Tiger Wins First Golf Tourney In Two Years

I wasn't in much of a football watching mood after my fave collegiate team took it on the chin Saturday.   After I was satisfied that the Texans won, I changed channels to see if Tiger Woods was finally going to come out on top in a golf tournament for the first time in two years.

The last time Tiger Woods was victorious in a tournament was on November 15, 2009 when he was the world's number one ranked player and won the Australian Masters.   Then came the fateful car crash during Thanksgiving weekend and all the turmoil surrounding it.  

On this day Woods was ranked number 52 in the world and was trailing Zach Johnson by one stroke going into the final day of his Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, CA.    Johnson relinquished the lead to Woods on the front nine holes and fell two shots behind him but came back to tie him and regain the lead with a birdie on the 16th hole.   

But the Tiger we remember showed up and showed out.  He made a clutch 16 foot birdie putt to tie Johnson on the 17th hole and after a Johnson miss on the 18th hole, drained another six foot birdie putt for his 83rd overall tournament win an his first in 749 days and 26 official events. 

The win also skyrocketed Tiger up the world golf ranking charts to number 21.

If the magic is back, we'll find out when he plays that late January 2012 tournament in Abu Dhabi.  If he wins it or is in the top ten finishers, look out PGA tour, the slump may indeed be over and I may have to start watching major tournaments again.  Tiger is only three major tournament wins away from catching Jack Nicklaus and four from surpassing him

And if the way he played last Sunday is an indicator of how 2012 may go, it's doable.