Chapter 69

Isleworth Golf & Country Club

Windermere, Florida

September 2008

I have some wonderful news to report,” Tiger posts on his website on September 2. “Sam is going to be a big sister.” His two children will be less than two years apart, Tiger’s dream scenario. “I want them to be close in age,” he’s said. “I want my kids to grow up close.”

The baby is due in early 2009, around the time Tiger expects doctors to clear him to return to the PGA Tour.

“I can’t rotate the knee until then,” he says. But he can still dream of the Masters in April. If he could play one or two events before then, that would be ideal. In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, he says, “I can walk, the knee is good, we are right on schedule. There is no pain, and the work is on strength and mobility.”

He pauses, rolling his eyes. “Oh, man,” he says. “There is lots of work, hours a day. Man.”

Unable to play, Tiger turns his attention to course design. His first project: Punta Brava (“wild point”) Golf & Surf Club, a $100 million private golf course on a seven-mile peninsula in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, seventy miles south of San Diego, where players will be able to see the Pacific Ocean from every tee, fairway, and green.

“I told myself I would play on every continent before I started designing,” Tiger says. “I guess I have missed the Antarctica Four Ball, but otherwise, I’ve done it… I’ve learned a lot, thought a lot about it, used the experiences I’ve had as a player.”

Tiger’s schedule is up in the air as 2009 begins and he awaits clearance from his doctors and the arrival of his second child. He’s been waiting nearly nine months for both and anticipates “a hectic spring.”

“I’m taking it tournament to tournament,” Tiger writes on his website on February 4. Though he admits to going “full-bore” in practice sessions, he says he needs to work on his stamina, and “a lot depends on the baby, which is due pretty soon.” Baby number two “takes precedent over anything I do golf-wise.”

On Sunday, February 8, Elin gives birth to Charlie Axel Woods at Winnie Palmer Hospital, in Orlando, where she also delivered big sister Sam twenty months earlier.

“We had a couple names and Charlie just fit,” Tiger reveals. Though many expected a name that commemorated his late father, baby Charlie’s name is a nod to Tiger’s surrogate grandfather, Charlie Sifford. “As far as the Axel, that’s Elin’s brother’s name so we wanted to make sure it stayed in the family.”

Axel also means “father of peace,” which seems fitting.

“I didn’t realize how much I loved being home and being around Sam and E and now Charlie,” Tiger gushes to reporters. “That’s something that was a blessing in disguise, to be away from the game and have an opportunity to be a part of Sam’s growth and development.”

He feels mentally ready to get back on the links, though.

“I must admit, I am also excited about returning to competition,” Tiger says. “Early on, I didn’t miss golf because I enjoyed staying home with Elin and Sam and I knew I wasn’t physically able to play.”

Now it’s just a question of which PGA tournament he chooses for his return.

“We’re hopeful he’ll make the Accenture Match Play Championship his first event back,” says tournament director Wade Dunagan. Tiger is defending champion, “but he may want to stay home for another week now that the baby is born.”

Tiger decides to play. He arrives at the Golf Club at Dove Mountain, at the Ritz-Carlton in Marana, Arizona, for a “Hello (Again) World” press conference on Tuesday, February 24. He’s been sorely missed.

“Welcome back, Tiger!” a fan shouts from a gallery on the 7th green. Tiger’s practice round today draws more spectators than did tournaments played during his recovery.

“The game just hasn’t been the same without the world’s best player—hasn’t been as interesting, hasn’t been as compelling, hasn’t been nearly as much fun,” notes sports columnist Ray McNulty.

“We are starved for him,” says player turned NBC Golf announcer Roger Maltbie. “The year seems flat. I don’t mean to be unfair to any of the other guys, but a lot of people can play the fiddle. Only one guy is Itzhak Perlman.”

“I felt good,” Tiger says in a post-round television interview. “I got off to a good start, which certainly helped. It didn’t feel like I was gone.”

The feeling vanishes in the second round, when Tiger is eliminated by Tim Clark—a South African golfer who’s never won on the PGA Tour. Still, his leg is getting stronger: “No pain at all. Zero,” he says.

“I have been blessed, more than most people are blessed,” he adds. “I love being a husband and father. It’s who I am.”