ATLANTA — There were children lining the fairways at East Lake Golf Club who hadn't been born the last time it was like this, men whose beards had grown grey and young adults with only faint memories of what it felt like to watch the greatest sports phenomenon of their lifetime in his prime.
And as Tiger Woods crushed his tee shot down the 18th fairway Sunday, all of them had had enough. Enough of being told to be quiet, enough of being held back by ropes. This is the South, after all, where you save rushing onto the field for the biggest wins.
Even Woods had to smile as he looked back, thousands flooding the fairway behind him. Just like the field behind Woods this week, the security guards had no chance. As thousands of people drew closer, all of them chanting "Tiger! Tiger!" one of Atlanta's elite golf clubs had suddenly turned into a scene straight out of a football game at Auburn or Clemson.
But who cares about decorum when Woods just won his first tournament in five years?
"I had a hard time not crying coming up the last hole," Woods said in his post-round interview on NBC. "I said, hey I could still hit this thing out of bounds so suck it up and hit some shots here."
In sports, we are used to eras ending, legends fading and passing the best parts of those memories down to the next generation while lamenting they never got to see that kind of greatness for themselves.
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Until Sunday, that was going to be how we told the Woods story. It had been a long, long time since he was the most invincible athlete on the planet, and for the generation just now old enough to understand what it means to see that red shirt stalking the fairways on a Sunday, the idea that victory was inevitable had only been the stuff of fuzzy YouTube clips.
But as Woods paraded up and down the course in the final round of the Tour Championship, the desperation of seeing him win one more time at age 42 finally met the inevitability of a decade ago.
Woods' first PGA Tour victory since Aug. 4, 2013, his first triumph after being betrayed by his body so badly that it was uncertain he’d ever play again, was less a test of nerves than a rekindling of his muscle memory. Conjuring his old-school dominance against the best players on tour this year felt far more like a new beginning than a last hurrah.
While Woods’ pair of near-misses at the British Open and PGA Championship this summer certainly portended the possibility that he would win again — and soon — what happened here this weekend opens the door for something far greater.
Woods’ final chapter is never going to be as good as the one he authored from 1997-2008, but for the first time we can see a path between where he is now and a future that includes more trophies, more majors, more weekends where what’s happening in golf feels relevant in popular culture. At this point, with Woods projected to shoot up to No. 13 in the Official World Golf Rankings, it’s not a huge stretch to think he can compete again to be No. 1.
"At the beginning of the year that was a tall order," Woods said. "But as the year progressed, I proved that I could play and I found a swing and put pieces together. And I knew I could do it again."
What has made the Woods phenomenon so fascinating during his 2018 comeback is that it only seemed to be partly about him. Woods always has attracted big galleries and drawn huge television ratings any time he played an event, but the desire to see him win again also has been about us.
If you are old enough to remember the early 2000s, the way Woods pounded field after field of elite players into submission became so familiar that we took for granted how quickly it would end. As soon as Woods stuffed his approach to 10 feet on the first hole, burying the birdie to take a four-shot lead over playing partner Rory McIlroy, everyone on the course knew it was over.
That Woods could give both his fans and critics that feeling again after so long, and show a glimpse of what it was like to those who weren’t around to see it, has to rank as one of the greatest achievements of his career.
"I can’t believe I pulled this off," Woods said.
Woods didn't do anything spectacular Sunday in shooting 1-over 71, largely because he didn't have to. Which was always the point, most of the time. Back in the old days, you'd wait and wait for someone to take a run at Woods after he had grabbed control of a tournament, and usually his opponents felt so much pressure to hit perfect shots they just fell apart.
It was hard not to think about that Sunday as McIlroy, who started three behind, carded 74 and sprayed shots all over DeKalb County. The only moment of pressure Woods faced Sunday came on 17 when his lead shrunk from five shots to two over Billy Horschel, but one good chip and a four-foot putt was good enough.
As has been the case with Woods over the last few years, the great unknown is whether his body will allow this feeling to last. He'll be 43 soon, and someone who has endured surgery after surgery only has so many comebacks in them.
Given where Woods started when he came back to competitive golf last December, with moderate expectations and a spine that had been fused together, ending his season with a victory like this was amazing. But now that Tiger is officially back, it certainly doesn't seem like the end.
Follow Wolken on Twitter @DanWolken
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