Hallelujah

Well it was a long time coming but yesterday was the day that golf returned back into my life. For months now I've been eagerly awaiting that moment I stand upon the 1st Tee at my beloved Widnes Golf Course. I took a look down that virgin fairway, noticing how immaculate it looked after a full winter of no play. The birds were tweeting, the weather was calm and the sun was shining.

What could go wrong. I opened my brand new box of shiny white golf balls and placed one on the tee. I stood back, took in that last breath of air before approaching the ball and taking my stance. I gazed 250 yards down the fairway in anticipation of where my ball was going to land.

If you have never played golf before then you won't know this feeling. Even though you're rusty, not played in months you always feel that first shot is gonna be sweet, just sweet.

I've watched many a golf video on Sky, Facebook and other media sites over lockdown so this was gonna be it. This 1st shot is gonna be creamed, dead centre and straight were I was aiming.

I gripped my club, aimed the head then slowly took it into my backswing. A second later BOOM!!!! Off went my 1st drive of 2021......

When I say BOOM, it was more of a boom. I hit the top of the ball and it trickled no more than 20m from where I was stood, now lonely on the tee, looking for a hole, any hole to drop into.

A shot like this is always followed by a few expletives then an excuse. As a man, I'm pretty good at fast thinking excuses so yesterday's was blamed on the old glove that I was using.

I would love to say that my next 3 shots consisted of a beautiful 3 iron down the fairway, pitching wedge chip onto the green within 3ft of the hole then a putt for a par. This didn't happen. I topped the next 3 balls totalling 100m further down the fairway then finished on 9. Bet this never happened to Tiger.

Here we have a fantastic sketch of a very young Tiger Woods, wearing his favoured red tee, usually worn on the last day of the competition when on some occasions he would be 5 shots clear. Nicknamed "Tiger" but his real name is Eldrick Tont Woods (born December 30, 1975). He was a golf prodigy and after gaining a golf scholarship at the world famous Stanford College he excelled winning numerous trophies in the sport. In 1996 he turned pro and by the following year had already won 3 tour events. The most famous of these wins was the 1997 Masters held at Augusta National. He won this event by an awe inspiring 12 shots. He went on to win the Masters 5 times, PGA Championship 4 times, the US Open 3 times and our very own British Open 3 times. In 2000 he won 3 of the 4 majors, only missing out on the Masters.

In total Woods has netted 82 US PGA Tour wins and 41 European Tour wins. His career has had it's ups and downs though with a series of injuries and mental health breakdowns, including the end of his marriage in 2010.

Tigers son Charlie is now the next US golf prodigy. Aged 11 he regularly wins US competitions in his age group and is often seen in father and son competitions. People say he WILL be a future Tour and possibly even a golf major winner.

Tigers net worth is currently estimated to be $800 million (£540 million) so I would not mind being a pound or two behind him. Does money always bring happiness though - maybe. The end of his marriage, drinking offences and mental health issues occurred in Tigers last decade. Money sometimes just can't sort out these kind of problems. Will he be remembered, damn right. Probably the greatest golfer I have ever watched in my lifetime.