I still remember the day Tiger Woods came fist-pumping into my life.
Some of the older members at Dalewood Golf and Curling Club had money on the table and that alone was enough to demand a 14-year-old’s attention. We were hunkered down in the clubhouse on a steamy August afternoon watching Woods and Steve Scott wage an epic battle in the final of the 1996 U.S. Amateur.
After Woods forced a playoff by sinking a couple monster putts – punctuated with a flurry of celebratory upper cuts – the adults invited us teenagers to join a side pot at stakes we could afford. Woods had rallied from 5-down in the match against Scott and was trying to become the first man in history to win three straight U.S. Amateur titles.
There was no doubt who I was placing my toonie on.
Even watching from afar on TV, it was impossible not to be drawn to the electric manner in which Woods attacked a golf course. He could bend an irrepressible game with his mind and I was hooked instantly.
Woods turned pro after beating Scott and came to the Canadian Open a few weeks later. That tournament was marred by horrible weather and ultimately shortened to 54 holes, but it didn’t keep me from slogging through mud to follow him around Glen Abbey in the pouring rain.
As the years went along, and the sports world came to know Tiger on a first-name basis, my brushes with him became more professional in nature. I started covering golf for The Canadian Press and was fortunate to travel to several big tournaments, including the 2005 British Open in St. Andrews, Scotland.
That was a passing of the torch week at the Old Course, with Jack Nicklaus playing his final major (the legend finished with a birdie at No. 18, and told reporters: "I knew the hole would move wherever I hit it") while Woods reached double digits in major titles with a comfortable five-shot victory.
He had both arms completely wrapped around the golf world.
That seems like a long time ago.
Woods last won a PGA Tour event in 2013 and sat out all of last season following two back surgeries. I’ve continued to follow the sport casually while becoming a full-time hockey writer, but was totally taken off-guard by a recent call from my editor offering the chance to cover his return to competitive golf at the Farmers Insurance Open.
It wasn’t a long conversation. Are you kidding me?
When Woods puts his tee in the ground on Thursday, it will have been 522 days between rounds for him on the PGA Tour. He’s dealt with knee, neck, shoulder and elbow injuries in the past but never anything quite like this.
The severity of the ailment and road to recovery were both significant hurdles to overcome, and yet he’ll arrive at Torrey Pines amid optimism. He’s won eight professional tournaments on the course, including the 2008 U.S. Open, and has been playing there since he was a kid.
There was also his appearance at last month’s Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event in the Bahamas where Woods led a solid field in birdies. That included a bogey-free round of 65 and suggested his game had returned.
"My good stuff was really good, which is a great sign," said Woods.
Then there is his ambitious schedule, with the Farmers Insurance kicking off a four-events-in-five-week stretch that should provide an immediate answer about whether his body can withstand the rigors necessary to play major-quality golf again.
All signs seem to point to a run at being ready for the Masters.
Woods sounded a hopeful tone in a recent blog entry on his website titled "My goal remains to win" – saying that the mental errors that knocked him out of contention last month in the Bahamas should be smoothed out with more reps. He also mentioned that he’d managed to quell fears his career was over by putting in the hardest-working year of his life.
"My love for the game never left," he wrote. "It’s just that the body would not allow me to play. Now my body is allowing me to do it again."
One of the things I’ve always cherished about golf is that it can be a lifelong sport. I first played with my dad when I could barely hit the ball 100 hundred yards and now I can drive it 80 yards past him. Yet, we continue to get out for rounds together every summer and on a shorter course he often beats me.
It is a game of equalizers that allows its participants to span generations.
That is true even at the absolute highest level – although a considerable amount of distance is obviously required when you have a course like Torrey Pines South measuring in at 7,698 yards.
It is there along the coast of the Pacific Ocean where Woods will begin his bid to resurrect a Hall of Fame career.
He is 41 years old and on the other side of some debilitating injuries. He has spent only a minimal amount of time in a competitive environment these last four years.
Objectively, there is every reason to doubt that he’ll ever be a golfer of any real consequence again – except this isn’t just any aging athlete trying to keep the dream alive.
So as Woods strides towards the unknown with the wider sporting world watching, of this I’m certain: I won’t be betting against him.