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Jonathan White

On Sunday night in Augusta, Georgia, Tiger Woods put on that famous green jacket for the fifth time.
The measurements will have changed since 2005, but Woods being 43 is not why this win is remarkable.
There are many champion golfers who are long in the tooth, but the distance between his 14th and 15th major is at the heart of this.
That and what happened in those 11 years.
The list of injuries he has endured seem more suited to a contact sport, while insult was added as his private life publicly spiralled out of control.

One of the greatest comebacks in sports history.
2008: Wins US Open on torn ACL
2010: Neck injury
2011: Sprained MCL, Achilles
2012: Achilles injury
2014: Back surgery
2015: Back surgery
2017: Back surgery
2019: Wins Masters (first major since 2008) pic.twitter.com/kchT1PmjUV
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) 14 April 2019

Woods had already won the World Comeback of the Year category at the Laureus Sports Awards in February, but victory was a sign of how far he had fallen since winning the 2008 US Open.
Less than 18 months ago, Woods was ranked 1,199th in the world. Last year, he finished in the top 10 in The Open Championship and the PGA before winning a first tournament in five years, the season-ending Tour Championship.

This saw him rise up the rankings, ending the year in 13th. He is now sixth after the Masters win.
The redemption was deeper for the reason that this was where Woods burst onto the scene in 1997 as a 21-year-old and blew the cobwebs off the golf world.
“That ought to wake up the country club,” was Nike’s tagline for Andre Agassi earlier in the decade, as another young man defying tradition in a stuffy sport.
Poster boy Agassi finished 1996 as world number one but a year later he was 141st, barely lifting a racquet over the previous 12 months as he battled his demons.

By 1999, he was on the road to redemption, lifting the French Open title after being two sets to love down to Russia’s Andriy Medvedev.
He won the US Open that year to top the rankings before winning three of the next four Australian Opens, only retiring in 2006.
Roger Federer won the Laureus comeback award for 2018 after winning the 2017 Australian Open. The Swiss superstar had missed the latter half of the 2016 season through injury and little was expected of a player ranked 17th in the world that had not won in five trips to Melbourne.

But win he did and in a five-set thriller against Rafael Nadal. Federer then went on to win Wimbledon before retaining his Australian Open crown in 2018, extending his record of slam singles titles to 20. Is that more impressive than Woods?
The women’s game has its triumphs over adversity. Margaret Court leads the way for most slams in either men’s or women’s singles with 24 and 11 of those came after she retired for the first time at 24 in 1966. She won a calendar grand slam in 1970 and continued to win majors despite career breaks to give birth to two children.
Serena Williams is one off Court’s record and if she does match it then it will come after returning from giving birth, and nearly losing her life in doing so. She has reached a slam final since and if she does win one then it will match Kim Clijsters, the last mother to win a slam.

In 1993, world number one Monica Seles was stabbed on court in an attack that kept her out for two years. She reached the US Open final in 1995 before winning the Australian Open the following year. She never won another major, but did reach two more finals before retiring.
Current number three Petra Kvitova has a sadly similar tale, missing half a year after being stabbed in the hand in her home by a burglar. She reached this year’s Australian Open final.
Greg LeMond came back from a life-threatening hunting accident to win the Tour de France; golfer Ben Hogan was in a head-on smash with a bus, but went on to win three more majors; while Niki Lauda suffered horrific burns after crashing at the Nurburgring in 1976, but won the F1 driver’s championship the next year and another in 1984.

Boxer Anthony Crolla suffered a serious head injury after he disturbed burglars at his neighbour’s home in Manchester in 2014. There were fears he would never fight again, but last Friday he had the biggest fight of his career when he met Vasyl Lomachenko for the WBA and WBO flyweight belts in Los Angeles.
While there are thousands of examples of comebacks in team sports – over the course of a single match, a season, or an entire career – it is more difficult to come back in an individual sport where there is nowhere to hide.
There is certainly nowhere to hide in the boxing ring – as Crolla found out on Friday – and some will say that is where the comebacks to rival Woods truly lie.

George Foreman retired from boxing in 1977 only to return a decade later. After two attempts to win a world title, redemption came in 1994 as Foreman, days off his 46th birthday, won back his title 20 years after losing it.
The man who had taken it from him, Muhammad Ali, himself came back from missing three years of his career for refusing to fight in the Vietnam war, but it took until 1974’s Rumble in the Jungle for him to return to the top of the sport.
Politics is arguably the hardest thing for an athlete to overcome – if anyone is going to challenge Woods for the greatest comeback in sports then keep an eye on Colin Kaepernick. Now that would be against the odds.


Tiger Woods’ lost tooth, Bode Miller’s one-ski show among tales from Olympic alpine slopes

Year in golf: Rory McIlroy completes career grand slam, Europe win Ryder Cup

Roger Federer’s long-term deals see him become tennis’ first billionaire

Who is Rachel Uchitel’s new fiancé Dan Donovan? Tiger Woods’ former mistress just got engaged to the businessman and security expert – and her daughter Wyatt Lily helped pick out her ring

Tiger Woods

Tiger Woods wins Masters: where does this rank in history’s greatest comebacks?

Tiger Woods is helped into his fifth green jacket by 2018 winner Patrick Reed. Photo: Kyodo

FILE - In this July 1, 2006, file photo, Andre Agassi, of the United States, hugs Rafael Nadal, of Spain, after their third-round tennis match at Wimbledon. Agassi said in an interview with Singapore newspaper Straits Times, that Nadal should be considered the greatest tennis player ever, not Roger Federer. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth, Pool, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 30, 1974, file photo, challenger Muhammad Ali watches as defending world champion George Foreman goes down to the canvas in the eighth round of their WBA/WBC championship match in Kinshasa, Zaire. Ali, the magnificent heavyweight champion whose fast fists and irrepressible personality transcended sports and captivated the world, has died according to a statement released by his family Friday, June 3, 2016. He was 74. (AP Photo/File)

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 08: Serena Williams returns a shot to Victoria Azarenka of Belarus during the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden on March 08, 2019 in Indian Wells, California. Matthew Stockman/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

Britain Boxing - Jorge Linares v Anthony Crolla WBA World Lightweight Title - Manchester Arena - 25/3/17 Anthony Crolla looks dejected after the fight Action Images via Reuters / Lee Smith Livepic EDITORIAL USE ONLY.

(181227) -- BEIJING, Dec. 27, 2018 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Jan. 28, 2018 shows Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrating after winning the men's singles final match against Croatia's Marin Cilic at Australian Open 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. Roger Federer won his 20th Grand Slam title after lifting the Rod Laver Cup at the Australian Open, becoming the first male tennis player to accomplish this feat. On Feb. 16, the 36-year-old reclaimed the world top ranking after five years and broke the record set by U.S. player Andre Agassi to become the oldest world No. 1. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei) TOP 10 WORLD SPORTS NEWS EVENTS 2018

Czech Republic's Petra Kvitova speaks during the presentation ceremony after her defeat against Japan's Naomi Osaka in the women's singles final on day 13 of the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne on January 26, 2019. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP) / -- IMAGE RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - STRICTLY NO COMMERCIAL USE --

Sport

Golf

The 43-year-old wins at Augusta for first time in 14 years to cap career renaissance
Fifth green jacket comes 22 years after his first


The 43-year-old wins at Augusta for first time in 14 years to cap career renaissance, but is it the best comeback of all time?


Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Opinion

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Tiger Woods wins Masters: where does this rank in history’s greatest comebacks?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;}The 43-year-old wins at Augusta for first time in 14 years to cap career renaissance Fifth green jacket comes 22 years after his first

The 43-year-old wins at Augusta for first time in 14 years to cap career renaissance

Fifth green jacket comes 22 years after his first