Tiger Woods had just taken the outright lead at the British Open when he found himself having to negotiate a tough bunker shot in the 10th hole the other day. The lie was bad, exactly the type that has made many a Grand Slam hopeful consider their preceding tee shot to be a prelude to failure. In the case of the 14-time major champion, it appeared as if he had two sensible options: first, head back to the fairway with a lateral shot; and second, take a safe swing forward and hope the next one will stick the ball close to the hole for a gimme par putt.
Considering that Woods was on top of the leaderboard for the first time in one of golf’s premiere events since the 2011 Masters, he would have done well to stay conservative and move on. Instead, he did exactly what he largely eschewed in building his resume of 79 tour titles. He threw caution to the wind. And guess what? He was rewarded. The teeming fans on hand at Carnoustie and glued to the live broadcast were, too; they got a glimpse of how far along he is in recovering from a fourth back surgery, witnessing a spectacular shot that no one else could have pulled off. Naturally, his ensuing putt stayed true and preserved his effort.
Still, Woods wouldn’t be in the driver’s seat for long. He began the final round five strokes off the lead, and while those ahead of him were backing up, enough of those behind him were making more solid runs. In fact, he didn’t need to look beyond his own flight to identify his biggest threat to wrapping his arms around the Claret Jug for the fourth time in his career. From his unique vantage point, he could see playing partner Francesco Molinari unfazed by his advances and ultimately outplaying him for a podium finish.
In the aftermath, Woods was understandably disappointed with his roller-coaster finish. “[I’m] a little ticked off at myself, for sure. I had a chance starting the back nine to do something, and I didn’t do it.” That said, his fifth-place standing in just his ninth major over the last four injury-filled years should be deemed nothing short of remarkable. In the immediate term, it earned for him enough points to get a slot at Firestone in two weeks, if nothing else a grand opportunity to subject his game to stiff competition before the PGA Championship.
Moving forward, Woods cannot but be pleased with the strides he has made. Among other things, he’d like a bit more consistency; his double bogey-bogey scores on the 11th and 12th holes, for instance, came off relatively easier tee shots with irons in his hands. Nonetheless, there can be no denying this: He’s back — perhaps not all the way back, but, at this point, winning looks to be a matter of when, not if.
Anthony L. Cuaycong has been writing Courtside since BusinessWorld introduced a Sports section in 1994.
