Sam Torrance: Tiger Woods’s second coming is here and he is capable of anything now
I think we can safely say that Tiger Woods is back. Five years and several rounds of surgery on from his previous win, he stood up and batted off all of his rivals at the Tour Championship on Sunday – just as he always used to. He was magnificent, it is huge for golf and it only adds to the excitement around this week’s Ryder Cup.
The story of his return to the top of the game is up there with sport’s greatest. Last year Woods wondered whether he’d ever be able to compete properly again; to come back from that, given that he is up against players like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy – who are all much younger than him – is nothing short of astonishing.
It’s almost Ben Hoganish. Hogan feared his career was over after a dreadful road accident left him with multiple broken bones, yet won the 1950 US Open just 11 months later and went on to add another five Majors. Tiger, too, hit those depths – yet here he is back at the highest level, beating the best players around.
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Watching Woods get closer and closer to that first win since 2013 has been beautiful. The moment when I really felt it was only a matter of time was a few weeks ago, watching his swing look better than ever. He just needed to get the same rhythm in his driver as he had in his irons, and he’s got that now.
Opening up a three-shot overnight lead on Saturday was massive for Tiger. He has now won 24 titles out of 24 when taking an advantage of that size into the final round, which is incredible.
He almost had a free rein on Sunday and used it brilliantly. Of his two closest challengers, Rory McIlroy was always going to find it tough to make up the ground when playing alongside Woods, while Justin Rose was tip-toeing around the course in the hope of the top-five finish he needed for the FedEx Cup crown.
Every situation that arose he handled beautifully. One chip he played on Saturday was exquisite. It was a shot that only comes off once in 10 attempts, but he’s Tiger – it’s just what he does. I watched the whole tournament and I loved it.
All week there were glimpses like that of the young Tiger and, at 42, it’s wonderful to see. This is absolutely his second coming and this win will have given him so much; you could see it in his demeanour. More titles, adding to his 14 Majors – he’s capable of anything now.
Woods's victory at the Tour Championship drew huge crowds (Source: Getty)
I can never praise Woods enough. He showed us golf we had never seen before in the 1990s and now he’s doing it again in 2018. It means a new generation gets to enjoy him like this. His American Ryder Cup team-mates and other world stars have played alongside him before but now that he’s in the last pairing week in, week out they’re getting to see the great Tiger in real life.
Rose adds another feather to his cap
I was delighted to see Woods win and I was equally delighted to see Rose claim the FedEx Cup and the $10m prize. It was a win-win situation.
All the attention was on Tiger but the record books won’t show who got the most applause, only that Rose won the FedEx Cup – one of the few achievements he was yet to complete. It was almost the last feather missing from his cap, but I loved that he spoke immediately afterwards about aiming to repeat his feats.
Rose did enough to clinch the FedEx Cup (Source: Getty)
The Englishman was under a lot of pressure on the last few holes and handled it magnificently. Just as Woods will have boosted US morale ahead of their Ryder Cup defence, Rose’s performance will be a big lift for Europe.