I think Jim Nantz put it best.

The series of events that unfolded this past weekend have still not sunk in. I have been in a state of shock since the last putt dropped. Tiger Woods has won a fifth green jacket.

His first major in 11 years.

It is going to take us a long time to understand the enormity of what transpired this weekend at Augusta National Golf Club. To try to put it simply, one of the most famous sports figures and one of the greatest golfers of all time has completed the most improbable comeback of all time.

And that’s not an opinion. That’s a fact. No matter how you shake it.

Tiger winning the Masters is kind of like the picture of the black hole. I don’t know what it means, but this is new territory and groundbreaking. It may have felt like a fairy tale/story book ending, but this is only the beginning. Where we are going, I don’t know, but it is going to be a very interesting journey. And, yes, I cried. If you didn’t, you need therapy.

In September, we watched the prelude foreshadowing what was to come in the spring. Tiger pulled off winning the Tour Championship and I wrote that this might be all we were going to get from Tiger:

“He is the holiest figure in golf … I also doubted him. I feared for his well being, these last few years. About 15 months ago I was just hoping he would be healthy again some day, in a general well-being sense. Who cares about his golf game?” (link)

How soon we forgot that not even two years ago, Tiger was in a very dark place. Pulled over and arrested for a DWI, we all played it off and quickly swept it under the rug. I stopped caring about Tiger making a comeback. It was terrifying to see my childhood idol’s life fall apart.

At one point, I thought the best thing for Tiger was for him to stop playing golf. It’s not that I didn’t believe he could play or win again, I actually couldn’t have cared less. I was worried that there wouldn’t even be a Tiger Woods anymore. Because as Rocco Mediate astutely identified: Golf needs Tiger more than Tiger needs golf.

But when I thought he proved us all wrong in September, he really drove the point home at Augusta.

First things first, even if Tiger didn’t win on Sunday, this would have still been one of the best Masters in a long time: A stacked leaderboard, guys hitting shots, making putts, and putting themselves in contention. Tiger had worked his way into the final pairing on Sunday through a little bit of luck. He was tied for second with Tony Finau, two shots behind leader Francesco Molinari after Saturday. The Tournament Committee decided to forgo the usual Sunday twosomes for an early start with groups of three so they would miss the inclement weather predicted in the afternoon. Tiger was in the final group on a Sunday at Augusta yet again. This Masters set itself up perfectly for the story that was about to unfold. The immortal words of Ken Venturi will always ring true: “The Masters does not begin until the back nine on Sunday.”

I watched most of Tiger’s front nine at home, early in the morning. Then, for a majority of his back nine, I looked over shoulders at phone screens and got constant updates from my friends. I made sure I was in front of a TV for Tiger’s 18th hole. A proper viewing of history.

It was surreal, to say the least. To know everything that Tiger has been through and to see him win another major is unbelievable. Besides my parents, Tiger Woods is the reason I play golf. He was the second biggest influence on me as a kid. I had the Frank headcover, the mock turtleneck, the fist pumps, the club twirls. All in imitation of Tiger. To the generation of golfers who grew up when Tiger was dominating, he is our golfing god.

Tiger was asked before the tournament started: “Do you need to win another major or do you want to win another major?”

His answer: “I don’t think I need to win one… but I really want to.”

This answer confirmed what I believed about Tiger after he won the Tour Championship in September:

“…this weekend was enough for me, if it is the last tournament Tiger ever wins. It didn’t need to be a major. Like I said, he has nothing left to prove anyone… except himself. So, if that means winning a major, or breaking Jack’s record, so be it.

But Tiger will strive to do so for himself. And no one else.”

He does not have anything left to prove.

The best moment of this weekend was the 4 minutes immediately before and after Tiger had secured his 15th major. The pure and unabashed emotion that Tiger showed was something we have not seen Tiger do in a long time. He looked like a kid again. He again was that 20-something who lit the golfing world on fire. A Tiger Woods we have not seen much of in recent years. A Tiger filled with unbridled joy, a sense of accomplishment, and just giddy to have bested the field.

We also got to see what Tiger referred to as everything “coming full circle”. He hugged his kids on nearly the same spot where he embraced his dad when he won his first major in 1997, 22 years ago. If that doesn’t make you lose it, I don’t know what will. It is imperative to understand how important Earl Woods is in the narrative of Tiger.

Earl Woods was to Tiger what Tiger was to a whole generation of children who grew up watching golf. A mentor, an idol. It is because of the advice Earl Woods imparted to his son near the end of his life that we saw what we saw this weekend.

‘You play golf for you. If you want to play, play. If you don’t, don’t. It has to come from within. It can’t come from the outside. People pushing you to play or pushing you to not play. It has to come from your center, it has to come from your soul, for you to produce the best golf you can play.’ (Chronicles of a Champion Golfer: Tiger Woods)

What Tiger displayed this weekend came from his center. It came from his soul. It is one of the greatest achievements and moments in sports history. And we are fortunate to have been able to witness it.