Tiger Woods of the United States, left, shakes hands with Lee Westwood of England on the 18th green after their third round of the British Open Golf Championship at Muirfield, Scotland, Saturday July 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
The golf gods are having their way. The golf world is fully engaged, the TV networks are downright giddy because the most riveting episodic drama in global sports is delivering another weekend of suspense.
We have a Sunday with Tiger Woods contending for a major, and Sundays with Tiger chasing a major title are nothing less than the next best thing to Sundays with the NFL.
We want to see the red shirt. We want to see how he swings, whether he is composed. We want to see the looks on his face, and those on the faces of his competitors.
We want most of all to see if Tiger will rise up or melt down in the final round.
For it has reached the point in Tiger's career where we care less about
Tiger Woods of the United States reacts after putting on the 18th green during the third round of the British Open Golf Championship at Muirfield, Scotland, Saturday July 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell) ( Scott Heppell )
whether he wins or loses than about whether he can provide us with the promise of theater. Will he be good enough through three rounds at a major to grab our attention on Sunday?Our wish is granted. The most polarizing figure in golf -- maybe all of sport -- is among the leaders after the third round of the British Open on Saturday. He's tied with Hunter Mahan for second place at 210, two shots behind leader Lee Westwood.
We have, ladies and gentlemen, the promise of theater.
Tiger is the one man on the course for whom everyone has an opinion, from the golf pro to the casual fan, from the female CEO to the male seeking employment, from the golf nut to those who don't know a pitching wedge from a pitching rubber.
Those
still harboring bitterness toward Woods over the sordid revelations of his personal life in 2009 will follow the drama of the final round in hopes of being rewarded with a failure of spectacular proportions.Tiger to them is the villain, an arrogant object of contempt, if not the enemy. He deserves every dose of humility he gets, the more toxic the better.
Those who love golf, Tiger or no Tiger, will find their curiosity intensified for his presence among the leaders.
If they consider him just another player, which he has been during his last 16 majors, they still understand he is far more gloriously decorated than anyone else swinging a club.
Those whose interest in golf is commensurate with Tiger's place on the leader board of a given tournament will be content with knowing he'll charge onto the course Sunday at Muirfield with only two men and his own game able to keep him from making a magnificent bit of history.
Never in Tiger's career has he come from behind to win a major. He has won 14 of them, but he's 0-47 when trailing upon stepping onto the course Sunday.
The man whose motivating force is to conquer the challenge posed by majors has not won one since the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines in 2008.
It has been more than five years -- a span during which the narrative of Tiger's life underwent a drastic rewrite.
He is 0 for 16 in majors since the infamous domestic turbulence on Thanksgiving night in 2009. He has been good early, only to fall apart on the weekend. He has been awful early, scrambled back to the edge of contention and fallen off.
Tiger has, above all, been forced to watch a procession of golfers, some vastly inferior, sweep past him to walk away with the status and symbols and prize money -- in order of importance to Woods -- that come with winning a major.
Woods has been fairly consistent, though utterly human this weekend in Scotland. The swagger and rampaging dominance that once defined him have yet to come back and likely never will.
But isn't there always that chance, that sliver of a possibility that Tiger will find enough game to summon heights only he can reach?
If he does, and it's on a Sunday during a major, it's an instant classic -- or maybe the last thing you'd want to see.
Either way, we want to be there to share Tiger's triumph or mock him in misery. We're fascinated less by the winning and losing than by those moments of pain and anguish. The tug is emotional, even primal.
Yup, Sundays with Tiger can be a lot like Sundays with the NFL.
Contact Monte Poole at mpoole@bayareanewsgroup.com.
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