16.7% of fatal car accidents are caused by speeding. While I don’t think about this number off the top of my head, this is a thought that permeates my mind every time I prepare to drive. If I ever have children (big if) this will be the first and most important message before taking the wheel “So drive slowly”. Somehow this entered my mind when hearing about Tiger Woods.
It can’t be confirmed and judgments can’t be made, making it wildly inappropriate and uncomfortable to talk about speeding. On Tuesday morning, February 23rd, Tiger Woods was in a life-threatening car accident. The news broke and sent shockwaves throughout our country and for an allotted time, there was an uncertainty that Tiger Woods would not make it out alive.
Tiger’s career might have come to a sad end
The first reaction from the public was a relief, Tiger survived the off-road crash. Life takes precedence and the fact that this wasn’t the end (which the rescue team said was likely) is already something we have to note.
For all intents and purposes, Tiger Woods’s golf career is over. The injuries suffered in the accident are hard to recover from to even live normally much less play competitive golf. This is a sad way for a career to end and it’s hard for my generation (and the current generations alive) to fathom.
Tiger was the spotlight and dominant figure in golf. In fact, you have to be at least 35-years-old or older to have a clear memory of someone in the spotlight of the sport not named Tiger. Moreover, Tiger was the spotlight and duct tape of a declining sport, that many people in the current generation only watched if Woods was playing. It’s a sudden end but to an interesting career to say the least.
Tiger Dominated a sport he wasn’t supposed to
Tiger Woods grew up in Cypress California, the son of Earl Woods, a Vietnam war veteran. What makes Earl Woods interesting to think about is that he was able to allow Tiger to play golf. Tiger had the access and opportunity that many couldn’t find, with the military courses at his access. Earl also knew his son was going to be great at golf and hyped Tiger up as a future great. Parents hyping their children up as the next great ones is a story we know all too well and fear that it hinders their children (most notably, Lonzo and LaMelo Ball had to dodge the blatant distraction and hype of their father). With Woods, it never entered that realm. Oddly enough, we can look back and say that Earl Woods should have talked about his son more since he became the greatest golfer in the future.
Moreover, it’s impossible to look back at Woods’s journey and not think of the racial element. Golf is historically known for being a discriminant sport and Tiger, from his youth, was told that he didn’t belong on the course. Tiger was beating white men in a sport that was for the white man. The fact that Tiger was on the course already made many hate him, his ability to dominate on the courses growing up only fanned the flames.
This is the part that makes Tiger’s story interesting. Woods was able to not only transcend a game he wasn’t supposed to, but he was also able to do it while becoming a fan favorite. His uncanny ability to have fun and show that you can have fun. The outpouring over Woods only reminds us of how he became a loved figure not just in the golfing world.
Tiger Woods was more than just great
It’s going to be easy to forget when it comes to Tiger was his dominance. Woods joined the tour in 1996 and almost instantly became the best golfer. 6 wins at the Masters, 4 wins at the PGA Championship, 3 US Open wins, 3 wins at The Open Championship. The accolades seem to go on and somehow almost diminish how dominant Woods was.
If you had to place a bet on Tiger Woods or the field you would normally take the field. From 1997-2007, you would bet on Tiger. There are few teams or athletes that you would be inclined to take over the field. Woods was dominant the way the New England Patriots were from 2001-04, the Golden State Warriors from 2015-18, maybe the Alabama Crimson Tide of the last decade. The list is short but Woods was there. There are few dynasties but one could argue the Woods was one of them.
Then Came the Downfall
It’s hard not to take Tiger’s legacy without a sour taste. It’s hard to think of Tiger and not think of the extramarital affair that made headlines beyond just the sports world. It truly brings into question the athlete’s role as role models, particularly if we should treat them like such. The difficulty in Woods, like many athletes, is that he had an ideal reputation, he looked the part.
It almost seemed like Woods had been cursed from that moment onward. Tiger’s career taking a nose-dive in a way felt tragic considering how he was an icon. The injuries started to pile on, then came the arrest in 2017, in Jupiter, Florida. Like the game of golf itself, it felt like Tiger would never be back. Woods was only 42, yet he felt like a thing of the past, much like the sport he represented.
Oddly enough the game of golf was able to find a young batch of stars that watched Tiger play and admired him. In a way, the torch was passed but it was an awkward and ugly transition that was never complete. For someone that watches golf once a year (the Masters on Sunday) it was clear the game needed Woods back or at least another Tiger.
Tiger Finally Made it Back
Tiger winning the Masters in 2019 felt weird but almost heroic. He had made it back. Looking back at the Masters, there is a sadness that we didn’t know that would be his final victory lap. Unlike many stars that have a retirement tour, Woods had that moment but didn’t get the sendoff he probably deserved. However, for that moment in the spring of 2019, Tiger had completed the comeback and finally won again.
Tiger Woods in Retrospect
This car crash has the parallels of many stars before him but feels different at the same time. We are only 13 months removed from Kobe Bryant’s helicopter crash, Kobe was 41, Woods is 45. Woods survived, his golf career may be over but he is still able to continue establishing a legacy off the field (or start now). This is an end of an era, for a sport, an athlete, a dominant figure in the sports world. At the same time, Tiger is only 45-years-old, there is a lot left for him.
I think about Woods (not knowing much about golf) and think of his competitive nature. He dominated a sport he wasn’t supposed to be in. That competitive nature can and should translate.
It’s hard to say what the future will hold and it’s hard to understand what Tiger should be remembered for. What truly makes Tiger such an American icon, a larger-than-life figure, the reason we truly emphasize with him, is the fact that he is human. We see a human that isn’t perfect and isn’t immortal. Tiger in a way is all of us and we can see ourselves in his life and legacy. We all try to dominate our fields the way Woods did with Golf. Likewise, we can acknowledge that we are flawed and have setbacks. It’s hard to predict the future and it’s hard to reckon with Tiger’s career. However, we can look back in great awe with the hope that we can achieve greatness like Woods.
