Tiger Woods understands how fortunate he is to be alive.
He’s fortunate in that he can still use both of his legs.
It’s a blessing to be able to hit golf balls with authority once more.
And he was overjoyed to be able to spend time with his two children once more.
“I’m very grateful that someone upstairs was looking after me, that I’m able to not only be here but also to walk without a prosthesis,” Woods said in the Bahamas in the first week of December, referring to the February single-car accident on a quiet street north of Los Angeles in which he sailed across a median at excessively high speed and rolled over multiple times down an embankment.
That day, the jaws of life were utilized to extricate Woods from the truck. His right leg was shattered, and amputation was suggested afterwards; however, several surgeries followed, and no such action was taken. Many people assumed the Big Cat had used one of his nine lives after seeing the damage.
Woods was able to move around after three months of being bedridden and experiencing pain every day. He worked hard every day doing physical exercises and began to recuperate from the newest shock to his battered body.
It had been a trying year, beginning with his rehabilitation and recovery from his sixth back surgery in the final week of 2020, only two months before his Feb. 23 accident. Woods expressed his desire to turn the page on 2021 at the Hero World Challenge he hosted in the Bahamas. Who can blame him, after all?
But, as he looks at the candles on the cake on December 30th, he sees plenty to be thankful for as he celebrates his 46th revolution around the sun. According to Woods, his traj has been improving, with the 11th and 12th months of 2021 being on level with the preceding ten months.
In November, there was a three-second video depicting a swing with a wedge accompanied by the phrase Making Progress. Then there’s a 23-second video of him using a 3-wood in the Bahamas. Later, at the Hero World Challenge, he repeated the range workouts with the driver in his hands.
Finally, a spectacular return to golf with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship, where the two set a tournament record with 11 consecutive birdies on Sunday but ended second by two strokes.
That weekend, he hit 300-yard drives, hit long irons with force and precision, wedged beautifully, and putted and chipped superbly. He was beaming and having a great time. All things considered, he was in shockingly good health less than ten months after facing death.
His old buddy and current golf analyst, Notah Begay, described it this way: “I think he’s got alien DNA.”
Given Woods’ extraordinary resume and his miraculous ability to emerge from another proverbial golf grave, Begay isn’t the first in golf circles to ask if he is human. He did, after all, return to the top of the mountain less than four years ago to win his 15th major championship and a record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title following a Hail Mary spinal fusion operation.
Despite the fact that naysayers have written him off multiple times over his career, Woods has pulled off numerous remarkable comebacks. If he decides to return to the PGA Tour, he will have new opportunities to pursue.
“Don’t mistrust him,” Justin Thomas said at the Hero, “as I’ve stated many times.” “If he is able to return, if he chooses to return, he will.”
While the golf world is speculating on when Woods will return to the PGA Tour — Torrey Pines, Riviera, Augusta National, the Old Course? – He has tempered his optimism by stating that he is not in golf, practice, or PGA Tour tournament fitness. He can’t even walk an 18-hole course at this point.
“In this recuperation process, I still have a long way to go,” he remarked at the PNC.
But in 2022, he’ll be looking forward to even greater development, which he’ll be able to enjoy when the smoke from the 46 candles fades in the air. During the Players Championship week in March, he will be inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame. His foundation’s enduring influence. His children’s continued development.
There will be more rounds with Charlie.
And Woods, along with a sporting world desperate for a comeback, may cling to Andy Dufresne’s comments to Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding.
“Hope is a wonderful thing, perhaps the most wonderful of all, and no good thing ever dies.”
Woods has regained his optimism.
Fans feel the same way.
At the PNC, he stated, “The competitive juices are never going to go away.” “This is where I live.” I’ve spent my entire life doing this. I’m really grateful to have this chance to do it all over again. It wasn’t a good start to the year earlier this year, and it didn’t look good.”
It’s starting to look a lot better. Birthday greetings
