Woods's win was not the greatest comeback in sports history. Not even in golf.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Woods's win was not the greatest comeback in sports history. Not even in golf.
Tiger Woods hysteria resumes this week at the PGA Championship, in the wake of his widely proclaimed "greatest comeback in sports history" last month at the Masters.
I am going to say this one time and one time only, and I am going to be very, very, very, very, very clear about it:
It was not the greatest comeback in sports history.
Alas, it is only the second-greatest comeback in golf history , maybe the fifth-greatest comeback in sports history and probably not among the 25,000 greatest comebacks in human history.
Let's start with golf comebacks.
Tiger Woods : Marital and back problems. Goes 11 years between major titles.
Ben Hogan : In 1949, near-fatal car accident - fractured pelvis, chipped rib, broken collarbone, fractured ankle, blood clots, hospitalized 59 days; might never walk again. Won U.S. Open in 1950.
Let's move on to a handful of other sports comebacks.
Muhammad Ali : At his career peak, the heavyweight champ was banned from boxing from 1967 to 1970 after refusing military service. Regained heavyweight title twice after his return, including in 1974, at age 32, knocking out George Foreman in the "Rumble in the Jungle."
Greg LeMond : The 1986 Tour de France champion, in a hunting accident in 1987, was shot with 100 lead gun pellets in his back and right side, airlifted to a hospital, lost 65 percent of his blood volume and was told he was within 20 minutes of bleeding to death. Returned to cycling and won the Tour de France again in 1989 and 1990.
Monica Seles : Ranked No. 1 in the world, she was stabbed in the back with a nine-inch blade by a 38-year-old spectator while playing a 1993 tennis tournament in Germany. Did not play for two years, resumed in 1995, then won her 10th and final Grand Slam title at the Australian Open in 1996.
George Foreman : Lost his title to Ali in 1974, quit boxing in 1977, became an ordained minister, returned in 1987, became oldest heavyweight champ ever in 1994 at age 45 defeating Michael Moorer and launched a line of George Foreman Grills that can be found in garage sales from Peoria to Poughkeepsie.
(Going back to Tiger for a moment - in all fairness - he had four back surgeries and lost his Gatorade endorsement deal.)
Let's finish up this week's work - it's amazing they still pay me for this - by running down some great, unlikely comebacks elsewhere in life.
Richard Nixon : Lost to JFK in 1960, lost California gubernatorial race in 1962 and retired from politics. Unretired to win the presidency in 1968 and '72. P.S. If he had subsequently bounced back from Watergate, you could retire the greatest comeback award in his name.
Robert Downey Jr. : From a 1992 Academy Award nomination to unemployable addict - drug abuse, multiple rehabs and some jail time between 1996 and 2001 - to fronting huge movie franchises including "Iron Man" and "Sherlock Holmes."
Ulysses S. Grant : Entered the Army, quit the Army; drank excessively, fell into depression and struggled as civilian. Rejoined the Army during the Civil War, promoted to top general of Union forces, kicked Confederacy's butt and elected twice as president. On $50 bill.
John Travolta : Vinnie Barbarino, "Saturday Night Fever" and "Grease," then nothing for a decade, then "Pulp Fiction" got him A-listed to the head of the Spago reservations line.
Japan and Germany : Both written off after World War II; you wouldn't believe what Skip Bayless said about them.
Old Spice : They went from smelling like your grandfather to "smell like a man, man." Presto! Sources tell me Vladimir Putin and Justin Bieber both douse themselves in it.
Betty White : The woman is 97 years old and still gets work - somewhere in there at sometime, she had to somehow make a comeback from something.
Mayonnaise : Every time you think it's out, it gets pulled back into the condiment game.
Lazarus : Uh, he was dead. And then he wasn't.
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It's always nice to have a historical perspective and not be prisoner of the moment.
As a poor amateur golfer who started playing golf in the mid-50's with a set of the "new" Ben Hogan golf clubs ($79.95 out tha door), I was always, and still am, amazed with Ben Hogan. Have read all the books on his life, his playing style, his personal life and his books on lessons in golf. He has always been a wonder to me based on what he went through to make his comeback. His wife was one of the reasons for his miraculous recovery.
Tiger has made an amazing recovery - infidelity, losing the Nike endorsement, divorce and losing $765M in alimony, losing Gatorade, going through sexual rehab (WTF is that???), getting busted in the chops by his 104 pound wife with a 7 iron over his 23 and counting affairs while married to an absolutely gorgeous woman - is six wins from beating Jack's all time records in golf, has gone through four back surgeries, three knee surgeries and one wrist surgery.
Monica Seles has always gotten my admiration for her strength and trials and perseverance - one helluva woman and an athlete.
Little "Bumble Bee" Cassius Clay I've always admired for his commitment and his strength against the odds.
And, Robert Downey, Jr. - well - Jarvis is always by his side. I think one of the best movies he made was with Robert Duval as his dad and a former judge - kinda tear jerker.
Good find - thanks John
I have nothing against Tiger Woods, but I think someone who nearly died in a car accident, and was thought to maybe never walk again, and then won the U.S. Open a year later, ... that it the best comeback in golf.
Purely laughable! Comparing Tiger's comeback to Mayonnaise or John Travolta?
Here's a little lesson in golf .
Minimizing Tiger's comeback is both juvenile and petty.
I dont think the article minimized Woods. This writers style is obviously a little humorous and since he has a weekly column in the Washington Post it has probably worked out for him over the years.
The title is a give away to the minimization...along with the sentence above.
I think you are complaining about nothing but whatever.
I think that Woods 15th major title was quite the amazing comeback.
But to me, for the moment anyway, in golf it would be Ben Hogan comeback. His 1 iron on the 72nd hole was a thing of beauty.
This is his car after tangling with a Greyhound bus. This is not a put down of Woods or any other athlete.
Good seed. Fun
Thanks