Tiger proves he is still a must-see for sports fans

 

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By Luke Doherty, 14 Nov 2011 Luke Doherty is a Roar Expert

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 Golf, Tiger Woods

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They were there long before Tiger Woods had set foot on the first tee and would leave that same spot well before the leaders had crashed a club into a dimpled missile.

Despite all of the drama, controversial and otherwise, the Australian Open proved at least one thing: Tiger Woods is still extremely relevant to the average sports fan.

Thousands followed his every move at The Lakes in Sydney yesterday. The man in red captivating the galleries with his every swing, putt and step.

Getting close to Woods is near impossible. A moving crush of supporters follows him from hole to hole seeing strokes only through small gaps in the crowd that is often 7 or 8 rows deep.

The only way to truly see the 14-time major winner in action is to camp out at certain parts of the course and wait for his arrival.

A friend and I had decided to sit behind the tee at the 503 metre par 5 eighth hole for an hour in anticipation of a shot that would stick in our memories until we were weekend hackers in our 70′s.

What was on offer? The chance to see Woods, with an unimpeded view, crunch a driver down the hill and into the middle of the fairway.

There’s no way to tell if it was like a New Yorker witnessing Babe Ruth belting a home run for the Yankees or Don Bradman stroking a ball through the covers for four, but it sure feels like we saw something special.

A chip the rolled in on the par-5 14th for eagle not far from our disbelieving eyes wasn’t bad either.

We weren’t alone though. Thousands of everyday sports fans who weren’t golf diehards also fought and waited to see Woods in the flesh.

From the higher parts of the course there was an easy way to tell where the former world number one was. You only had to look for the hole where people were crammed into any available space on the side of the fairway.

If you hadn’t watched any other pairing you’d swear the edges of The Lakes course were multi-coloured.

In contrast, the last two groups containing Jason Day, John Senden, Nick O’Hern and eventual winner Greg Chalmers played the front nine in anonymity.

A hundred or so golf tragics were on hand to offer a polite round of applause, but everyone else was a little further up the road.

Those four men eventually got the crowd they deserved, but not before Woods had rolled in his final putt on the last hole and disappeared into the clubhouse.

His fall from grace was dramatic and swift. Years worth or work was undone in an instant as people questioned who this individual really was.

A lot of the pre tournament chatter centred on whether Woods was still the drawcard he once was?

Going on the evidence of the last four-days you’d have to say it’s an overwhelming yes.

Ask the man from Newcastle who took time off work and pushed his newborn son around the course in a pram for three-days whether it was worth his time. He’d tell you it was.

There’s no doubt that all sports lovers were deceived by his past, but that seemingly doesn’t matter anymore.

All they cared about yesterday was how the ball came off his 7-iron and not what happens when he leaves the course.

That seemed unthinkable during the middle of the crisis that rapidly engulfed his personal life and while some will never forgive and forget it seems Tiger is back in the good books with a huge amount of people.

You can follow Luke Doherty on Twitter @Luke_Doherty and on Sky News Australia.

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