Tiger Woods’ other game: from real golf to virtual golf | Sports

He is number 1,283 in the world ranking, on December 30 he will turn 48 years old and in April he underwent surgery on his right ankle, the umpteenth operation after 10 interventions between his knees and back and a traffic accident that almost cost him his right leg. Only a mind of steel and an irrepressible desire to feel like a golfer again sustain, hanging by a very thin thread, the sporting career of Tiger Woods. The winner of 15 majors is a lame man, and with a limp he has dragged himself around a golf course in recent months, the few times he has been able to step on it, suffering to travel the 18 holes without the help of an electric stroller. Despite his body full of scars, Tiger refuses to retire, convinced that he still has one last dance, at least a farewell at the Augusta Masters.

That’s the game Tiger still plays. And meanwhile, another is gaining ground, his life without a golf club in his hands. Since Thursday, the World Wide Technology Championship has been played in Mexico, a tournament on the American circuit that takes place on the El Cardonal course in Los Cabos, the first course designed by Woods to debut in the elite of the PGA Tour. The creator of the course traveled there, one of the very few public appearances of the myth since the last Masters. Tiger has competed in dribs and drabs since he crashed his vehicle in February 2021 and shattered his right leg. In 2022 he was 47th at Augusta, retired at the PGA Championship and missed the cut at the 150th British Open at Saint Andrews. This year, he was even less so: 45th in the Genesis and retired in the Masters after playing seven holes on the third day and the game was suspended due to rain, when he was last in the standings with nine strokes over par. The cold and humidity punished the old Tiger, who once again left the image of a man who even had trouble standing. Ten days after that goodbye he opened the door to the operating room again to repair a battered ankle. Today he struggles to go down some stairs in Los Cabos and it seems unlikely that at the end of November he will be able to compete in the Hero World Challenge, an event of which he is the host. “I appreciate just being able to play. I will never be the same. I understand it,” he admitted at the beginning of the course.

The Tiger golfer is today the Tiger designer and, above all, the Tiger who enters the show. The American has promoted, together with Rory McIlroy, the Tiger Woods League, an exhibition League that will be played on 15 Mondays next year and that mixes virtual golf with real golf. Six of the current 10 best players in the world will join him (McIlroy, Homa, Schauffele…) despite the last minute loss of Jon Rahm, who has just announced his resignation. “I still think it is a great opportunity, but right now it requires a level of commitment that I cannot offer,” explained the Basque, to whom those days of entertainment would distract from the objective of increasing his collection of two majors (US Open 2021 and Masters 2023).

The Tiger League will be played by teams, just like a part of the groundbreaking Saudi competition that caused so many blisters. There will be six teams of four golfers each, facing each other starting in January in 15 qualifying evenings until a final to which the best two will enter. Each event consists of 15 holes, nine in alternating shots format and six in individual duels. And with a strange mix of virtual and real golf. Players will tee off in front of a giant simulator screen, 20 times larger than usual, and for shots of less than 50 yards they will access a normal court, the green zone, a playing area that can alter the slope of the green according to the hole played.

Golfers will wear microphones to capture feedback, and all matches will be played at the newly created SoFi center on the campus of Palm Beach State College in Florida. The show, which will be broadcast on ESPN, is completed by another list of stars who will be owners of the franchises: the sisters Serena and Venus Williams, the Antetokounmpo brothers, Alex Morgan, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson…

Tiger is moving towards that new life that awaits him when he leaves professional golf, still wondering if he will want to participate in the senior circuit once he turns 50. In the new show he will barely have to walk, his biggest nightmare. The magic is still in his hands, and the hunger for triumph has not gone out in his head. It is his legs that no longer accompany a legend who has walked further than anyone.

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2023-11-04 04:15:00
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