The Rise & Fall of Tiger Woods

Post by Sports Writer, Derek Clements 

JORDAN SPIETH was learning his first sentences ("Me want to win majors Mummy), Rory McIlroy was seven years old and chipping golf balls into a washing machine, Nick Faldo was the Masters champion, Greg Norman was the world No 1, Tom Lehman was The Open champion and we still believed that Colin Montgomerie would win a major.

Great Britain won a solitary gold medal at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent), Tony Blair was the leader of the opposition, Osama Bin Laden was expelled from Sudan and moved to Afghanistan, Thomas Hamilton put Dunblane on the map for the wrong reasons, Charles and Diana were divorced, Mad Cow Disease hit Britain, an IRA bomb went off in the Arndale shopping centre in Manchester and gunmen killed 17 Greek tourists outside the Europa Hotel in Cairo.

It all seems such a long, long time ago. It was 1996 and it was the last time that Tiger Woods did not feature in the list of the world's top 100 golfers. To be precise, it was September 29, 1996, when he was ranked 225. The following week he won the Las Vegas Invitational as a 20-year-old, the first of his 79 PGA Tour victories, including 14 majors. And so began an astonishing career that none of us ever wanted to end.

He has not played since withdrawing from the Farmers Insurance Open on February 6, having missed the cut in Phoenix the previous week while shooting an 82, the worst round of his professional career. Last year was also a write-off as he struggled with back and shoulder injuries.

The Rise:

1997 Spreadeagles the field and breaks a host of records on his way to winning The Masters, his first major, and changes the way everybody thinks about golf

1998 Becomes world No 1 for first time

1999 Wins US PGA championship

2000 Wins US Open, The Open and US PGA championship to become youngest player ever to achieve career grand slam

2001 Wins Masters - holds all four majors simultaneously, the only man ever to do so

2002 Wins Masters and US Open

2005 Wins The Masters for a fourth time and The Open at St Andrews

2006 Wins his third Open and third US PGA

2007 Wins US PGA for fourth time

2008 Wins US Open while nursing a broken leg - his 14th and last major

The Fall:

December 2002: Woods has surgery to remove fluid from around the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee.

April 2008: Shortly after a runner-up finish at Augusta, Woods has arthroscopic surgery to repair cartilage damage to his left knee. Weeks later it is revealed that he has two stress fractures in his left tibia

June 2008: After playing through pain to claim the U.S. Open title at Torrey Pines, Woods has reconstructive surgery on the ACL in his left knee. During the surgery, further cartilage damage is repaired, and Woods is out for nine months

May 2010: Woods withdraws during the final round ofthe Players Championship, with an inflamed facet joint in his neck

April 2011: Withdraws from the Wells Fargo championship due to a 'minor' injury to his left knee and Achilles' tendon

May 2011: Woods walks away from the Players Championship nine holes. The injury is diagnosed as both a sprain of the MCL ligament in his left knee and a strain to the left Achilles' tendon, and Woods misses three months

March 2012: Woods withdraws with seven holes left in his final round at th WGC Cadillac championship, citing an injury to his left Achilles' tendon

June 2013: After a T-32 finish at the US Open, Woods announces he will miss the AT&T National due to a left elbow strain

March 2014: Woods withdraws on the 13th green in the final round of the Honda Classic, citing lower back spasms

April 2014: Woods announces that he will miss The Masters for the first time in his pro career. He also revealed that he recently underwent surgery for a pinched nerve in his back

August 2014: Woods withdraws on the ninth hole of the final round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, citing lower back pain. It ends his season

February 2015: In his second start of the year, Woods walks off after completing 11 holes of his opening round at the Farmers Insurance Open, citing a back injury. He later announces that he will not return to the PGA Tour until he feels able to compete

April 2015: Will he play in The Masters?

Image Credits - Tiger Woods Facebook Page/ Golf Channel Twitter