Tiger Woods is still with us and that's all that matters right now
Tiger Woods suffered serious leg injuries in Tuesday's awful car crash.
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The past 12 months or so have been really damn hard. For all us. Losing people who we love has seemingly been happening way too often for way too many of us.
It’s been a very heavy time and a very sad time. Death has been hanging over us like a dark cloud for far too long.
We’ve lost family members, friends and colleagues who touched our lives in so many personal and powerful ways over the years.
We’ve also lost people who we’ve never met but have spent countless hours cheering them on so much that they have felt like family, even if we’ve never given them a hug and welcomed them into our homes.
Let’s be honest about the past year — it has sucked.
So when I first saw reports on Tuesday that Tiger Woods had been in a very bad car crash in Los Angeles, the city that I currently call home and on a road I have driven on, I hoped it was just an awful Twitter rumor that would quickly be debunked and we could go on with our regular ol’ Tuesday.
But then I saw the official statement by the LA County Sheriff. And then I saw the pictures of the car and I said out loud:
Not Tiger Woods.
No.
No.
No.
I’ve never met Tiger Woods but I’ve been fortunate to be alive through his whole incredible career and I feel so lucky to have experienced all that he has given golf fans.
Selfishly, he’s given me so many incredible moments that I’ll never forget witnessing from my couch.
He’s also given me so many special moments that led to gleeful phone calls with my dad about a wild shot Tiger pulled off or a tournament he had just won. Those conversations with my pops are things he and I will remember forever.
On Tuesday, I found myself back on the couch again watching coverage about Tiger Woods, coverage that was much more important than any of the golf shots he has hit over the years. While analysts filled the hours between real updates with tone-deaf conversations about possible comebacks from injuries that we didn’t know of yet, I sat there scratching my head while thinking — how could anyone care about that right now?
What I thought about were Tiger’s kids finding out the news about their dad and how they must have been wondering if they would ever see their father again. When I was in high school my mom, who is thankfully still with us, was in a serious car accident and for hours I walked around a hospital wondering if I still had a mom. That memory is as horrible as it sounds. Tiger’s kids experienced that yesterday and I feel so awful for them for having to go through that.
Then I thought about how just a few months ago Tiger and his son Charlie had so much fun playing together in a tournament that was aired on national TV. I thought about the glow Tiger had about him during those rounds, watching his son hit shots just like his famous dad, fist pumps and all. He was so proud of his son and he was so happy and content with his life. It was beautiful.
I also thought about how losing people is still happening at way too fast of a pace and that I wanted it to stop. I wanted some good news. I wanted Tiger Woods to be OK.
Golf didn’t matter at all on Tuesday. And it won’t matter in the coming days. All that will matter is that Tiger, who suffered severe leg injuries in the crash, is still here with us. He’s still here with his kids. He’s still here with his family and friends who love him very much.
I don’t care if Tiger never plays another professional golf tournament again. I don’t care to hear about anyone’s thoughts on how long a comeback could take. And I don’t care about any of the records he now won’t break.
That stuff just doesn’t matter. Not one bit.
Tiger’s recovery is going to be a long, painful one, it sounds like and what happened Tuesday is going to change his life forever.
I’m just grateful that Tiger Woods is still here.