The return of Tiger

LONDON. — Seeing as Tiger Woods has 14 of them it seems rather odd to be labelling him the man with everything except the major.
But as the game counts down to tomorrow’s first round of the US PGA Championship there is a palpable sense that only one thing remains missing from the reinvention of the icon.
Sunday’s scenario after winning the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in Akron by seven shots went such a long way in reclaiming his status as a human being.
When he walked up the hill to the scorers’ hut carrying his four-year-old son — Charlie’s arms tight around his father’s shoulders — this was an image for which his publicists have long craved. Yet the honesty of the emotion culd not be staged.

Afterwards, Tiger choked back the tears as he spoke of his little boy being on hand to witness his first Woods trophy. It was clearly what gave his eighth WGC-Bridgestone Invitational win more resonance than the rest.

“It made it special for both of us,” Woods said. “He’s never seen me win a tournament before. Sam [his seven-year-old daughter] was there when I won the US Open in ’08, and she still loves to look at the YouTube video. Charlie has never had that, never felt what it’s like to be with the trophy.”

For the galleries and watching world it was ominously familiar. As Ian Poulter admitted in his own frank style: “Tiger humiliated us all.” Except this time the cool, clinical destroyer was to reveal his softer side. Even before the scandal which led to his divorce, Woods refused to discuss his personal life. Now, with the stability of a burgeoning relationship with the skier Lindsey Vonn, and with his boy at his side, Woods opened up about being the proud father.

“Charlie likes playing, likes giving it a hit,” Woods said. “He likes anything where there is contact with a bat and a ball or any hand-eye sport. But it’s like what my dad did. Go out there, no lessons, just have fun.

“He just emulates what I do. I’ll go and hit balls and it goes kind of quiet for a while, and then the next thing I know and he’s looking over my shoulder and he’s kind of watching me.

“Then I’ll hit and he’ll hit and his swing starts mimicking what I am doing. That’s how I learnt the game and my dad just kept it so light, fun and competitive, and I fell in love with it.”

And so Woods, he family man, goes for his final piece of redemption. Surely the wait is over and that after more than five years and 17 majors, Woods will resume the chase of Jack Nicklaus in golf immortality stakes? — The Telegraph.