Tiger in the hunt on Sunday…there’s nothing like it, period.

***

Etta.

Etta James that is. She’s an incredible woman, with an incredible voice, and was a wildly popular recording artist incredibly long before I was born. She has one song though that has always resonated with me. No matter how old I’ve been, how many adult beverages I’ve had, or what John Feinstein novel I’m lost in…whenever I hear Etta rift the five words, “that Sunday kind of love…” my mind stops, and instantly only one thing that comes to mind…

Tiger on Sunday.

***

One day in 1999 my Dad went to a business dinner and came back with three posters that have hung up in my room at my parents house ever since…

These three posters define my childhood. They define my love affair with basketball, define Vince Carter’s impact on the game in Toronto, Canada where I was born & raised, and define how damn good that 2001 Lakers squad was (Shaq & Kobe, sigh). Before I get too side tracked though, that third one, Tiger fist pumping with a vintage Nike hat and XXL clothes on his wiry, 170lbs frame…defines the impact he had on a generation of golfers, and more importantly defined that Sunday kind of love he inspired.

Even though I was forced to watch at a much younger age, my first real golf fan memories came from 1999. I have vivid memories of Payne Stewart (RIP) shaking Phil Mickleson’s face at Pinehurst like he was Billy Madison telling a kindergartener to never grow up. I have equally vivid memories of telling my Dad “it’s not over yet” as Jean Van de Velde tee’d off on 18 at Carnoustie. Golf didn’t take over my life though until I met Tiger for the first time at the ’99 PGA. I know, I know…the world met Tiger when Jim Nantz (see my eye’s roll) introduced him at the ’97 Masters. In ’97 I’d just turned 8, and was more interested in playing Pogs and searching for that illusive Charmander Pokemon Card…

So I met Tiger in ’99, when he took down Sergio (my 2nd love) at Medinah. The swing, the swagger, the fist pump, I was all in. That’s when the feeling of Tiger in the hunt on Sunday started coercing my veins. Coercing my veins better than any drug you could introduce me to in college or at a Coachella concert, and better than any IV Lance Armstrong’s trainer could hook me up with. From the time I woke up that day, with Tiger at the top of the leader board, I could feel it. The two iron stinger on #3, the stiffed seven iron on #12, and the roped drive on #18…Tiger held off a Sergio scissor kick, never flinched, and did what everyone expected him to from 8AM Thursday. What a rush, I couldn’t get enough.

***

Tiger in the hunt on the back nine on Sunday.

Ever since I was 10 I’ve been chasing the feeling, and locked in whenever the moment came. When I was an impressionable 13 year-old aspiring Tour Pro, walking the golf course in my neighborhood until the wee hours every summer night, I couldn’t get enough of it. Even when I was a sullen teenager, had all but given up playing the game and was far too cool to hit the course with my Dad, I was never too cool for the “Tiger, back nine, Sunday” feeling. From ’00 – ’08 I was spoiled with Tiger Sundays. From Firestone, to Memorial, to Bay Hill, and every major in between, Tiger was giving me that rush weekly. Even that Sunday at Torrey in ’08, Tiger winning the US Open on one leg, and seeing all my none-golfing buddies get hooked in too.

That Tiger Sunday feeling…

Tiger debuted his fused spine in December and looked better than he has since he won five times and came an unlucky bounce off the pin from winning The Masters in ’13. He makes his official return to the PGA Tour this week in San Diego, fresh off glowing comments from none other than Claude Harmon, the son of Butch, who helped mold Tiger’s ’00 swing that inspired that Sunday kinda feeling. Tiger may not be that Tiger, he may not even be close, but the Tiger we saw at the Hero is good enough to contend on Sunday, in any tournament.

Etta James sung it best…”I want that Sunday kinda love”. My favorite thing in golf is “that Sunday kinda love” with Tiger…and beginning this Sunday at Torrey Pines I, and every Tiger fanboy around the world, can finally, finally get it back.

-TH