Super Tiger

In the past six months, Tiger Woods officially played in seven golf tournaments. He won five of them, including his second-place finish at the Masters in April and his 14th Major Championship win at the U.S. Open this past weekend. As remarkable as this is, there's something amiss. What's the problem? The problem is that Tiger Woods tore his ACL. Last July.

Following this year's Masters, Tiger had arthroscopic surgery to clean up some cartilage that was damaged as a result of playing golf on a torn knee. Two weeks before the Open, he suffered a double stress fracture in the tibia on the same leg. The doctor said treatment involved six weeks without golf. Tiger said, "I'm playing in the U.S. Open, and I'm going to win." That is precisely what he did.



That highlight video is the best I can find, and it gives you a sense of the exceptional nature of Tiger's play. However, the incredible putts and chips, the gargantuan tee shots, those are only the products of Woods' greatness. The biggest highlight isn't conducive to a three-minute clip. The biggest highlight is how this gladiator, this warrior, this man gritted his teeth and endured 91 holes of USGA torture. That's right... four rounds, an 18-hole playoff, and one sudden-death hole on one leg without a word about what was wrong. Now, that is a grinder.

I'm not much for celebrity, and I know how much perception can be manipulated, so I'll never know for sure. But in my opinion, the source of Woods' greatness is in his mind and, dare I say, in his spirit. Mental toughness, strength, even courage, it is not an exaggeration to find these things in someone like Tiger. And all that we see on TV is only a tenth of the exhausting work, the effort, and the heart that he puts in. Despite the money, despite the fame, that's integrity, because no one will ever know the soul put into the work.

Add to the above the practice of repetition, of repeatedly doing the right things to get you to where you want to go, as well as the presence at the end of the day to be a husband and be a father and you will get a recipe for all the things I learned by watching a golf tournament last weekend. With tomorrow being the one-year anniversary of my launching this blog, I hope to incorporate into my writing over the next year the things I learned from Tiger which are also things others have long told me.

And maybe Elin Woods' twin sister is available, too...