When I was a kid, I grew up down the road from my grandpa who was a farmer. He owned a cow farm with over 30 cows, a donkey, and a bull and I remember helping him with everyday things with my dad. Feeding the cows, milking them, feeding the donkey and worst of all, bailing hay.

Now, granted I was young and I didn’t contribute too much but I remember how hard the work was. I also remember the impact it had on my grandpa and even my dad, as they got older.

After bailing hay for an entire day it wasn’t uncommon for them to lie down on the couch and rest for the entire evening. The impact of the grueling work of being a farmer was hard to watch, especially because I was in no real position to help.

As my grandpa got older and older I remember him having a harder and harder time doing the everyday tasks involved with being a farmer. But he was a strong and stubborn man so it was really hard my family to convince him when it was time to stop. Some may say he farmed way past the age he should have because he didn’t know any other life.

These past few years I’ve been having flashbacks as I watch Tiger Woods attempt to defeat father time in a fight in which we all unfortunately know he’s losing.

I want Tiger to be the old Tiger just like everyone else. But, at this point, it’s difficult to watch.

Tiger Woods is the father of modern day golf. There was Gary Player, Sam Snead, Greg Norman and Ben Hogan whom all paved the way for golf to be what it is today. There was of course the king himself Arnold Palmer who will forever go down as one of the most amazing golfers and people of all time. Jack Nicklaus, who holds the most major victories of all time, is thought by many to be the greatest golfer ever, and that might be true.

But they were pioneers, all paving the way for Tiger.

There has never been another athlete who has done for their sport what Tiger Woods has done for golf. He made golf relevant, he made it cool and most importantly he made golf a universal sport for everyone.

What was once a stereotypical golf clap turned into the roar of a Michigan crowd in Ann Arbor on a Saturday night against Ohio State.

Golf was special with Tiger, not that it isn’t special now, but it was a spectacle unlike anything else in sports.

There have been very few athletes that people universally have tuned into see. Tiger Woods was one of those athletes.

Tiger didn’t turn out to be the person we all wanted him to be and yeah, that sucks. At this point we’ve accepted who Tiger Woods is as a person, we’ve accepted who he is as a golfer, and now we have to accept that he might very well be done.

That’s what makes this so hard on Tiger fans and sports fans all over the world. Tiger Woods is the father of modern day golf, which makes it so difficult to see him go through this. Every time we get a glimpse of hope, something happens and he’s back in therapy or in the hospital.

Every time this happens I go back to grandpa. I remember how long it took him to realize that his farming days were over, and trying to delay the fact that he had to retire helped no one. Farming was all my grandpa knew just like golf is all that Tiger has known.

I was going to put a picture of Tiger in this article of when he fell down to all fours after he hit a 3-wood off the fairway in 2014, but I couldn’t because it’s so hard to look at. So, instead I’ll give you this picture that was taken not too long ago in December and gives us yet another glimpse of hope and also reminds us of the happier times.

I don’t want Tiger to retire. In fact why not have him win four more majors, heck give him five more. But I also wanted my grandpa to farm forever so I could actually help him as I got older. The inescapable fact is that it might be time.

We probably haven’t seen the last of him. There is acutally a high probability that we see him again this year. But can he still compete and to what extent? He did show some promise in December at the Hero World Cahmpionship where he finished 15th at -4. But after that he missed the cut at Farmers Insurance Open and withdrew after the first round at the Omega Dubai Dessert Classic.

So don’t be suprised if we see him again this year, but recent history suggests it won’t end well. Nevertheless, we will all watch because it gives us hope that he will be back and better than ever. Which, is why it is so difficult to watch when we see the physical agony he endures everyday trying to be the golfer he once was.

Tiger Woods is 41, going on 71. The physical pressure he put on himself in his prime has caught up to him.

Father time is undefeated, we know that. And it seems like Tiger Woods is trying to avoid the inevitable by stringing us and himself along a thin microscopic thread of hope.

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