DaChicagoSports editorial team didn’t need much debate to settle on the 2006 Sportsman of the Year, despite the stellar season of tennis great Roger Federer. Hands down the accolade goes to Tiger Woods. Perhaps Federer himself stated it best when he mentioned recently that he gets nervous in the presence of Tiger Woods. Tiger not only won two majors in ’06 with seeming ease, he had a dramatic season that included all of the highs and lows that a superstar athlete could experience in a single year. Does anyone need to be reminded of the Tiger’s ’06 season on the PGA Tour: After winning a couple of early tournaments, he only managed 3rd at the Masters despite his father’s rapidly declining health. Despite a lackluster for Tiger performance, he finished only three strokes behind Phil, which doesn’t say much for the doughy meltdown artist. Had Tiger reinvented his swing one too many times? Was he past his prime? Following his father’s death came an unprecedented 9 weeks off from the Tour. Then, the unthinkable missed cut at the U.S. Open. What were Nike, TAG, Buick and a half dozen other sponsors paying for anyway?
The answer came with a splintering 2-iron at the Open Championship. Tiger kept the driver in the bag on a course that looked like something that many weekend duffers wouldn’t be happy paying $35 to play on. Could Phil be the new king of the majors? Would Sergio finally be able to fulfill his promise? No and no, but on the other hand Tiger proved to be more accurate from 200 yards out with a deadly 4-iron in his hand than Sergio was with a comfy wedge from 110. It was not just the execution, but the strategy that made our heads shake in disbelief. Tiger was it at again.
Thus began a winning streak with such ferocity and drive that it still has not been broken going into the 2007 season. The Chicago connection was fully consummated not only by his comeback tournament finishing a close 2nd at the Western at Cog Hill where Tiger has been a fixture since the beginning of the career, but finally at the much hyped PGA Championship at Medinah where Tiger simply dominated the scene. Neither Phil nor Ogilvy or rising stars Villegas or Donald even came close to touching Woods while he reverted back to his booming driver and sharp shooting on the greens, pouring in putts from the most unlikely locations with a casual ease.
By the end of the year, it was a given that Tiger would just keep winning, and that feeling of inevitability coupled with invincibility is a deadly combination. It seems appropriate that DCS’ Sportsman of the Year for 2006 plays a sport that the New York Times world affairs columnist and author of the best selling “The World is Flat”, Thomas Friedman calls America’s newest favorite pastime. Golf is a sport that is not only be viewed by millions of fans but is played every week by those same fans who go out and try to be like Tiger. This year, Chicagoans got a chance to be a part of history by witnessing the man who might just be more than DCS Sportsman of the Year (despite the obvious prestige that goes with that honor), but might also be one of the greatest athletes of all time.
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