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The ball rested on the edge of the cup, its logo peeking into the hole for what felt like forever.
Back in the day, that ball dropped for Tiger Woods.
On Sunday, it wouldn’t budge.
Yes, Woods finished second by two strokes to Brooks Koepka at the PGA Championship to extend his drought without a major for at least eight more months. But after the scrambling, club-slamming, fist-pumping, electrifying show he put on over a round of six-under 64 — his best closing round at a major — who can argue that golf isn’t more fun when Tiger’s in the mix?
“There’s nothing like it,” said Gary Woodland, who was in the twosome with the world’s best-known player. “The energy in that place was unbelievable.”
Even after the excruciating miss on the eleventh hole, Woods would not quit.
Shortly after, he had a 20-foot putt on the 16th green that would have tied him with Koepka, who was two holes behind but may as well have been playing on another course compared to the frenzy in front of him.
That putt slid just past.
And Woods’ last chance to apply real pressure vanished when he pushed his tee shot on the par-five 17th right of the creek running along the right side of the hole. Woods slammed the head of his driver to the ground, then swung it violently in frustration. He scrambled to make par, but by the time he reached the 18th fairway, he was three back from Koepka, who birdied 15 and 16 behind him.
On the 18th, Woods offered one final flourish. He drained his longest putt of the tournament, a 19-footer putt for birdie, and pumped his fist to celebrate.
Back in the day, that fist pump on the 18th green would’ve been to celebrate a win.
On this day, he was celebrating the grind — and the fact that he simply would not go away.
“I played hard,” he said after finishing the tournament at 14-under 266. “A bit of a struggle with my game today, but I hung in there.”
In many ways, this felt like old times for the 42-year-old, he of the multiple back surgeries who couldn’t swing a club 11 months ago, but has now contended on the back nine in consecutive majors, only to come up short, more agonisingly so this time than at Carnoustie three weeks ago.
However, although the victory might not have quite been his, the fact that he came so close after genuinely fearing he would never play the sport again is phenomenal.
That fact that he was still in contention after his first nine holes Sunday was a testament to the sort of resilience he can show, not only over the long haul, but over the ups-and-downs of a pressure-packed round.
He came out to the course and missed all seven fairways on the front nine. And yet, he scrambled. As the putts kept dropping, the roars got louder.
“The first real Tiger effect I’ve experienced, with that many people,” said defending champion Justin Thomas, who played two groups ahead and finished tied for sixth.
Though he closes 2018 still without a major title since the 2008 US Open, it’s hard, after a performance like this, to think the drought can last forever. His major finishes this year: 32nd at the Masters, cut in the US Open, tied for sixth at the Open, and, now, second at the PGA.
His ranking has jumped from 656 to start the year to 26 heading out of Bellerive.
Woods has never been someone who was satisfied with second. But he said he hadn’t felt this good at a tournament he didn’t win in a long time.
“I had to kind of figure this out on my own and it’s been really hard … a lot harder than people think,” he said. “I’m just very pleased at what I’ve done so far, going from where I’ve come from, to now over the last year, it’s been pretty cool.”
During the media furore over Tiger, the actual winner has almost been forgotten. Heck, I’m guilty of it myself in this very article! But a word of congratulations must be offered to Koepka; winning your third Major in just over a year is no mean feat.
What makes this win, which adds to his consecutive US Open victories, all the more impressive is that the whole course was screaming and shouting for Tiger. Not only did Koepka have the pressure of being chased down by the greatest player to ever play the game, but he did it with an audience silently willing him to collapse. That takes nerves of steel, and there was little sign of the jitters. If he keeps this form, there are many more to come.
