Tiger.
Sunday's final hole and Monday's playoff at the 2008 U.S. Open proved for the 14th time in his relatively young career why the greatest golfer this world has ever seen only needs to be referred to by one name and one name alone.
Tiger winced in pain throughout the harsh Torrey Pines course in picturesque San Diego from knee surgery in less than two months. Tiger barely picked up a club leading up to easily the most brutal major of the PGA Tour season. Yet he still outlasted the field for his third U.S. Open crown.
He's not the most clutch golfer to ever play the game. Tiger is the most clutch athlete in all of sports.
Ever.
Tiger didn't blow the field away like he did in the 1997 Masters where his relentless pure talent blistered a shell-shocked field.
Tiger combined the fortitude of Willis Reed and the marksmanship of Michael Jordan this time. The results equated to Tiger's greatest major championship victory of the 14 now in his trophy case.
Tiger was physically vulnerable. He tried to downplay in the injury. The pain was too much to hide. Even for him.
It would have been an easy crutch for him to lean on had he succumbed to his unTigerlike collapse down the back nine. He led Rocco Mediate by three strokes and then caught the bad end of a four-stroke swing to go down by one to Mediate leading up to the final hole.
The last two holes certainly didn't possess the overwhelming dramatics of Tiger's 72nd hole where he drained a birdie to force Monday's playoff. But Tiger's two-putt birdie on the 90th hole was just as significant as it pushed he and Mediate to a sudden-death scenario.
Mediate's resolve made Monday's 19-hole show well worth watching. His gregarious personality and consistency in the face of the game's king took guts and grace.
You only wish Tiger had competition like Mediate consistently, a likeable, happy-go-lucky adversary that can push Tiger to the extreme limits of his ability.
It took Mediate a sudden-death playoff win to even earn a spot in the U.S. Open field. Mediate would have been the oldest player to ever win the Open.
The story would have been one of great intrigue and interest. But it wouldn't have been Tiger.
Tiger probably won't play again until the British Open. And that could be a stretch as he'll give his knee a breather from the demanding 91-hole stretch during the past five days.
When he returns is when I'll return to the TV to watch. Tiger makes golf worth watching.
Simply put, Tiger makes golf.
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