11.35am (7.45pm UAE) Corey Conners
11.45am Max Homa, Sahith Theegala
11.55am Tony Finau, Viktor Hovland
12.05pm KH Lee, Hideki Matsuyama
12.15pm Scott Stallings, Adam Scott
12.25pm Brian Harman, Billy Horschel
12.35pm Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth
12.45pm JT Poston, Tom Hoge
12.55pm Sam Burns, Aaron Wise
1.05pm Jon Rahm, Sepp Straka
1.15pm Cameron Young, Justin Thomas
1.25pm Cameron Smith, Rory McIlroy
1.35pm Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im
1.45pm Matt Fitzpatrick, Joaquin Niemann
1.55pm Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele

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The post The clubs Dustin Johnson used to win the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Nor was it a great day because the NBC crew got to go on endlessly about how much money the players were going to take home. “Eight checks for more than a million dollars,” Dan Hicks semi-gasped at one point.

To his credit, Hicks did note that McIlroy had said earlier in the week that, while he’d be happy to win the $15 million first prize, his goal whenever he tees it up, is to win the title. McIlroy is long past the point where $15 million changes his life. The same is true for all the other millionaires who cashed in on Sunday.

What made Sunday an important day for golf is this: McIlroy and Brooks Koepka went head-to-head in the final pairing for the second time in a month and—this time—McIlroy won. Previously at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Koepka shot a final-round 65 to win his third title of the year. McIlroy fell back to a tie for fourth with a 71 that day.

This time, the roles were reversed. It was McIlroy who went low, with a four-under-par 66 (best score of the final round) and Koepka who spun his wheels, shooting a surprising two-over-par 72 to drop into a tie for third.

Would it have been better if, in both cases, the two had duelled one another for 18 holes, with one dropping a winning birdie putt at 18? Yes.

But what we appear to have now is a real rivalry between the two best players in the world. “I wanted some revenge for Memphis,” McIlroy said, moments after his last birdie putt dropped in Atlanta.

RELATED: McIlroy buries some demons and earns $15 million for winning the FedEx Cup

It can be argued that golf hasn’t had a good old-fashioned back-and-forth rivalry at the top of the game since Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson.

Greg Norman and Nick Faldo? It never went very well for Norman—except for the 1993 Open Championship—when both were in contention. It was a rivalry with small caps, not a RIVALRY.

The same was true of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. Let’s be honest, that was more of a hammer and a nail relationship between the two most of the time. Mickelson had his moments and is a no-doubt Hall-of-Famer, but Woods was on a completely different level than anyone from 1997 to 2008.

Once upon a time, it looked as if Sergio Garcia would be Woods’ rival, but it never happened, except in their personal sniping at one another.

McIlroy and Koepka have a friendly, but competitive, relationship. (Keyur Khamar/PGA Tour)

McIlroy and Koepka have the potential to be a RIVALRY. Each has won four major championships. McIlroy is 30—exactly 364 days older than Koepka, who will turn 30 next May. McIlroy has a deeper overall resume—17 PGA Tour wins to Koepka’s seven—four Ryder Cup wins in five appearances to Koepka’s 1-1 record. But it’s worth noting that McIlroy’s fourth major, the 2014 PGA, came before Koepka was even a fulltime player on tour. McIlroy was a prodigy; Koepka not a late bloomer of sorts.

Their personalities are also just right for this sort of thing. There is clearly mutual respect. And they are both hyper-competitive, though Koepka doesn’t show it as much on the golf course as McIlroy does.

Plus, both are outspoken, willing to talk honestly about issues—something golf could use a lot more of from its best players.

McIlroy never ducks a question, never goes, to quote Jordan Spieth’s description of himself, “PC,” when talking to the media. Even if it means taking a shot at his own profession. Three years ago when, after saying (like many players) he would skip the Olympics, McIlroy added when asked that he probably wouldn’t watch Olympic golf but would instead watch, “track and field, swimming, diving, the sports that matter.”

This past week, with the tour eager for players to embrace its latest playoff format, McIlroy politely but firmly wondered how an important tournament could actually stagger the starting scores for the 30 players. “I don’t think you’d ever see that happen in a major,” he said. Whether in a press conference or one-on-one, McIlroy is always a must-listen.

Koepka has always had the same potential to be a teller-of-truth, but it’s only in the last two years that people have started to listen to him as he’s risen to be the world’s No. 1 player.

In the past year, he’s defended himself against charges that he’s not emotional enough on the golf course. Like McIlroy, Koepka has talked openly about the slow play issue in general and Bryson DeChambeau specifically. This past week he said he really didn’t care if people were bothered by his agreeing to pose nude for ESPN.

And, of course, earlier in the year, Koepka took on Brandel Chamblee after the Golf Channel analyst said that he believed the only players who could challenge Woods as the world’s best players were McIlroy and Dustin Johnson. Koepka responded with a tweet showing Chamblee wearing a clown’s nose. Then, Koepka backed up that up by going out and winning the PGA Championship wire-to-wire at Bethpage Black, leaving Chamblee and everyone else spluttering about how brilliantly he played.

RELATED: The new Tour Championship wasn’t perfect, but it worked

There are other players who have the potential to beat Koepka and McIlroy in the next few years. Johnson and Woods, at their best, can play with anyone—including Koepka and McIlroy—much as Lee Trevino and Gary Player could best Nicklaus and Watson. It’s also difficult to believe that Jordan Spieth isn’t going to find his brilliance again at some point and the tour has a slew of young 20-somethings coming along behind Koepka and McIlroy.

But Koepka and McIlroy already have Hall-of-Fame worthy resumes and both should be coming into their peak years. Koepka’s player-of-the-year for 2019 because he had one thing on his resume that McIlroy lacked: a major title. McIlroy was remarkably consistent all year but couldn’t break his drought in majors, now five years and counting.

McIlroy is honest about how much he wants to win the Masters, which would cap the career Grand Slam. He doesn’t go down the, “I’ll have had a great career if I never win the Masters” cop-out road. When he does break through and win at Augusta, I suspect he’ll go on and win a couple more. The same is true of Koepka at the Masters and in the Open Championship. I believe both have the potential to get to double-digits in major victories.

Which means they are likely to go head-to-head with important titles—far more important than Memphis or Atlanta—at stake. To become a truly great rivalry, golf needs them duelling late on Sunday at Augusta or, next year at Winged Foot, Harding Park or Royal St. George’s. And into the future.

How many majors each might win is impossible to predict. But it’s likely that—win or lose—they’ll continue to be outspoken on issues and answer questions honestly.

They’re both good guys and great players. Very different, but worthy of our admiration on and off the golf course.

And, even now, it’s pretty clear they burn to beat one another.

All of that can only be good for golf.

The post A budding ‘Brooks vs. Rory’ rivalry is the best thing to come out of the Tour Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Dave Shedloski
Apparently, Tiger Woods will not go gentle into that good offseason.

The reigning Masters champion, trying to claw his way to one of the 30 berths in next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, gave himself a chance to defend his title at East Lake Golf Club by carding a bogey-free five-under-par 67 Saturday in the third round of the BMW Championship at Medinah Country Club.

The clean card was his first of the year, and, coincidentally, his first since a four-under 66 in the third round of last year’s BMW Championship at Aronimink Golf Club outside Philadelphia.

“Basically, the only difference between today and the last couple of days, I was able to clean up the card. I didn’t have any stupid mistakes where I made bogey from bad spots or from easy spots,” said Woods, who was six for six in scrambling to complement another solid day off the tee. “I converted a nice up and down on five. I did the little things that were able to keep the momentum going and made a couple of putts here and there.”

Woods, 43, not only played his best round of the tournament, but he appeared to be feeling the best he has all week. Yes, they’re related. He perhaps is finding the form and the path of his swing that proved so reliable at Augusta National Golf Club when he won his fifth Masters title. That swing also allowed him to play with more mobility and less pain earlier in the season.

The first two rounds this week, when he shot a pair of 71s on Medinah’s No. 3 Course, were tantamount to practice rounds considering he hadn’t made a full swing between the time he withdrew last Friday from the Northern Trust with an oblique strain and Wednesday’s pro-am here.

“Things I’m working on in my game definitely make me feel a little bit better,” he said. “But it’s just one of those things where some days I feel better than others, but also, then again, it’s what I do with the golf club, too. Able to swing the club properly. Body feels better.”

Correlation confirmed.

For a second straight day, Woods took care of the par-5 holes, scoring birdies on three of the four. They were sandwiched between an eight-foot birdie putt at the long par-4 fourth hole and a 27-footer that found the cup for his final birdie at another brute, the 476-yard par-4 16th.

He hit 10 of 14 fairways and needed just 27 putts. Good numbers.

Likely he’ll need a better number on Sunday than 67 to climb into the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings and advance to the season finale. He entered the week 38th. He stood 41st after Saturday’s confidence builder. He knew what he needed to do, and he made that first step.

“I figured I [was] going to have to do something in mid-60s for two straight days there. Left myself pretty far behind after the first two rounds,” he said. “At least, I’ve got a shot at it.”

Did he have a number in mind? Why, yes, he did.

“I shoot 60, it should be right,” he said, grinning.

He’s right.

The post Tiger Woods gives himself a chance to qualify for the Tour Championship with a bogey-free 67 appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
ATLANTA—They sprinted ahead from one fairway to the next, climbed trees, crawled through hedges and swarmed the 18th fairway at East Lake like bees to honey. All gasping for even a glimpse.

They lined the balcony behind the green, too—25-year-old Bryson DeChambeau, already dressed for the Ryder Cup in a ‘Beat Europe’ t-shirt; Paul Casey’s caddie John McLaren with the bag still on his shoulder; last year’s Tour Championship winner 24-year-old Xander Schauffele and his dad; 25-year-old Justin Thomas and 29-year-old Rickie Fowler among them. Players, wives, agents, marshals, caddies, cops and even a cook. Cell phones ready to capture the madness unfolding in front of them.

Finally, Tiger Woods is a YouTube golfer no more. The real thing is back, in the flesh and through the tears. Sunday at the Tour Championship, Woods won for the first time in five years, a span of more than 1,800 days and more than that many questions about if this day would ever come again.

“It means a lot,” an emotional Woods said. “The people who are close to me saw the struggles and what I was going through, and some of the players that I’m pretty close to, they’ve really helped throughout this process and the last few years. Their support and some of those things that they said coming off that last green meant a lot to me.”

The reaction was hardly limited to the confines of Bob Jones’ place. It was as wide as Woods’ transcendent reach. Everyone from Bo Jackson to Donald Trump tweeted various forms of congratulations.

“For what he’s doing now, I wasn’t sure he’d ever play again, much less have a chance to win,” said his former coach Butch Harmon via telephone. Harmon was there from 1997 through 2003, a span that included Woods’ historic 1997 Masters victory and record-setting 15-shot win at the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. This one was equally as impressive, but for different reasons.

“He had a chance to win the last two majors,” Harmon continued. “It’s impressive that just two years ago he couldn’t pitch the ball on the green. It’s not exactly Ben Hogan, but it’s along those lines.”

He’s right. They both endured enormous physical pain—Hogan nearly dying from a head-on collision with a bus, Woods a handful of major surgeries including one to fuse his spine. But the Hawk never had to deal with a fire hydrant; shooting 85 at a tournament, the Memorial, that he’d won five times; the chip yips; a DUI arrest, and the TMZ life Woods had spiraled into.

How long had it been for Woods? The Cleveland Browns won 16 games before Tiger won another. Let that one soak in.

“It’s more satisfaction than [ranking] at the top of the list,” Woods’ caddie Joe LaCava said of PGA Tour career victory No. 80. “He played so well the first two years [I was with him] it was hard to walk away from that. Now I’m seeing signs of that again. The last two months he’s played phenomenal.”

Woods had chances this summer to win both the Open Championship and the PGA Championship. Major No. 15 will have to wait for now. But this victory wasn’t about how great he was playing—even though he was—as much as it was about emotion and soul.

How else to explain Woods’ tearful hug with LaCava afterward, yelling “We did it! We did it!” in the caddie’s ear, or his reaction when asked about what this one will mean not just for Tiger but his kids.

“I think they understand a little bit of what dad does now,” he said. “I hadn’t won any tournaments in which they can remember, so I think this will be a little bit different for them.

“A lot of times they equated golf to pain because every time I did it, I would hurt, and it would cause me more pain. And so now they’re seeing a little bit of joy and seeing how much fun it is for me to be able to do this again.”

Chris Condon

It was fun for everyone around Woods, too. That enveloping of Woods by fans as he strode down the final fairway will be seared into golf history and into the memories of those who were too young to have experienced Tigermania at its height. This was the real deal. The goosebumps made it so.

“I’ve played here a handful of times and never seen crowds like this,” said Keegan Bradley. “I’ve never seen half this many people. That’s a small example of what he does.”

Tiger doesn’t move the needle. He is the needle and Sunday it was redlined.

“To watch one of my favorite players of all-time, and a friend…on 18, I’ve never seen anything like that,” said another of Woods’ former coaches, Sean Foley. It was an especially emotional day for him with current pupil Justin Rose taking home the FedEx Cup as well. “That’s the thing that’s different about Tiger now. He was embracing that energy on 18 and it was embracing him. Everybody loves a comeback story.”

And this one goes down as the greatest. Sorry, Ben.

“I guess there was a time when I wondered if he’d ever get back to this point,” Bradley said. “But with Tiger, he’s like Michael Jordan. You don’t ever doubt them because they’re capable of doing great things.”

There was a time not that long ago, though, when Woods doubted that he’d even live a normal, pain-free life. Forget playing.

Spinal fusion surgery 17 months ago? It was a medical Hail Mary, and he completed it. Then he overcame the rest.

“When I played with him last fall and he was starting to get healthy there was no doubt in my mind seeing how he was swinging and the speed that if he was able to stay healthy [he would win again],” said South Florida neighbor Fowler. “We all know he can swing it a few ways and win — he proved that working with different coaches—but for me it was seeing he was staying consistently healthy when we were playing. He wasn’t having to go home and take time off or rehab. There were no setbacks.

“Obviously he knows how to win. He’s got the best winning percentage of all time. It wasn’t whether he could win it was whether he could stay healthy.”

Now both questions have been answered.

“I said to him, ‘About time,’” Rose said. “But in some ways, I’m half joking because he’s looked so good this year, and I think that it’s been a matter of time, and I think that we’ve all been waiting for him to win, and we’ve all been wanting him to win.

“It’s great for the sport, great for the game. He truly moves the needle like no one else out here, and he wins in style. He wins with charisma. He’s brilliant to watch. And I think to win on this golf course means a lot, in my opinion, because it’s not a course that should suit him down to the ground. There’s other venues he’s taken apart over his career, and this is not one of them. So I think winning here is a big deal.”

So was his winning again, period. Tony Finau called the comeback a “miracle” and Billy Horschel “the greatest in any sport.”

As for how Woods thinks the world will react to his nearly breaking the Internet on Sunday?

“Well, when I came out here, there was no Internet,” he cracked.

And now we won’t have to go there to see his greatness again, either.

The post Tiger Woods’ comeback win leaves friends and rivals in awe appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

From the Friday in San Diego—when he birdied the 18th hole at Torrey Pines North to make the cut on the number—to Sunday in Atlanta—when he led the final round from wire-to-wire—it felt as if the entire golf world was on the edge of its collective seat every time Woods teed it up. He failed to win a major championship, though he contended on Sunday both at Carnoustie and Bellerive. He didn’t win the FedEx Cup, although his victory at East Lake jumped him from the 20th in the final standings to second, behind only Justin Rose—who had to birdie the 18th to hang on for dear life to the $10 million bonus.

Those facts make it awfully difficult for those screeching that Woods is “back” to prove their case. Is Woods back to being one of the best players in the world? Absolutely. For a 42-year-old player who has had seven surgeries, Woods had an absolutely extraordinary year: one victory; two seconds; seven top-10s; 12 top-25s and 15 cuts made in 17 events. That’s stunning for a player who last won in 2013 and came into the year not having made a PGA Tour cut since August 2015.

Still, to compare that player in any way to the Tiger Woods who won 14 majors in his first 11½ seasons on tour and won his 79th tournament (in Akron) a little more than five years ago is like comparing that win in Akron to Woods’ 12-shot win at the Masters in 1997. One was good—even very good. The other was historic.

Chris Condon/PGA Tour

The historic Tiger Woods is gone and may not be seen again ever in golf. But don’t take that as a slight. This Tiger Woods, the one who captivated the crowd at East Lake even with closing one-over 71, is still a sight to behold because of where he’s been the last nine years.

He’s fought injuries and he’s fought his better instincts. He made a complete mess of his personal life and embarrassed himself on more than one occasion away from the golf course. He’s gone through swing changes and swing coaches the way Mickey Rooney once went through wives. And even though he smiles more often now and deals with bad rounds much better, he remains someone who calls his yacht Privacy for a reason.

That said, it was nice to see the genuine emotion he showed after this victory. There were tears, and they were real. Clearly, it meant a lot to him, and the cheers from the crazed crowd brought a real smile to his face.

• • •

It will be fascinating now to see how he performs in the Ryder Cup this coming week outside of Paris. The old Tiger Woods—actually, more accurately, the young Woods—could barely bring himself to care about the matches. Woods has been part of one winning American team as a player—in 1999—in six Ryder Cup appearances. His record is 13-17-1, remarkably poor when compared to what his career has been. Years ago, it was David Feherty who said, “When Tiger was in kindergarten, his teacher wrote, ‘does not play well with others,’ on his report card.”

It was Phil Mickelson, Woods’s new BFF (talk about how life can change) who pointed out that Woods evolved as a Ryder Cup teammate after the death of his father, who had always counseled him to keep his distance from all other players—even during weeks when they were teammates. That change was most evident at Hazeltine when Woods, in the role of vice captain, played a key role in helping the U.S. win the Cup for the first time since 2008—a year Woods didn’t play because he was hurt.

If Woods plays as well in France as he has played during the tournament season, the U.S. should be a tough out—even on European soil, where it hasn’t won since 1993. If there’s one place where American captain Jim Furyk does not want to see the Tiger Woods of old, it is in Ryder Cup.

For the moment though, East Lake provided the perfect climax to this comeback year. It didn’t put Woods any closer to the record he craves most—Jack Nicklaus’s 18 major titles. But it did bring closure to the (correct) whispers about his ability to close that were heard during the year.

Every time Woods got close to a lead on Sunday this season (Tampa, Bay Hill, Washington, Carnoustie, Bellerive), something went awry and he ended up with a high finish but without a victory. This time, beginning the day with a three-shot lead on Rose and Rory McIlroy, Tiger birdied the first hole and never looked back. Certainly the fact that no one made any sort of move at him, helped. Rose shot a three-over-par 73 and McIlroy’s Sunday miseries continued with a four-over-par 74. Woods could cruise along making pars without having to look over his shoulder very much, if at all.

Sam Greenwood

Even so, the fact is, Woods took control of the golf tournament on Saturday when he birdied six of the first seven holes on a steamy afternoon at East Lake to open up a big lead, and no one ever got within serious striking distance of him again.

Of course, Woods will now be installed as the favorite to win all four majors next year—three of them are on golf courses where he’s won majors before. The Nicklaus watch will be on again, even though Woods is no closer to it at this moment than he was when he won No. 14 at Torrey Pines 10 years ago.

To focus on what Woods may or may not do next year or in the next few years is, at least at this moment, missing the point. The greatest comeback in golf history was Ben Hogan’s return from a near-fatal car accident in February 1949 to win the U.S. Open 16 months later and five more major championships after that. Woods’ comeback is more complex because a good deal of it was self-inflicted. But to come back from seven surgeries, including back-fusion surgery that was a last ditch attempt to get him back on the golf course, to play this well, is extraordinary.

One need not compare it to Hogan. Apples and oranges. Different circumstances; different time; different world. Both are worthy of great respect, perhaps even awe. Tom Watson almost won the Open Championship six weeks shy of turning 60—26 years after his last major victory. That surely should garner some attention.

Outside of golf, seven years after he had last won a major championship, Jimmy Connors made it to the U.S. Open tennis semifinals at age 39—which is considerably older in tennis than 42 is in golf. He didn’t win, but like Woods this year, played well enough to make those two weeks memorable.

Watson and Connors made their stunning comebacks in one tournament, not over an entire year. Gordie Howe returned to the NHL at 51 when the Hartford Whalers of the defunct WHA joined the league, and he played in all 80 games, scoring 15 goals. He even played alongside a then-19-year-old Wayne Gretzky in the All-Star game.

Muhammad Ali was denied 3½ years of his peak as a boxer because he refused to be inducted into the U.S. Army and came back to beat George Foreman to win back the heavyweight championship at age 32.

There are, of course, other comeback stories across sports. But what Woods has accomplished this year certainly belongs high on any list of great comebacks.

Where it will lead in the future, no one knows. Woods would be the first to tell you he won’t be all the way back until the day he wins another major title. That may or may not happen. Regardless, what he accomplished in 2018 was a sight for all to see.

• • •

In 2000, at Pebble Beach, when Woods put on the most dominating performance of his career, winning the U.S. Open by 15 shots, he asked then USGA president Trey Holland, for a drop on the second hole during the last round. Holland didn’t allow it and, as a result, Woods only won by 15 shots instead of 16.

Kevin C. Cox

When Holland congratulated Woods on the 18th green that afternoon he said, “that was the greatest performance I’ve ever seen in golf. Congratulations.”

Woods looked at Holland and said, “I wish you’d given me that drop on No. 2.”

That was Woods then—never completely satisfied, always hungering for the next victory. Woods now may not win as often or as easily, but there’s little doubt that he has finally learned to truly savor success. In that sense, he’s light-years better and—perhaps more important, happier—than the virtually unbeatable Woods of yore.

The post Just how do you put Tiger Woods’ comeback into historical context? Here’s a start appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

They are supposed to be stoic, sign bearers, to do their duty with impartiality. That waved bye-bye the moment Tiger’s save sent a boom across East Lake, across the sport.

Not that anyone cared. Who could be stoic at a moment like this?

“This is crazy,” said Jack, one of the sign bearers. Echoed Cameron, the other: “There’s so many people. Never seen anything close to this.”

Neither has golf.

How else do you explainable the unexplainable? Tiger Woods, 42 years old, removed from so many surgeries and clean-ups he gets his next one free, a champion again on the PGA Tour. The Tiger that missed two years’ worth of majors, and claimed he might be done with competitive golf. That Tiger. The one and only.

“It’s certainly up there with obviously all the major championships I’ve won, Players, World Golf Championships. But this is under different circumstances,” Woods said, fighting back tears. “You know, I’ve explained throughout the year that I just didn’t know whether—when this would ever happen again. If I could somehow piece together a golf swing this year, I felt like I could do it. My hands are good enough, and I just didn’t know if I could piece together a golf swing.

“But somehow I’ve been able to do that, and here we are.”

To be fair, the victory had been coming into focus. The near-misses at Innisbrook and Bay Hill and Carnoustie, the charge at Bellerive. Woods showed he had the firepower. Only a matter of the cylinders firing at the same time.

Atlanta proved to be that confluence. Tiger shook off an opening bogey on Thursday to shoot 65, earning a share of the lead thanks to a marvelous display of shot-making. Friday was an exercise in grit, overcoming a wayward driver to grind out a 68, staying atop the leader board. Saturday’s round went right into the Hall of Fame, opening with six birdies in seven holes to set up the spectacular. And on Sunday, Woods didn’t disappoint.

Kevin C. Cox

Following a raucous welcome at the first tee, Tiger found the fairway, some 292 yards from the box. Playing partner Rory McIlroy’s drive was farther, but Woods paid it no heed. That’s something that couldn’t have been said earlier this year, with Tiger trying to keep up with the likes of Rory, Justin Thomas, Jason Day. He’s learned to control himself off the tee, and it’s paid dividends in his second-shot prowess.

Evident on the next shot, Woods putting his approach to 10 feet while McIlroy, some 30 yards ahead, barely found the green. McIlroy had a nice two-putt for par. Nice wasn’t going to cut it on a day like this, not when fans were crawling up trees to catch a fleeting glance of a legend. Woods rolled in the birdie, and turned the crowd volume up to 10.

“A couple of guys thought someone holed out on No. 1,” Woods smiled. “It was just me making a putt.” His lead was now four.

Woods followed with eight consecutive pars, which may convey a routine, workman-like trek. The latter is partially true, not so much the former. Nothing about the scene that engulfed Woods on Sunday said “routine.”

The masses that follow Woods have often been described as a circus. Please. The Ringling Brothers wish they had this turnout. Fans packed the Georgia property, hooting and hollering as Woods made his way around the course. They roared at his good shots. Treated sensible lags like fairway hole-outs. Any sign of a mis-step, they were there to pick him up were shouts of encouragement. Spectators were 12-to-15 deep in each direction, gaining in loudness as the day went on.

Even at Tiger’s peak dominance—he won the 2007 Tour Championship by eight strokes at 23 under—it was never like this at East Lake. “Now would be a good time to be a thief,” a marshal told me on the third green. “Because everyone in town is here.”

That McIlroy went south, touring the front in 39 to fall well out of contention, is a not a surprise. The crowds weren’t hostile to Rory, and gave his birdie at the fifth the applause it deserved. But whenever Woods wasn’t hitting, fans were running into position to see Tiger’s next shot—marshals’ pleas for “EVERYONE STAND STILL!” were disdained like a dentist at a candy convention—and the sounds those shots conjured would rattle anybody. On one hole a fan yelled, “It’s not your fault, Rory,” and said it with all sincerity. McIlroy wasn’t targeted Sunday; collateral damage happens.

Back to Tiger: He didn’t have his fastball on Sunday. It’s okay. Part of it was defensive play—the lead called for it—many of his irons avoiding the flag, instead favoring the fat part of the green. Conversely, his putter, the one that’s been maligned all year yet magical this week, wasn’t producing fireworks. Still, he finished the first nine one under for the day, and five clear of the field. The competition had turned into a coronation.

At least, it wanted to.

Sam Greenwood

Woods, whose struggles with the final nine have been well documented this summer, bogeyed the 10th, a tee shot to the right forcing a punch out, and Woods couldn’t get up-and-down from 77 yards. It barely registered at the time, and was ostensibly wiped clean when Tiger hit his approach on the par-4 12th to 13 feet, converting the meat left on the bone for bird.

He played the 14th without incident; the same could not be said of the 15th and 16th. Woods barely crossed the water on the 200-yard par 3, his tee shot down in the greenside rough. Though his chip was serviceable, he didn’t clean up the remaining eight feet. Billy Horschel had played his final seven holes in three under to get to nine under, cutting Woods’ lead to three. Then the 16th, that cruel mistress which Woods doubled on Friday and bogeyed on Saturday, again wreaked havoc. Tiger’s drive found the heavy stuff, forcing a lay-up. His third went over the flag and into the fringe, spinning slightly back, yet leaving 16 feet. His par attempt went 16 feet, just not on the right line. Lead, to two.

Things got tight, really tight, when he yanked his drive left on the 17th, in the rough and into a depression. The issue, out of seemingly nowhere, was in doubt. An approach over the green didn’t alleviate that tension, as Horschel’s score became increasingly formidable by the second.

But Woods, from 40 feet or so off the pin, made a nifty chip to four feet. If you were playing a casual round with friends, you might have picked it up. But it was a testy four feet, and for three minutes, no one on the course could breathe.

Then Woods’ par putt dropped, with exhales and exclamations and Cameron and Jake’s high five filling the air.

“That putt was bigger than people think,” Woods said. “I at the time could have dropped down to a one-shot lead playing the last hole, hit a bad tee shot, pitch out, a lot of things can happen. But a two-shot lead playing a par-5 which I can hit driver-iron to, that’s a totally different ballgame.”

Woods was two strokes up entering the final hole, one of the easiest at East Lake. The crowds knew it. Woods did too, grinning from ear to ear after smoking his drive on the 18th. Throughout the day he had been serenaded with his name, but now it had become an unending chant: “TIGER! TIGER! TIGER!”

At least, those who could speak where chanting. Some were choked up, speechless. Some couldn’t muster words, just screams. In that pandemonium, Woods could be seen telling McIlroy, “This is something.”

It is, in so many ways, to so many people.

Kevin C. Cox

It is something for the regulars at Charlie Yates Golf Course, a nine-hole joint that sits across the street from East Lake—actually used to be East Lake’s No. 2 course—where a round costs just $10. Yates was renovated in the early ‘90s, aimed to be a safe haven for a community that had fell victim to white flight and urban decay. When it re-opened in 1998 as the home to the First Tee, Tiger hit the ceremonial tee shot.

Yates’ audience is as diverse as you’ll find in the sport; every race, sex and age represented on its range Sunday morning. They were harmonic, though, in conversation (save for a little Falcons chatter), Woods providing a tune everyone can sing to.

“These guys for years kept saying he was done,” said Bob “Ruck” Rucker of Kirkwood, 60, ridiculing his friends in the Yates parking lot. “Now they’re acting like they never had a doubt.”

“(Expletive) you, you were saying he was done after Shinnecock,” fired back Angel Dee, 62.

One group unanimously decided to cut their scheduled 18 holes to nine, hoping to be off the course by noon. Didn’t want to miss a date with history.

It also was something for Kay Parrish, 28, who snuck her son Jason through a service road behind the 13th green on Saturday so they could watch Tiger. “My friend’s working hospitality,” she said off the 16th green during the third round, explaining her secret passageway. Kay said Jason, 9, is starting to hit balls in the backyard and watches Tiger on TV whenever he can.

“I thought, ‘If he’s really into this, he’s got to see this in person.’” Even though it was Saturday, Jason was wearing a red polo, because what else would he wear. Jason was too shy to talk. Or maybe his tongue was awestruck. Seeing your idol will do that.

It was something for all the fans that never left his side. That watched him miss cuts and still treated him like the legend he was. That flood social media with Tiger jokes and gifs and, most importantly, support, and defended him from assertions he was gone, never to come back.

About that. On Saturday, as Woods made his way to the range, a patron yelled, “Tiger! Back back from the dead!” Couldn’t be further from the truth. He was away for a time, yes, but never really gone. Not when he still dominated almost every discussion, his non-update updates treated like breaking news. In absence, Tiger was more alive than most will ever be.

But there were low points, and they were low. The 85 at Muirfield Village, topped shots at Chambers Bay, a disastrous PR stunt at Congressional, the aforementioned missed majors. Most would point to his Memorial Day arrest as the nadir. It might have been a year ago when Woods, one of the most famous people on the planet, was relegated to using a bedpan, his body so wrecked he couldn’t make the 10 steps to the bathroom. That will humble the most powerful of kings.

While there is legitimacy to the above, at its heart is something far more elementary: Tiger Woods didn’t know if he’d ever feel good again.

“Am I going to be able to sit, stand, walk, lay down without feeling the pain that I was in? I just didn’t want to live that way,” Woods said. “This is how the rest of my life is going to be? It’s going to be a tough rest of my life. And so—I was beyond playing. I couldn’t sit. I couldn’t walk. I couldn’t lay down without feeling the pain in my back and my leg. That was a pretty low point for a very long time.”

Maybe that explains why this comeback, this Tiger, has been different. Woods has been the biggest draw since he told the world “Hello” 22 years ago. But he wasn’t loved like Arnie, or hallowed like Jack. The only reason “Tiger vs. Phil” was a thing is because Mickelson engendered such a strong rapport with fans. A rapport Tiger had no interest in building or maintaining.

Not in 2018. His guard has lowered, ever so slightly, finally figuring out fans don’t want a piece of him. They want to be with him, good times and bad. He’s not as defensive, and quicker to smile. Maybe the fans have changed too, more appreciative of the greatness they took for granted. The acknowledgment by both parties has spurred an interesting dynamic, fans treating his rounds with welcome, excitement, genuine love. Tiger, for the first time in forever, reciprocating the sentiment.

Which made his walk up the 18th so apropos, Woods and the people, walking together as one.

“The fans and the commotion, no” Woods said, when asked if he could remember anything like it. “Not to this fevered pitch.”

Perhaps this is the new reality, Tiger Woods back to being Tiger Woods. If you’re one for recency bias, evidence is in your corner. Or win No. 80 might be it. As Tiger’s past has proved, the present is no guarantee of the future.

That’s discussion for another time. What matters in this moment is what happened Sunday, to Tiger, to all of us. When his final putt found the bottom of the cup, arms went up. Tiger Woods was a winner once more. Off the green, Cameron and Jack could be seen smiling.

We all were.

The post Tiger Woods wins. A win for all, and a win for all-time appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Photo by Sam Greenwood. 

Footnote: Check out the kid bottom left in the photo. One of the few to actually be ‘in the moment’ at East Lake. Memories of a lifetime.

The post The Miracle of Tiger Woods’ Golf Swing appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

We’re not sure how or why, but the gallery ropes were taken away on the 72nd hole of East Lake, and fans ran down the fairway after Tiger striped his final tee shot. Not only would Tiger enjoy his walk up 18 with his playing partner Rory McIlroy, but what seemed like tens of thousands of golf fans trailed behind them—trying to get as close as possible to this unimaginable moment. And it was pretty cool.

So as a small group of security guards kept the hoards away from Tiger as he tried to somehow sneak past to get to his ball in the bunker, we got one of the more unforgettable scenes of 2018.

Everybody wanted to be a part of Tiger’s 80th PGA Tour win.

Wow. ? pic.twitter.com/klf7PLfVv9

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) September 23, 2018

And here’s what it was like to be on the grounds:

I’ve never seen anything like this! #TigerWoods pic.twitter.com/ZlnXUNQjJF

— Teryn Gregson (@teryngregson) September 23, 2018

The resounding chants of “Tiger!” “Tiger!”, and the atmosphere around Tiger in Atlanta on Sunday, will resonate for everyone watching Tiger’s return to the winner’s circle on Sunday.

The moment Tiger Woods won. CHILLS.

? @teryngregson pic.twitter.com/Z4sVLkrUTr

— SB Nation (@SBNation) September 23, 2018

RELATED: How Tiger Woods’ evolved approach to equipment played a role in his comeback win

The post Thousands of fans walked right behind Tiger Woods on Sunday, creating an unbelievable scene at East Lake appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.