Tragic Hero: The Decline Of Tiger Woods

The downfall of Tiger Woods has been epic. It’s hard to recall an athlete that has been as dominant as Woods has been on a golf course follow majestic and historic performances with such horrendously inexplicable play.

Woods is the greatest golfer of this generation, and before his demise on the course, many began to slap him with the title of greatest golfer ever despite trailing Jack Nicklaus in major championships. It’s unfathomable that an athlete the caliber of Woods can be at the top of his sport, only to fall ungracefully to the depths that he has. Woods has won 14 major titles, 79 PGA tournaments and he dazzled us all with miraculous victory after extraordinary triumph. Today, Woods is ranked the 241st best golfer in the world behind names that don’t begin to enter the average

At the moment, Spieth is attempting to claim his third major championship of 2015, a feat that has been accomplished by only one player in history, Ben Hogan. Without Spieth, McIlroy and the popularity of Ricky Fowler, it’s hard to imagine where the PGA Tour’s popularity would be.

Even though Spieth is chasing history, headlines generally refer to the unsuccessfulness of Woods. Despite his atrocious play, Woods is still the most popular golfer on any course. His magnetism hasn’t diminished because we all remember his hole-in-one at the 1997 Phoenix Open, or his finger-point at the 2000 PGA Championship when he followed the ball into the hole, or his gutsy performance on an injured knee to defeat Rocco Mediate at the 2008 U.S. Open.

Gone are the magical performances, such as when Woods hit that incredible chip at the 2005 Masters that stopped at the hole and fell a second later sending the gallery into a frenzy. Injuries have played a factor in his downfall and changes to his swing haven’t helped, but a collapse as colossal as this couldn’t have been