Yes, fans flooded Kiawah's fairway for Phil Mickelson's PGA win this year, but with COVID restrictions still in place, it didn't employ the same magnitude as Woods' moment. The fans flooded the fairway as Woods and McIlroy walked to the 18th green, a sight more appreciated now after a pandemic that kept fans from tournaments for months. Rose's FedExCup win didn’t damper Woods' Sunday, though. (Dustin Johnson would join that list last year.) 1 besides Woods to ever hoist the FedExCup. But Justin Rose, who was a group ahead of Woods, birdied the 18th hole and Woods made back-to-back pars to finish, making Rose the only world No. One uncertainty, however, was who would win the FedExCup title? Woods, who won it in 2007 and '09, had a shot down the stretch. Rory McIlroy, his playing competitor in the final group, was well off the pace, as he'd finish with a 74. But for one last time, all players in the field were given equal footing at the start of the tournament.ĭespite just one birdie as part of a 1-under front nine and three bogeys on the back, Woods’ victory was all but locked up as he played the final two holes. Had it been a year later, Woods would have started at 2 under, eight back of FedExCup leader Bryson DeChambeau. Good thing the 2018 Tour Championship was the last year before staggered scoring was implemented. At that point in Woods' career, he was 23 for 23 when leading by three strokes after 54 holes. Then another 65 had Woods with a three-stroke advantage heading into the final round. Woods followed that with a second-round 68, sharing the lead with Rose. He shared the Day 1 lead with Rickie Fowler after carding a 65. "Just to be able to compete and play again this year, that's a hell of a comeback," Woods said.īut Woods did more than just compete at the Tour Championship. Two tournaments later, he finished solo second at the PGA Championship after a closing 64. 11 and 12, respectively, spoiled the fairytale, and he finished T-6, though it was his best major finish since the '13 Open. Later that summer, at The Open, he held the solo lead through 64 holes, but a bogey and double bogey on Nos. Woods finished T-2 in the Valspar Championship in March, T-5 the following week at Bay Hill, and soon after he posted his lowest round (65) at The Players, where he'd won twice. However, by the time the Tour Championship came around 10 months later, the narrative around Woods was different. Woods returned to competition in December 2017, at his own Hero World Challenge, ranked No. That was a pretty low point for a very long time." I couldn't lay down without feeling the pain in my back and my leg. Understandably, many point to the 2019 Masters as the watershed moment of Woods' most recent comeback, but it was seven months earlier at East Lake when the then 42-year-old gave the world a sight most people, including Woods, thought they'd never see again when, after four back surgeries, he notched his first win since August 2013 at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.įollowing his 2018 triumph at East Lake, Woods said that a year prior, as he was recovering from two back procedures in as many months, he was unsure if his body would ever allow him to compete at a high level again.įrom his knee to his back, take a look back at the various injuries in Tiger Woods' career as well as his multiple returns to competition. 23 car crash, but if anything gives hopes for another comeback, it's the 2018 Tour Championship. Woods has mostly been out of the public eye since his Feb. This year, Woods' absence will once again hover over the FedExCup playoffs finale, which Woods has, aside from 2018, missed every year since 2014. The Tour Championship begins Thursday, and it's hard not to think of Tiger Woods snapping a 1,876-day winless streak at East Lake three years ago.
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