Philadelphia, PA – And so the myth-building starts anew.
There Tiger Woods sat Sunday after winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his first PGA Tour victory since the 2009 BMW Championship, first in 924 days -- first title of note since the car accident that touched off his sex scandal.
The golf world has been waiting for this, wishing perhaps a little too much for Woods to put together a Sunday run. People have been waiting for him to put the last few years of controversy, injuries and struggles behind him and resume his winning ways.
They've been waiting for Tiger to be Tiger again.
But Tiger can never be that Tiger again. At least, he shouldn't be.
Sure, Sunday was a great day for Woods. He finally broke the longest winless drought of his career, making necessary shots in tough conditions. He didn't falter and outplayed Graeme McDowell, who had beaten Woods at his own tournament in 2010.
And when Woods knelt down at the 18th hole, bowing his head and smiling to himself, it was very easy to smile along with him. He looked genuinely happy.
It is also very easy to look at the victory as more than a win, to view it as the beginning of a career resurgence. Everything is behind him -- the scandal, the injuries, the struggles he's endured on the course -- now that he's won again. It's time for him to resume his journey toward becoming the best golfer in history.
And it will be very easy to get swept up by Tiger's brilliance, especially considering the timing.
In two weeks, Woods will head to the Masters with chance to move closer to Jack Nicklaus' all-time record of 18 major victories. He'll also have a chance to match Nicklaus with his 73rd career win. The media buzz is already building.
And you know what? Woods might actually do that. He might start winning half a dozen tournaments a year and become the heavy favorite to win every major. He could again become the unquestioned No. 1 player in the world.
But there's a dangerous thing that happens when an athlete has that kind of success: the winning becomes conflated with personal virtue, and the athletic success helps turn a person into a larger-than-life figure, into a myth.
We saw it with Michael Jordan and Lance Armstrong. We saw it with Woods until his scandal.
Even the best athletes have flaws, some of them deep. The difference between elite athletes and most other people is that their success provides them many privileges.
It gives them enough money to employ slick P.R. agencies to create a pitch- perfect public persona, and it allows them to have leverage over disbelief. Before Tiger, it was hard to imagine a player could have that much success so fast. It was hard to imagine a player that hungry to win. But he made us into believers, and people will go a long way to maintain beliefs.
Woods was the most marketable athlete in the world before his scandal, and the primary reason it was so shocking is because people believed he wasn't capable of that. Why? Because he said the right things, had a lovely family and won 14 majors.
People probably won't forget Woods' scandal and he can't return to the life he had before it.
But the more he wins and the further Woods gets away from that crash, the more his myth will be rebuilt. And that's not to say his golf game shouldn't be enjoyed. He's a tremendous player, one of the best ever. And that's enough to be admired, on its own, without turning it into something else. Let's get it right this time.
