Tiger Woods’ Final Hurrah Begins At The 2015 Phoenix Open

By Trevor Lowry @TheTrevorLowry on January 27, 2015

Let’s see a show of hands — who is ready to hear Tiger Woods’ name at least one million times now until the Phoenix Open is officially in the books? Well, ready or not, from my home to yours, it’s now Tiger time!

Forget the fact that Rory McIlroy is hands-down the best player in the world right now, and that Rickie Fowler finished in the top five at every single major last season — yes, all four of them — and Woods hasn’t necessarily been relevant when it comes to competing for quite some time now.

Why is the Tiger hype meter going into the red and smoking right about now? That’s easy. Woods is playing in his first event of the year. He is playing at the Phoenix Open for the first time since 2001. There’s history, and Woods’ way-too-high expectations — whether they are set by himself, fans or the media — are in full effect.

Oh yeah, the Phoenix Open also happens to be the most rowdy tournament on tour, so it should be fun. See for yourself:

Now, watch Tiger sink a hole-in-one at the Phoenix Open and try not to get excited about this year’s version of the tournament.

Let me remind you that the massive galleries you saw in those videos are for a golf tournament. You know, a gentleman’s game. Things definitely get crazy at this tourney. Since Woods has given us no reason to believe he will actually hoist the trophy on Sunday (he didn’t finish in the top 20 once in 2014), it is a little crazy to think he will actually capture the victory this weekend.

But we all like a little crazy, right? Woods is healthy, he is actually starting his season earlier than usual and he still has some left in the tank. There is plenty of reason for (unreasonable) optimism.

With that said, in the grand scheme of things, this tournament is nothing more than a … well, tournament. It is not a major, which seems to be the only thing people care about nowadays. It’s not even The Players Championship, also known as the unofficial fifth major. McIlroy isn’t even part of the field, so the tourney is clearly missing the best player in the sport.

Oh yeah, the Super Bowl is also being played this weekend, so most television viewers will be tuning into that, for what it’s worth.

Win or lose, Tiger Woods won’t be the Tiger of old, and he won’t be any closer to his 15th major. However, that is not going to stop golf and Tiger fanatics from going crazy about his start to the season at the Phoenix Open this weekend. Make no mistake about it: The torch was unofficially passed to Rory last season, and the Irishman won two of four majors; however, this could be the final year that the Tiger hype meter is actually still in full effect.

Winning the Phoenix does nothing more than get fans that much more pumped up about Woods breaking Jack Nicklaus’ majors record, which would be a great start. However, this season could be it as far as the attempt goes. Translation: If Tiger doesn’t win a single major in 2015, fans may stop talking about the previous most dominant athlete in the world — of any sport. The former big man on campus hasn’t won a major since 2008, which by my count is a long freaking time ago.

For what it’s worth, no matter how little significance the outcome of the Phoenix Open actually has on winning that next major, said tournament is either the start or end to Tiger Woods 2.0, 3.0 or whatever version of Tiger we are currently on.

Although the expectations on Woods from everyone involved have been tempered quite a bit, there’s still a good majority who think Tiger has something left in him, and he will break the ultimate record. Those people may not say it out loud, but they know and think deep down in their heart that the return of the Tiger is coming to a golf course near you.

Here’s to Woods winning the 2015 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Here’s to Woods winning another major or two in 2015. Here’s to Woods’ final hurrah.

Trevor Lowry is a Content Associate at www.RantSports.com. If you’re a tweeter feel free to follow him @TheTrevorLowry, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.