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A series of moments, and THE moment for Tiger on Sunday

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ATLANTA – Stop it here.

Have you ever seen anything like this? He hasn’t. It revives memories from years past: 1997 outside Chicago, after he won at Augusta, being one. But nothing to this degree.

This is a breath-halting moment, the kind you want to stop and live in and enjoy. Hundreds from here, hundred from there, forming a thousand-person mob, converging on one man.

But that’s not the moment. It’s a moment. A moment of many this day that lead to the moment.

Let’s stop it here.


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This moment will live in perpetuity on social media; it’s what the modern medium was made for, to be able to entertain presently and forever serve metaphorically: Black, sleeveless gym shirt; black hat on backwards; Ryder Cup drawstring bag slung over his right shoulder [as he readies to battle two European foes, if observers really dive deep into this one]; power-red shirt in his left hand.

The look is casual, the effect intended is purposeful: I’m the badass, say the exposed biceps. I’m the man in charge, says the attire on the hanger.

And if you forgot either of those, this moment is your reminder.

This is a day of moment upon moment, a series of snapshots that tell a full story. It’s a definitive day in a career of defining moments. It’s a day comprised of individual instances, some of which will remain ingrained in the minds of those who witnessed; some of which were never given much thought.

Stop it here.


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It’s a solitary figure on an expansive landscape. A man preparing to play his part.

There’s a panorama of green and blue around him. A practice putting surface, a perfect sky, a peaceful lake.

No one shouts his name, no one interrupts his work. Soon that will change. Waves of screams will ripple across the course. Necks will crane and phones will record and the multitude will follow, and none of it will be unfamiliar to him.

A storm awaits. But, for now, in this moment, there is a calm.

Stop it here.


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This moment doesn’t seem right.

Just minutes ago, he was 25 yards in arrears off the first tee. Now, he’s dead-eyeing a 10-footer for birdie while the opposition is trying to calculate how to two-putt from 40 feet – that opening salvo sound with no fury.

The opposition has youth, power and bravado. All fine attributes. But the day’s protagonist has an unequaled desire and greater accuracy, tipping the scales – and turning moments – into his favor.

Just when you think you’re in control, you realize that he is. And you’ve lost another shot.

Stop it here.


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Look down from above the fourth tee. It’s an ocean of people, 10, 12 deep, forming a peninsula around him. They’re all here for him, which is nothing new. They’ve always shown for him. But this time – and this representative moment – is unlike the way it used to be. Then, they came to be entertained, to witness something grand. Now, they’re more supportive, personally. They still want to experience whatever greatness may remain, but they’re aware of what he’s endured to get to this moment.

He’s appreciated. He’s been humanized.

Stop it here.


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They said this would never again happen. Not now, not with today’s players. There was no way, ever again, that the modern men would fold if he got into contention. His previous competition was inferior, they said. Never again would his steady Sunday approach work.

And, yet, here we are. In this moment, looking at this leaderboard. He’s made one birdie through five holes and extended his lead by two, against a field of the top 29 opponents the Tour could gather. The world No. 1, his perceived heir, this year’s Player of the Year, last year’s Player of the Year, the major winners, the multiple winners, where is their challenge?

They’ve offered none and what once was, is again.

Stop it here.


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He’s played nine holes and has nine more to go. But after one swing on the inward half, he’s found trouble, a pushed tee shot well to the right.

In this moment, his head is down. Maybe the nerves are taking over. Sure, he’s got a five-shot lead and has done this 79 times before, but, as we’re all aware, he’s human. Maybe there is some inner-turmoil to which we aren’t privy.

Or maybe he’s just assessing his lie and analyzing his options. Maybe he’s just figuring out how to minimize the damage. Maybe he’s got this under control, knowing a bogey – just one dropped shot – won’t kill him.

Stop it here.


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This feels like the perfect moment.

It’s going to happen here, that first birdie since the first hole. The corporate tent backdrop at the 13th – in addition to the ever-growing number in tow – gives it that extra dynamic.

This is the moment he has always provided, that signature moment – no matter how mundane a clinching round may have been – that sends everyone into a tizzy.

Like old times, he makes that moment.

Stop it here.


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Three feet, seven inches for par. Doesn’t seem like much. Unless you take into account a bogey at 15, a bogey at 16, and the possibility of being only one up with one to play.

For all his putting problems this year, 3-footers have not been an issue. He’s made them all. Every one of them. Of course, none have had a level of stress such as this.

This moment is about trust. Taking his time, going through a routine, and making a confident stroke.

Something normally so simple, now so significant. These are the moments in which he’s always been his best, and he is again.

Stop it here.


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Actually, let him get through the mass of humanity. They’ve engulfed him in the fairway and we need him to emerge. It takes a beat too long, but he finally steps through.

This is an extraordinary sight, but, again, it’s not the moment. The moment unlike anything else.

That is a moment many, himself included, thought might never come, the moment Tiger Woods raised his hands above his head in victory.

It may not be the greatest moment in Woods’ career, nor his most emotional. He may win more Tour events, more majors, and those moments may be more dramatic, more historic.

But because of what he’s been through, and what we will never fully appreciate, and because this was the first triumph since it all, and because we never know what is to come, there will never be another moment like this one.