This will put his U.S. Open win even higher up on a pedestal. It may go down as the greatest win in golf history. The anticipation of Tiger's return early next year will be incredible. I regret not seeing the last few holes of the playoff, but witnessing what he did on Friday, Saturday & Sunday will be my #1 golf memory ever. What if Tiger fell short and lost on Sunday? Think of how different he and the general public would react to this news if he had missed that putt on 18.
Tiger has been the most badaz athlete in this or maybe any other generation since he was like two years old on Merv Griffin. Some of his wins as a 16 year old amateur were televised and were awesome to watch. This is the topper to date. But he will probably come back from this in a year and win the 2009 Open in his first tournament back or something crazy like that. Though, I bet there were some badaz Gladiators. Going 40 & 0 with only one arm? Check out Rocky Marciano for Tiger's competition for best single sport athlete all-time. Jim Thorpe for best single athlete/multiple sports. Rocky Marciano From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Rocky Marciano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969), born Rocco Francis Marchegiano, was the heavyweight champion of the world from 1952 to 1956. Marciano, with forty-three knockouts to his credit (87.8% knockout rate), remains the only heavyweight champion in boxing history to retire having won every fight in his professional career.
Don't have a link, but I think on one of the national evening news shows (NBC, maybe?) they claimed that PGA officials said that golf ratings drop about 25% when Tiger isn't playing. Not sure if I heard that correct, but part of me thinks it would be higher. Regardless, a 1/4 ratings drop is a huge dip for half of a year, at least.
