Tiger had it very easy this year at the Genesis Invitational: I adhere to the trend of Signature Event tournaments without cut and I ensure my four rounds of competition. Being his tournament, as the Arnold Palmer is for the Palmer family and the Memorial is for Jack Nicklaus, he could well have made this decision. The PGA Tour would have seen it favourably. All the high competition golf establishments (sponsors, various institutions, fans, television), in fact, would have been more than satisfied: Four rounds of Tiger guaranteed, whatever he does, however he plays? Where do I sign?
But legacy is legacy.
There was a time when Tiger Woods seemed convinced that legacy, a sporting legacy, was only made up of great feats, extraterrestrial records and imposing trajectories. Quite a legacy, right? Victories galore, countless unforgettable moments, sporting epic…
The legacy, however, is also made up of other small (and not so small) things. Of course Tiger is in itself a factory, almost an industry, ready and focused on making money, only it would be missing (there is his brand new line of clothing and golf equipment), but this man has long been taking care of what is to come, of the golf that will remain, of history and meritocracy as an irrenounceable support.
The cut has a lot to do with this, with the most prosaic meritocracy, the one at home, the one of each first or second round. The legacy is the great feats, but also the care of the main lines. Tiger, in case his businesses were lacking health, could have been literally swimming in petrodollars a year and a half ago, a bit like Scrooge McDuck. They would have given him what he asked for. And I hope that the above signatory is allowed to legitimately consider that he did not do it, among other things (agreed: among other things) for the preservation of his legacy.
The PGA Tour has taken advantage of this week to remember the record of those 142 consecutive cuts that the Cypress man passed between 1998 and 2005. More than seven years without missing a single weekend. This guy, who was fed up with winning and winning, especially and precisely during those years, could well have loosened up on any Friday, have taken a break when the game appeared to him one week with cracks, frayed, because he also suffered those kind of weeks, more than we can now remember… He didn’t. That’s called competitive courage.
He had it, the courage, that Tiger, entangled in an egolatry that apparently justified his divine behaviour within the ropes, but also the current Woods, much more vulnerable and beaten by injuries and the serious traffic accident two years ago. Tiger, let’s not forget, recently reappeared and limping, passed the cut last year at the Genesis. And at the Masters. Competitive courage. And Legacy. Tons of legacy.
Genesis Invitational (Tiger Woods), Arnold Palmer Invitational (Arnold Palmer) and Memorial Tournament (Jack Nicklaus). The only three Signature Event with cut. There must be a reason. And hopefully this part of their legacy will be respected for centuries to come.
