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Tiger Woods comeback story

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  • #152
    magic_murph
    Registered Users Posts: 1,521 ✭✭✭magic_murph


    ThomasFlynn wrote: »
    Federer's the greatest tennis player ever, and there's lot less uncertainty that he's the GOAT of the sport. He also passed Sampras's record unlike Woods who has not as of yet to pass Nicklaus.

    Pele, Maradona, Messi in football.

    Ali in boxing.

    Various olympians.

    Tom Brady in American football.

    Don Bradman/Sachin Tendulkar in Cricket

    Michael Jordan in Basketball

    Wayne Gretzky in Ice Hockey

    Come on there are plenty who are a match for Woods.


    It's not really a fair comparison arguing between an individual team sports.


  • #153
    orourkeda1977
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,628 ✭✭✭orourkeda1977


    magic_murph wrote: »
    Conor McGregor comes out of Retirement
    Beats Kahabib
    Beats Tony Ferguson
    Beats Mayweather
    Retires.

    Greatest Sports man and sporting achievement of all time. Simple

    Then goes to jail just like floyd mayweather


  • #154
    marvin80
    Registered Users Posts: 1,817 ✭✭✭marvin80


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

    This golfing dude was good, then wasn't very good, had an operation, and eventually got OK again. Colour me impressed.

    Afaik he couldn't walk at one stage. Even after the operation I'm sure his back is still not 100%, and golfers are constantly putting their backs under pressure when swinging. that's the physical part.

    His life completely fell apart - a complete mess privately and subsequently professionally. Probably even a bigger fall for him considering how good and dominant he was.

    Mentality is a massive part of golf so to come back and win a major is unbelievable.

    There's plenty of great sporting comeback stories - this mightn't be the best of them but it's phenomenal and great to be able to witness it in our lifetime.


  • #155
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    magic_murph wrote: »
    Conor McGregor comes out of Retirement
    Beats Kahabib
    Beats Tony Ferguson
    Beats Mayweather
    Retires.

    Greatest Sports man and sporting achievement of all time. Simple

    Wouldnt qualify. We are talking about SPORTING achievement. Thugs beating the crap out of each other for the entertainment of the tracksuited lower classes of the world is not sport.


  • #156
    Kermit.de.frog
    Registered Users Posts: 23,442 ✭✭✭✭Kermit.de.frog


    We all know it was you Tiger

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-pZSVd-UThA


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  • #157
    valoren
    Registered Users Posts: 5,458 ✭✭✭valoren


    I would make a distinction between Nicklaus and Woods as the greatest ever. Nicklaus is the greatest golfer as the biggest test for a golfer will be Major championship course set ups and he has won the most so for me he is the greatest golfer. Consider that not only did he win 18 of them, he also finished 2nd outright or tied for 2nd 18 times. Of the 40 majors played in the 1970's, he finished top 10 in all but 4, missing only 1 cut. That is superb golf by any measure, he was consistently brilliant in a notoriously difficult game. Whether it was the slick greens at Augusta, the tightest fairways and deep rough at the US Open or the unpredictable weather on links for the Open Championships, Nicklaus was always there or thereabouts in his prime.

    For Woods, he never had the consistency in the Majors that Nicklaus had. He went through notable slumps, still making cuts in the majors but finishing nowhere as he went through a number of swing changes for example. Yet when he was dialled in and on his game he was untouchable 15 times.

    He is however the greatest professional golfer of all time. No question at all about it. The guy moved the needle big time, was a multi-millionaire before he even turned pro and is one of the wealthiest athletes in the world today.

    He is the reason the journeymen professionals play weekly for million dollar cheques on the PGA tour, he is the reason the elite professionals (the players who pick up one or two majors in their careers) are all multi-millionaires themselves. He made Golf a legitimate career for talented young amateurs whereas it was a calculated risk to do so during the Nicklaus era when to earn the equivalent of what a used car salesman made in a year meant that if you were good you broke even. You had to win tournaments to make Golf a financially feasible endeavor.

    Gary Player during a Skins match in 1983 won $170,000 during the event and was seen to be visibly shaking on the last hole. It was more money than he'd ever won in a year on the tour in his career, the man, a 9 time major winner, a legend in the game and he was incredulous that he'd won so much money and said he was in a state of shock and awe. Today a top pro can make that much money from having a logo on their cap and going to a few corporate shindigs every other month. That's not to mention the endorsement contracts and the huge increases in prize money since Woods' big bang moment at the 97 Masters. Tiger Woods is to be thanked for that. Nicklaus doesn't even come close in that regard. Golf was always Golf long before Woods came along but he helped turn it into a big industry and got a significant cut of it in the process. He's the greatest pro golfer of all time.


  • #158
    magic_murph
    Registered Users Posts: 1,521 ✭✭✭magic_murph


    The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »
    Wouldnt qualify. We are talking about SPORTING achievement. Thugs beating the crap out of each other for the entertainment of the tracksuited lower classes of the world is not sport.


    sport
    /spɔːt/
    noun
    1.
    an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.

    Back in your box


  • #159
    Deebles McBeebles
    Registered Users Posts: 5,748 ✭✭✭Deebles McBeebles


    How did this thread turn all McGregor? He hasn't even f*cked off yet, never mind made a comeback.

    Go on Tiger! What a great weekend of golf.


  • #160
    weldoninhio
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,311 ✭✭✭✭weldoninhio


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    Nikki lauda had a horrific high speed crash, the car burst into flame around him, other cars then crashed into him. He gets pulled out of the wreckage, gets his lungs hoovered out, loses his ears and refuses to be put into a coma to recuperate in case he never wakes up, then a month later he's driving the car again in the sort of pain most humans couldn't endure, finishes fourth with a helmet soaked in blood from all the burnt flesh falling off him and then only loses out on a world title because he *chose* not to finish a race. A few years after he retired he came back and won another title.


    This golfing dude was good, then wasn't very good, had an operation (to fuse two of the vertabrae of his spine together, I'm not sure how au fait you are with biology, but your spine is quiet important), and eventually got OK again. Colour me impressed.

    Fixed


  • #161
    fryup
    Registered Users Posts: 18,069 ✭✭✭✭fryup


    his new girlfriend is hot! maybe she's his inspiration?


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  • #162
    donspeekinglesh
    Registered Users Posts: 1,861 ✭✭✭donspeekinglesh


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    Nikki lauda had a horrific high speed crash, the car burst into flame around him, other cars then crashed into him. He gets pulled out of the wreckage, gets his lungs hoovered out, loses his ears and refuses to be put into a coma to recuperate in case he never wakes up, then a month later he's driving the car again in the sort of pain most humans couldn't endure, finishes fourth with a helmet soaked in blood from all the burnt flesh falling off him and then only loses out on a world title because he *chose* not to finish a race. A few years after he retired he came back and won another title.


    This golfing dude was good, then wasn't very good, had an operation, and eventually got OK again. Colour me impressed.

    And Zanardi, Kubica and Billy Monger are other more recent examples of better come backs. And that's just 4 wheeled motorsport, the 2 wheeled crowd are even crazier.


  • #163
    Bob Harris
    Registered Users Posts: 3,462 ✭✭✭Bob Harris


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    Nikki lauda had a horrific high speed crash, the car burst into flame around him, other cars then crashed into him. He gets pulled out of the wreckage, gets his lungs hoovered out, loses his ears and refuses to be put into a coma to recuperate in case he never wakes up, then a month later he's driving the car again in the sort of pain most humans couldn't endure, finishes fourth with a helmet soaked in blood from all the burnt flesh falling off him and then only loses out on a world title because he *chose* not to finish a race. A few years after he retired he came back and won another title.


    This golfing dude was good, then wasn't very good, had an operation, and eventually got OK again. Colour me impressed.

    Honestly, reading what Lauda did and it just makes him look stupid.


  • #164
    gormdubhgorm
    Registered Users Posts: 18,218 ✭✭✭✭gormdubhgorm


    The Rape of Lucretia wrote: »
    True, but he is the 'great'-est.

    Ronnie O'Sullivan has to be that surely?
    Natural talent and unprecedented competitive longevity his 'Personal issues'
    Winning one of his five world titles after taking a year off, and now shattering records all over the place (when most players are thinking about winding down/retiring).
    Can play left/right handed with ease and has changed his break-building style.
    Over 1000 centuries etc
    Look at the all-time list of centuries

    https://cuetracker.net/statistics/centuries/most-made/all-time

    Guff about stuff, and stuff about guff.



  • #165
    Slutmonkey57b
    Registered Users Posts: 5,552 ✭✭✭Slutmonkey57b


    weldoninhio wrote: »
    Fixed

    Fusing vertebrae with a controlled procedure and well established rehab process is a fairly common procedure which pales in comparison to *checks notes* having ash hoovered out of your lungs while your face is melting, I think it's safe to say.


  • #166
    weldoninhio
    Closed Accounts Posts: 14,311 ✭✭✭✭weldoninhio


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    Fusing vertebrae with a controlled procedure and well established rehab process is a fairly common procedure which pales in comparison to *checks notes* having ash hoovered out of your lungs while your face is melting, I think it's safe to say.

    Is it common to be able to play golf and win the Masters after getting your spine fused?? Lauda also didn't win anything the year he came back.


  • #167
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    None of the above remotely come near the Tiger come back last weekend.
    Its unprecedented nature must be seen in the context of all the remarkable elements it comprises.

    Some individual aspects can be compared to the examples of other comebacks cited above. Some individual elements are remarkable in their own right, some are comparable with other comebacks, and some are indeed inferior to others in a limited analysis. But as a whole, nothing is in the same ballpark.

    - sportsmen have come back from all manner of almost career ending injuries. Tiger's is there with them. Remarkable but not unprecedented. The extent, near miss (certainly Hogan was inches from death in the crash), near death (Lauda's lung smoke) closeness dont necessarily translate to the impact on their performance should they survive. But multiple back surgery for a golfer is right at the nub of whether they will ever be competitive again.

    - the chances of winning in golf are lower than all other individual sports. Even Woods barely bettered a major win rate of 30%. Despite seeming low, this is a unique and extraordinarily high hit rate. Even Nicklaus by comparison, also exceptional, just exceeded about 20% (Jacks's number of 2nds is very impressive. Clearly better than Tiger. But Tiger converted more wins). The chances of winning a major, in a field of 80-120 entrants is very low.

    - even before the 4 missing years, and the back surgeries, Tiger was very competitive, making 9 top tens in 18 majors. Very good, but no wins. And struggling with his fitness. It did seem the game was falling away in his mid 30s whatever : the time it has fallen away for many even multi major winning golf greats, Faldo Watson, Sarazen, Ballesteros, Palmer, Nelson, Hagen. 33-35 is a common end for golfers top achievements as in other sports.

    - golfers over 40 can win golf majors. But it is exceptional. Approximately 2 names are added per decade to the list of those who have done it. Of those, only about 1 in 20-30 years is by a multi major winner rather than those winning their only, or second major. The more over 40 they are, the thinner the chances are. Tiger did it at 43.

    - this was not really out of the blue. Tiger came back last year and despite playing some good golf in other tournaments, was mediocre in the first two majors. But in the 3rd, he led on Saturday, and led again on Sunday with 10 holes to go. He was second in the next one. And then wins the next. To contend at three majors in a row, again, certainly not unprecedented, is still very rare at any age. To do so, including winning one, over 40, is remarkable. Nicklaus is effectively the only other golfer to do so.

    - the 11 year gap between majors wins also adds Woods to a list of only 4 others who have such a long gap between winning them

    - his gap of 14 years between winning a masters is the longest bar none

    - Woods was effectively out of major golf injured for 4 years. Not just months, or a season or two. 4 years. At a time when the preceding years suggested he was on the wane anyway, and during those 4 years, age also caught up bringing him into the 'death zone' of the comfortably over 40s.

    - no such comeback is from a player who at worst is arguably the greatest ever at his sport, and at best, the greatest .... when that position was already assured, and not depending on results post-comeback

    Taken in its full context, it is simply THE mind blowing all time sporting performance.


  • #168
    Tilikum17
    Registered Users Posts: 1,316 ✭✭✭Tilikum17


    People going on about jacks 2nd places in the majors.

    In the 60’s they’d be lucky to get the top 10 players in the world to play in the British open.

    Every single major tiger has played in has had the top 50 golfers in it.

    You can’t compare fields throughout the years. Tiger has played the greatest golf that ever been played the records prove that. All hits stats tiger vs course.

    He’s the greatest golf in history. 43 years old & still beating the best of today.

    (Totally excluding all the **** tiger has to put up with as a young black man growing up)


  • #169
    ckeego
    Registered Users Posts: 2,295 ✭✭✭ckeego


    Marengo wrote: »
    Don't consider 43 middle aged, while not young no doubt. Splitting hairs a bit but 47-63 middle aged imo.

    Chris Horner won the cycling Tour of Spain at 42. Tom Brady will be 42 this year.
    Chris Horner was doped up to the gills...


  • #170
    Rasputin11
    Registered Users Posts: 1,350 ✭✭✭Rasputin11


    ckeego wrote: »
    Chris Horner was doped up to the gills...

    Tiger and Tom have both dealt with a couple of dodgy characters in this regard also.


  • #171
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    Cycling has long lost any credibility. It doesnt really class as sport at all anymore. It may one day regain some respect and again be regarded as a legitimate sport, but that is decades away at best.


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  • #172
    TomasMacR
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 262 ✭✭TomasMacR


    Rasputin11 wrote: »
    Tiger and Tom have both dealt with a couple of dodgy characters in this regard also.

    Big difference between PED's and an addiction to pain killers. One ups your game and performance, the other f*cks it up royally.


  • #173
    Gffg
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 33 ✭Gffg


    magic_murph wrote: »
    Conor McGregor comes out of Retirement
    Beats Kahabib
    Beats Tony Ferguson
    Beats Mayweather
    Retires.

    Greatest Sports man and sporting achievement of all time. Simple
    If you were Khibab would you be willing to fight McGregor again? Would you feel you owe it to him?"


  • #174
    ckeego
    Registered Users Posts: 2,295 ✭✭✭ckeego


    Fascinating thread and both amazing in how divisive a character TW is and highly admirable how insightful some of the posters here are.

    I’m not a Woods fan but you must be impressed with his recovery over the last 2 years-it must be remembered that his kids found him collapsed in pain less than 2 years ago, his back pain was so severe.

    Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian’s book on Woods is about as much an insight anyone needs to the circus his life was from such an early age-pressure cooker would be an understatement -and the after hours activities, the flirtation with selection courses for the Special Forces and his detachment from reality are the results of his background... it was what was all around him as he grew up.

    It is also a fly on the wall account as to how much power the sports agents hold-the endorsement deals that sportsmen like Woods, Spieth, McIlroy, Jordan in Bball, LeBron too is simply staggering-but aside from that, the carrot that is player access can make a whole raft of trouble float away.

    Years before the scandals broke with Woods, I remember wondering who Golf Digest were referring to in an article about life on Tour who was living the life of a frat boy whilst on the road- on a number of occasions Woods’ management buried stories that could have taken him down but Hey! It’s all cool again and the $200m deals are back on negotiating tables..

    All said, Tour level pros have a lot to thank Tiger for-their take home packet bears testament to that-but the level that they have had to raise their game and training to means that it is no coincidence that so many first time Major winners have emerged in recent years.

    The other thing that happened last Sunday was the re emergence of the fear factor.. Woods shot a 70, but Molinari in particular saw Woods behind him and choked badly-shooting at pins he didn’t need to take on, not making the smart play..

    But, and this is a large but.. you have to ask yourself how such a recovery has been possible-you don’t need to look back 2 years to see this-just look at how bedraggled he looked in Paris at the Ryder Cup... and I’m very surprised this hasn’t been questioned..

    The Yanks have a very short and convenient memory towards fallen sports and public heroes-don’t be in any way surprised if you see auld Lance run as a state governor in the coming years..


  • #175
    Captain Barnacles
    Registered Users Posts: 270 ✭✭Captain Barnacles


    TomasMacR wrote: »
    Apparently he was mad for getting his arsehole eaten out according to one of the tarts he was getting up on during that expose a few years back.

    Cracking tee shot on the 16th.

    He was sending texts to the same tart saying how he wanted to **** her up the ass and then shove his cock down her throat .... jaysus Tiger, never go ass to mouth...


  • #176
    Slutmonkey57b
    Registered Users Posts: 5,552 ✭✭✭Slutmonkey57b


    ckeego wrote: »
    I’m not a Woods fan but you must be impressed with his recovery over the last 2 years-it must be remembered that his kids found him collapsed in pain less than 2 years ago, his back pain was so severe.

    You're right, I've changed my mind, that's much worse than having half your face burned off and blood running into your eyes.


  • #177
    TomasMacR
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 262 ✭✭TomasMacR


    Slutmonkey57b wrote: »
    You're right, I've changed my mind, that's much worse than having half your face burned off and blood running into your eyes.

    I’ve just looked this handsome devil up, he’s smashing some tramp 30 years younger than him even though his head looks like Freddie Kruger’s ball sack. This is definitely the greatest comeback in history....or the durty auld c*nt has buckets of cash and yer one isn’t too fussed

    On a lighter note, Solskjaer amounting to less than f*<¥ all will be a fairly remarkable comeback


  • #178
    Wombatman
    Registered Users Posts: 3,337 ✭✭✭Wombatman


    Stem cells be great https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27466864


  • #179
    Biodegradable
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 350 ✭✭Biodegradable


    He's done it again. Score of -19! Imagine that. If he still had the striking power of his youth he'd probably have gotten -24!


  • #180
    The Tetrarch
    Registered Users Posts: 2,092 ✭✭✭The Tetrarch


    EmmetSpiceland wrote: »
    I believe that’s called a “rim” job.

    His disgrace was, essentially, a private issue between him and his family. He didn’t assault anyone or cheat to win at his sport so I can’t say I have any issue with him getting back on top.
    He should have been disqualified in the 2013 US Masters for an incorrect drop.
    You are technically correct to say "he didn't cheat to win" because he did not win afaik any of these 2013 events.

    These four in 2013
    2013 BMW Championship in Chicago, Woods was retrospectively punished two shots after TV evidence showed his ball moved as Woods attended to some nearby foliage.
    The 2013 US Masters incident. Woods was penalised two shots for taking an incorrect drop after his ball found a water hazard.
    A missed cut in a European event in Abu Dhabi after he wrongly took a "free" drop in round two and incurred a two-stroke sanction. (He got USD 3 million appearance fee.)
    May 2013 Players Championship. Woods gained unwanted attention, if not incurring a penalty, for a drop taken after his shot found water from the 14th tee at Sawgrass.


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  • #181
    The Rape of Lucretia
    Closed Accounts Posts: 7,440 ✭✭✭The Rape of Lucretia


    It is truly extraordinary.

    Nothing in the history of sport touches it now for everything that is sport - man's determination to master the arbitrary rules of a self imposed physical and mental challenge, to contest, to overcome personal demons, physical frailty, the unstoppable process of aging and decline, and to contest, and beat, and prove himself superior to others. It is the drama of the contest that is everything that is life itself, framed within the limited parameters of a sport's rules.

    And the Tiger comeback is that writ larger than ever before.

    Its a fading light now. Every monent to be savoured. But all the more extraordinary for that.

    It is a priviledge for all those now witnessing these events.
    Simply coming back. Contending. Getting all phases of game back to world class level. Near misses. The relentless climb back up the rankings. Leading a major. Coming second in a major. Winning ! Winning a major - the apotheosis of man's unwillingness to give up and stray from his true nature of competitive survivor. And prove once again, his greatness. Paying the price for that. Seemingly fading and weary. A further operation. Not playing for over two months. Then turning out and delivering the highest excellence. Out of nowhere. From the off. Winning. Again !!!

    Wonder at these happenings will ripple throgh generations and centuries yet to come.


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