Tiger is back!

Tiger Woods won his 15^th major this weekend at Augusta in the Masters; the first major of the year.

But how where does his comeback rank against the rest?

Arguably Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer of all time, more often than not in contention with Jack Nicklaus, who boasts an incredible 18 major championships. Tiger won this year’s Masters by one stroke which saw him win his 5^th Green jacket, completing the comeback from health and personal life issues that saw him drop off the top spot.

A lot has been written about Woods, surrounding his extramarital affairs, to multiple back surgeries and even his dependency to prescription drugs. The accumulation of these issues inevitably limited his golfing ability.

in recent years, his body has held him back more than anything else. After a series of relentless injuries – including 4 back injuries – the Masters champion was left unable to walk, and at some points move in general. Golf was out of the picture. As a result of these major set backs, it’s to no surprise Tiger started to focus more on his life after his career, being a father to his children rather than aiming towards playing the sport he has loved since the tender age of 3 years old again.

However, Woods started to consider competing again. 2017 marked his comeback to competitive golf in the Hero World Challenge where he managed to compete four rounds. The majority of those who idolised him and supported his career never thought he would return to his stellar best.

Of course, he proved us all wrong.

In 2018, Woods secured a famous victory at the Tour Championship, yet many still weren’t convinced he was reaching the heights of his career prior to his time off. When Woods fell short despite offering an impressive spectacle at both The Open Championship and the US PGA, it was questioned if he would ever get his 15^th major championship win.

In the 2019 Masters, Woods shocked the world. His performance over the four rounds was enough to see him get his hands on the Green jacket and shorten the gap to 3 major wins between himself and the great Nicklaus.

This is undoubtedly a remarkable comeback, but where does it rank amongst the best?

Some comebacks I think are iconic and are up for debate as the best are:

Muhammad Ali
After refusing to join the US Army, Ali was exiled out of boxing for little under 4 years. When he returned, he was beaten by the great Joe Fraizer, however then retained his world heavyweight title against George Foreman in 1974.

Magic Johnson
Just before the 91/92 NBA season, Johnson was diagnosed with HIV. In the early 90s, HIV was considered incurable and would inevitably lead to one’s death. Johnson retired immediately after learning of his diagnosis.
However, he started in the NBA All-star game and was the MVP. After this, he starred in the gold medal winning 1992 Olympic basketball squad of the USA.

Monica Seles
in 1993, during a tournament taking place in Hamburg, Seles was stabbed in the back by a court-invader. Seles did not return to the sport for another 3 years after this incident. That very year, Seles won the Australian open and reached the final of the US Open.