Winter is coming to a close and before you know it, we'll be dusting off the ole golf clubs and start setting our first tee times of the year. The pros, on the other hand, have already been hard at work making 2019 an exciting season full of headlines. At the top of the headlines, per usual, is Tiger Woods. He's already played twice this year and has committed to this week's World Golf Championships (WGC) Mexico Championship. The Mexico Championship will be the first time Woods has played a tour event South of the border. The tournament will be held at Club de Golf Chapultepec in Mexico City. Little do non-golf fans know, these WGC events are second only to the four majors on the golf calendar.
The event in Mexico may be the first of the WGCs in 2019 but it's actually the second event on the tour's wrap around schedule. The first was held on the last weekend of October in Shanghai, China. The 2018 edition saw two of golf's hottest young stars come all the way down to a playoff. Xander Schauffele outlasted Tony Finau for his third tour victory of his young career. The field for the WGCs typically involve the best of the best and Mexico will be no exception.
From Bryson to Rickie to Sergio, Mexico's field will be a who's who of golfing's best. At the top of the watch list this week will be (who else?) Tiger Woods. Tiger committed to Mexico last week before playing in the Genesis Open at Riviera Country Club, a tournament he host. After placing in a tie for 20th at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, everybody was ready to see what Tiger could do at Riviera, a course he's actually never won on. 0 for 11 before this year, Tiger didn't come out with the start we had all hoped for. A rain delay on Thursday made it hard on everybody. The first round bled into Friday, second round into Saturday and third into Sunday. Early starts over the weekend eventually allowed the tournament to end on Sunday as scheduled. It was Tiger's third round that started to peak people's interest.
There's nothing quite like the Tiger effect. Even your moderate sports fan gets swept up by the Tiger effect. The fun thing about it is, it doesn't just have to be the final round for it to happen. If Tiger makes three birdies in a row on a Thursday morning, I can guarantee I'm getting an update from ESPN, Golf Channel and a couple of buddies. That doesn't happen with anyone else. It amps up as the week continues. The longer he's on the leaderboard, the louder the talk becomes. This past week at the Genesis, Tiger struggled out of the gates and crept his way under the cut line to survive and play the weekend. That's when the Tiger effect came alive. He started his third round birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie and went from -1 to -6 in the span of an hour. He eventually saw his run get him all the way into the top 10 on the leaderboard, getting as high as a tie for fifth at one point. Fatigue got the best of him late on Sunday, though. Being forced to play close to 30 holes in one day can take a toll on a golfer.
The multiple runs he made this weekend brings back memories of years past. When I was growing up, Tiger was the beginning and the end of every golf conversation. There was no such thing as parody on the PGA Tour. If Tiger was in a tournament, he was the clear favorite and there was a good chance he was going to win it. The bigger the stage, the better he was. Age and injuries have made it difficult for him to reach the potential we're use to seeing. That's why we're excited to see him healthy going into a WGC event. He's won 19 of these events and we're ready to see him win number 20.
There are the four major championships (Masters, PGA Championship, US Open, Open Championship) and The Players Championship is the unofficial fifth major. Next on the list are the four WGC titles that bring together the best in golf. Along with the HSBC Champions event in China and Mexico Championships is also the Dell Technologies Match Play event at Austin Country Club in Austin, TX and the FedEx St. Jude Invitational at TPC Southwind in Memphis, TN. The match play event is always a fun one to watch. They set up a bracket style competition in which players go heads up against each other. It's a fun change of pace from the usual stroke play events we watch every week. The FedEx St. Jude Invitational will be a WGC event for the first time. They use to play the last event in Akron, OH at Firestone Country Club, but Memphis will be the lucky city to host the fourth and final event.
We all know, given he stays healthy, Tiger will play in all four majors, the Players Championship and the fourth event on the WGC list in Memphis. What we want is a win. We saw him win the Tour Championship last season and the hoard that followed him up the 18th fairway can only be described as epic. Now, we want him to step up on one of golf's biggest stages. I, for one, think he can do it. He's proven he can hang with the best. He tied for 20th at the Farmers, then tied for 15th at the Genesis. Tiger is only a short step away from returning to his former glory. I'll be ready for it. Beer in hand, on a Sunday afternoon, watching the best that has ever done it, do it again.