Tiger Woods knows he’s lucky to be alive.
Fortunate to still have use of both of his legs.
Blessed to once more be hitting golf balls with authority.
And elated to be able to play with his two children again.
“I’m very grateful that someone upstairs was taking care of me, that I’m able to not only be here but also to walk without a prosthesis,” Woods said in the Bahamas the first week of December, alluding to the February single-car accident on a quiet street north of Los Angeles where he sailed across a median at excessively high speed and rolled over multiple times down an embankment.
The jaws of life were used to extract Woods from the vehicle that day. His right leg was shattered and talk of amputation was later discussed; multiple surgeries ensued, however, and no such measure was taken. The jarring images of the wreckage left many to believe the Big Cat had called on one of his nine lives.
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After three months of being bed ridden and battling pain each day, Woods was able to move about, work hard every day doing physical exercises and start recovering from the latest trauma to his battered body.
It was a torturous year, one that began with rehabilitation and recovery from a fifth back surgery the last week of 2020, some two months before his Feb. 23 accident. At the Hero World Challenge he hosted in the Bahamas, Woods said he would like to turn the page on 2021. Who can blame him?
But as he celebrates his 46th revolution around the sun on the 30th of December, there is plenty to celebrate as he eyes the candles on the cake. In the word of Woods, his traj has been on an improving track, the 11th and 12th months of 2021 on the better side of par than the previous 10 months.
First there was a three-second video in November of one swing with a wedge accompanied by two words – Making Progress. Then a 23-second video featuring his action with a 3-wood in the Bahamas. Followed by repeated range sessions later at the Hero World Challenge, with driver in his hands.
And to wrap up the year, a triumphant return to golf alongside his son, Charlie, in the PNC Championship, where the two set a tournament record with 11 consecutive birdies on Sunday and fell two shots shy and finished second.
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He blasted drives of 300-plus yards that weekend, struck long irons with force and accuracy, wedged well and putted and chipped with excellence. He was all smiles and having a blast. He was a shocking figure of health, all things considered, less than 10 months after he faced possible death.
“I think he’s got alien DNA,” is how Notah Begay, his longtime friend and current golf analyst, put it.
Begay isn’t the first in golf circles to wonder if Woods is human, considering his out-of-this-world resume and his supernatural might to rise from another proverbial burial of his golf career. He did, after all, return to the top of the mountain after a Hail Mary spinal fusion surgery less than four years ago to win his 15th major championship and record-tying 82nd PGA Tour title.
Amid the din of critics writing him off throughout his career, Woods has authored numerous, successful comebacks. And now, there is again light to chase in his future if he decides to return to the PGA Tour.
“I’ve said many times, don’t doubt him,” Justin Thomas said at the Hero. “If he can come back, if he decides to come back, he will.”
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While the golf world has gone mad with predictions of when Woods will play again on the PGA Tour – Torrey, Riviera, Augusta National, the Old Course? – he has tempered the optimism by saying he’s not in golf shape, not in practice shape, not in PGA Tour tournament shape. He can’t walk an 18-hole course yet, either.
“I still have a long way to go in this rehab process,” he said at the PNC.
But he will be eyeing more progress in 2022, which he can celebrate as the smoke from the 46 candles dissipates in the air. He can look forward to being inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame during Players Championship week in March. The continued influence of his foundation. The further growth of his children.
More rounds with Charlie.
And Woods, along with a sporting world thirsting for a return, can cling to the words written by Andy Dufresne to Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding.
“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”
Woods has hope again.
As do fans.
“The competitive juices, they are never going to go away,” he said at the PNC. “This is my environment. This is what I’ve done my entire life. I’m just so thankful to be able to have this opportunity to do it again. Earlier this year was not a very good start to the year, and it didn’t look very good.”
It’s looking a whole lot better. Happy birthday.
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