Tiger Woods: Why It's Hard to Get Amped About Tiger's Latest Comeback

For many years, the golf world revolved around Tiger Woods. And in many ways, it still does. That's why not a single golf enthusiast was going to overlook Tiger's latest tweet.

In the event that you somehow missed it, allow me to relay said tweet: "Feeling fit and ready to tee it up at Firestone next week. Excited to get back out there!"

That's right, folks. Just like Arnold Schwarzenegger in every movie he ever made, Tiger Woods is back! After playing just nine holes of golf since the Masters, Tiger will be teeing it up at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, an event that he has won seven times.

Phew. That's a relief. After watching Tiger limp off the course at TPC Sawgrass after half a round at The Players Championship, I honestly wondered whether or not we would ever see him again. The U.S. Open came and went without his participation. So did the British Open. And with so many premium events passing by, there's no telling how many times Tiger played the "I'm just not there yet" card. Probably lots.

Well, it's all water under the bridge now. Tiger is back, and that means the golf world can go back to spinning.

At this point, I would like to remove my tongue from my cheek. That way, we can talk honestly and openly, which should allow us to put Tiger's latest comeback in the proper light.

Right then. I don't know about you, but the news of Tiger being ready to end his lengthy injury absence didn't ring my bell as loudly as it should have. I saw the tweet, and I had a reaction to it, but it was more of an "Oh, that's nice" reaction than it was a "Huzzah!" reaction.

When Tiger first started his disappearing-reappearing act back in 2008, this was not the case. When he was set to return from knee surgery in early 2009, I couldn't wait to see him back in action. When he returned to golf at the 2010 Masters after his personal life exploded late in '09, I was ready to cheer him on once again. And when Tiger started his 2011 season a few weeks later than most at the Farmers Insurance Open, anticipation levels were once again quite high.

But now? Not so much.

I suppose there are a couple of reasons for this. The first and foremost is that it's pretty obvious that none of us will be tuning in to watch Tiger's eighth victory at Firestone. No sire, what we'll be tuning in to watch will essentially be a four-day practice round for Tiger, one that will likely be filled with enough screw-ups and bad shots to make us think we're watching ourselves on TV. While it will be nice to be watching Tiger again, it probably won’t be an enjoyable experience.

Encoded in the above paragraph is a much larger and much more dire reality: Tiger has become a loser. Whether the excuse du jour is an injury (or injuries), a long layoff or just plain bad luck, Tiger just hasn't been doing a whole lot of winning in recent days. And unless you’re into the whole sycophant thing, that makes Tiger just like all the other players on the PGA Tour who just can't hack it with the big boys. He is, dare I say it, irrelevant.

If you wanted to, you could argue that this has been the case for a while now. I'm not so sure I agree, but one thing we can all agree on is that golf has caught up to Tiger. He is no longer bigger than the game, as we have no shortage of exciting young players to root for.

Rory McIlroy is obviously the biggest fish in the pond, but players like Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, and Rickie Fowler are also very much worth cheering for. If they don't float your boat, old standbys like Phil Mickelson are still at your disposal.

In other words, we really don't need Tiger like we once did. The TV networks and members of the media probably still do, but that's their problem. True golf enthusiasts should be able to make due without Tiger. And while those same golf enthusiasts definitely didn’t overlook Tiger’s latest tweet, most of them probably came to the same conclusion after reading it.

Tiger's back, and that's really all there is to it.

Zachary D. Rymer