Tiger Woods completed the comeback of the decade from the depths of despair to win his 15th major championship
It should be no act of sacrilege to suggest victory at the 2019 Masters was not the most remarkable in Tiger Woods’ celebrated career. This is a golfer who won at Augusta National by a dozen shots as a 21-year-old, who claimed the
US Open by a margin of 15 in 2000 and who prevailed in the same major eight years later despite playing with a broken leg. Woods seemed to view unprecedented feats as matador’s capes.
But none of this should temper the significance of Woods’ latest major triumph and 15th in total. Nor did it. His victory at Augusta reverberated way beyond sport. A sportsman once so dominant had been reduced firmly to the past tense. His slide towards oblivion appeared terminal. An athlete formerly so flawless had been dragged – partly by himself – to the depths of personal and physical despair. As Woods converted the final putt, his mother and children standing by to join in the celebrations, the ultimate redemption tale was complete.