.”

I’ve seen it firsthand. I watched the aging Palmer participate as little more than window dressing at the majors. His press conferences were always the most crowded and most interesting. His galleries were always as big as any on the grounds. 

He wasn’t competitive; it didn’t matter. People wanted to see him play.

So it was with Nicklaus, who held court at the Masters every April to a packed interview room. Galleries flocked to see the “Golden Bear,” like cliff swallows to Capistrano. And every once in a while - for one round, one hole or one shot - the greats turn back the pages. They post a score that time says they shouldn’t, and a golf nation smiles in knowing approval. It’s magical.

Woods, of course, has opportunities on the PGA Champions Tour, where carts are in play, where events are 54 holes long, where the livin’ is easy. Should he go that route, it will be the greatest thing to happen to that tour since compression socks.

 Regardless of where or how often, here’s hoping Woods does play again - if that’s what he wants. And here’s hoping, if that’s not what he wants, he accepts what the greats before him came to accept - he still has a vibrant place in the game.

He is important to the sponsors, the galleries and the TV ratings he’s made spike over all these years.

Here’s hoping he will recognize that and keep being part of it.