The 'Tiger Woods effect' is back. Hundreds of fans swarmed the final hole at East Lake Golf Club on Sunday as Woods capped a remarkable comeback to win his first tournament since 2013 thanks to his victory at the Tour Championship.
Plenty of water has gone under the bridge since Woods claimed the 79th win of his career at the WGC Bridgestone Invitational five years ago as a variety of injuries and personal problems threatened to end the career of the 14-time major winner.
Twitter users from all backgrounds weighed in on the remarkable comeback of Woods over the weekend, including a couple of well known 'celebrities'...
BOOM! Congrats @TigerWoods - proof that great champions never know when they’re beaten. What a comeback. [@piersmorgan]
And...... the greatest of all time @TigerWoods won his first event in 5 years after two spinal fusion surgeries . The reason we all picked up a golf club is back in action and the scenes are incredible [@NiallOfficial]
Woods has timed his return to the winner's enclosure to perfection and bookmakers were swift to amend the Ryder Cup Odds as a buoyant Woods prepares to join his American teammates in France this week. The presence of the victorious 42-year-old will no doubt invigorate the USA team as they prepare to take on Europe at Le Golf National in France and it will be interesting to see how Jim Furyk uses him in France.
Woods will be making his eighth appearance at a Ryder Cup but his record in this event leaves plenty to be desired as his win-loss-halved record stands at 13-17-3 and he has only played in one victorious USA team previously.
He has been trusted to play in all five matches in five Ryder Cups, although it is noticeable that in 2010 and 2012 he was limited to four matches, winning three points at Celtic Manor in 2010 before taking a paltry half-a-point from Medinah in 2012.
In fairness, Woods has often had to carry weaker teammates in the fourballs and foursomes as he has been paired with the likes of Stephen Pate, Paul Azinger, Chris Riley and Jim Furyk, who remains one of the few American players with such vast Ryder Cup experience to have a worse record than Woods.
The pressure is on Furyk in his current captaincy role to find the right partner for Woods. In years gone by Woods has struggled to see eye-to-eye with Phil Mickelson, losing both of their matches together in tandem in 2004, but they appear to be enjoying a blossoming 'bromance' in recent times. It would seem more likely that Woods is paired with a rookie to help guide them through.
The difficulty for Furyk is deciding when to rest Woods - does he unleash him first up on Friday and give Europe a chance to get the partisan crowd behind them if Woods were to lose? Or does he go all guns blazing on the Friday and then rest his veteran from either the foursomes or fourballs on the Saturday? It would seem to be a big risk to play Woods in the full five matches, particularly off the back of his injury issues in recent times, but it would be a brave man who rests Woods on current form - Good luck, Jim!
