Tiger Woods’ victory is a perfect lead into this week’s Ryder Cup. Woods’ five year journey hasn’t been an easy one for him. There’s been injuries, surgeries, and a battle with prescription drugs. All of it led to an emotional Woods walking up 18 to seal his first victory in 1,876 days.
The crowd’s reaction showed everyone how much Tiger still means to the Tour. The chants of “Tiger” and “U-S-A” rung out as Woods two-putted for a two stroke victory.
With the most popular golfer in the world playing his best golf in years, Team USA will travel to France with tons of confidence. And, it might be needed. Phil Mickelson was a Captain’s Pick and he looked out and out awful this past week. We don’t know what to expect from Jordan Spieth because he didn’t qualify for East Lake. At times, Spieth’s putting has been off and the Ryder Cup isn’t the stage to try and fix something that important.
Team USA is looking to repeat after their victory at Hazeltine. Prior to that, the red, white, and blue had lost three straight including an ugly 16.5-11.5 loss at Gleneagles. The US hasn’t won on European soil since a 15-13 win at the Belfry… that was 1993.
On paper the Americans look stacked. They have a great mix of young and old. Three out of the four majors this season were won by Americans on the team.
But we all know the Ryder Cup is a different beast especially on European soil. The Americans can rally around Tiger which is ironic. In his younger years, it was always questioned how much Tiger wanted to play in these events especially at the height of the Tiger/Phil discord.
With the sun setting on his glorious career, this might be the perfect time for Woods to be the guy that unifies the team in hostile territory. It would be another footnote to a great career and what could be an even greater comeback. In the words of the musical group, The Hours, it could be the greatest comeback since Lazarus.
