With bulging muscles and mythical powers, the Marvel superhero and Norse god Thor has an aura that can scare anyone who opposes him. Anyone who tries to combat him is usually aware of power. His adversaries usually quake at the sight of him swinging his large, stone hammer.Change the look of Thor into a person with a “cablinasian” background and morph the hammer into a golf club and what do you get?
The current number one ranked golfer in the world: Tiger Woods.
Since 1996 until 2009, he has been able to do the unthinkable: take over the sport of golf.
How has he magically been able to pull it off?
Well, conquering fourteen major championships to be second all time can help that assertion. Winning 71 PGA tour events to become third all time in that category can assist that claim. Becoming the youngest and fastest player to win a grand slam and to get to 50 wins in a career also adds evidence to that declaration.
Along with the comparison to the look and super hero-like characteristic that Woods has with Thor comes the similarities he has with Thor’s downfall. Both eventually lose their god-like power and intimidation factor to those they face.
Thor went from inheriting his father’s kingdom to being transformed into a mere mortal because of his arrogance as a god. He is forced to re-learn what it means to have power in order to become the super hero he once was.
For Woods, his began losing his reign on a thanksgiving night in 2009.
First came a late night car crash of Woods SUV on his own property. Then came rumors of a secret life filled with infidelity, which turned into actual accounts by more than a dozen women. Then came the problems within his family and a break from golf lasting about four months.
Since his return back to golf at the 2010 Masters in April, Woods has become insignificant. While his career and life is not a made-up comic, his aura and power over the golf world was nearly superhero-like and that’s what makes his 2010 season ironic to Thor’s downfall.
Although Woods has remained number one in golf rankings since 2005, he has looked anything but that way in 2010. He has finished fourth in both the Masters and U.S. Open, but all his matches have lacked that killer instinct to finish off a tournament that the Stanford graduate has always been equipped with since he became a pro golfer.
Along with the loss of his killer instinct is his lack of concentration. His accuracy has been abysmal on both his drives (currently ranked 163rd) and getting onto the green (166th). His putting average has also not been reflective of the Woods everyone remembers as he ranks 82nd this year in that category.
His latest tournament only helps to add to the fact that other golfers no longer fear him. At his last tournament at the Bridgestone Invitational, he finished with an atrocious eighteen over and a tie for 78th place. This tournament marked the lowest point of his career and that he has indeed fallen from golf supremacy.
With all that Woods has endured through this year, he still has a few tournaments this year to change his luck and performance this year. Along with that, he still has numerous years ahead of him to regain his reign over golf and possibly overtake Nicklaus’s record of eighteen majors.
Yet, with all the controversy and drama surrounding his play, personal life and future, the sound of the commentator from the old Batman television show comes to mind as the big question is presented:
Is this the end for Tiger Woods? Can he ever regain his power and become the dominant golfer he once was?
