Tiger Woods: Ten years after infamous crash, he’s as good as he’s ever been

It’s been ten years since Tiger Woods saw his nearly flawless personal image come crashing down in a single moment. And instead of allowing it to destroy him, he’s become a better version of himself on and off the course.

Ten years ago this week – November 27, 2009 – Tiger Woods had his entire life laid out in public in a way even the most famous athlete on the face of the earth never could have imagined.

It was the day after Thanksgiving; a quiet time in golf then, as it still mostly is with the new wraparound schedule on the PGA Tour. While most people were out doing their Black Friday shopping, news broke that Tiger had crashed his Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree in the quiet, gated community of Isleworth, a wealthy subdivision in Windermere, Fla.

What could have been a simple issue of someone having a few too many glasses of wine at Thanksgiving dinner turned out to be far, far more. In the days to follow, the case spiraled out of control, from something Woods initially described as a private, human mistake into a far-reaching scandal of infidelity, and lies told to cover countless others.

There have been thousands, if not more, columns and books written on those events over the years that almost anything would simply be retreading old news. As far as new content goes, you should absolutely read this outstanding USA TODAY piece by Josh Peters, which covers what has happened in the years since to many of those involved – even the Escalade itself. But here, I’m going to take a moment to reflect on how far Tiger himself has come in the last decade, both on and off the course.

In the direct aftermath of the crash and scandal, Woods took six months away from the Tour, and lost almost every major sponsorship he had outside of Nike and Electronic Arts. He went to a 45-day therapy program to deal with the temptations that he felt “entitled” to after decades of self-sacrifice in the hunt for becoming the best to ever play. And, yes, he got divorced the following August.

Tiger returned to action at the 2010 Masters Tournament, knowing that Augusta National’s ultra-secured gates would protect him from not just the prying paparazzi, but also any questions he didn’t want to address directly. However, while he was able to return to the Tour, he went the entire 2010 and 2011 seasons without winning a single tournament.

Injuries in 2011 cost Woods two majors, and then in 2013, when he had returned to his winning ways, the injury bug struck again. The ensuing back and neck issues he suffered limited his action in 2014 and’15, and kept him out of action entirely in 2016 and ’17. There was a moment when we legitimately didn’t know if Tiger would ever play again, forget about catching Jack Nicklaus and his 18 major championships.

But here we are, Thanksgiving Day in 2019, and not only is Tiger Woods back in action, he’s as good as he’s ever been. His return to form on the course – winning the 2018 TOUR Championship and the 2019 Masters Tournament – are not so much of a surprise. Most of us held firm to the belief that if Tiger could just get healthy, he’d be able to win again; it was just the fact that it was t a really, really big “if”.

But off the course, Tiger Woods seems, dare I say it, happy. He’s more engaging to reporters and fans than he was in his “prime”. He’s smiling even on the bad rounds, even though you know they’re just stoking that competitive fire inside him even more. And while he’s been in and out of personal relationships over the last decade, he’s clearly got his priorities where they belong, on his son, Charlie, and his daughter, Sam. That’s how it’s supposed to be, isn’t it?

This Thanksgiving day, as a golf fan in general and a Tiger fan in particular, I’m thankful that we didn’t witness the fall of a hero. We witnessed the evolution of a man and an all-time great in our sport. He may have flown a bit too close to the sun, but his final form is even better than where we started. Even if he never reaches 18 majors, his is a story that at least deserves a happy ending.