A Tiger tale

I get accused just about every day of being biased.

Here's a confession: It's true.

I'm an unabashed Tiger Woods fan.

Yes, I know he has issues. Don't we all?

But to be back at the top of his game, as Tiger has been these last couple of months, after where he's been, and the injuries, including several back surgeries, he's struggled through, only made me that much more of a fan.

I'be a Tiger guy from way back.

To me, Tiger IS golf. Every guy on the PGA tour should take a knee to him - not as a sign of protest of the National Anthem - but because they all the make the money they do because of him.

For years, golf was golf.

Then Tiger came along. Suddenly golf became an event, Sunday afternoon drama at times unmatched in sports.

No one was happier than I was last Thursday when my man scorched Aronimink Golf Club in Newtown Square, tying the course record in the opening round of the BMW Championship with a blistering 62.

As it turned out, he had company. Rory McIlroy joined him atop the leaderboard with an equally impressive 62.

As they invariably do, the tumblers in my head start clicking, thinking about possible front pages as Tiger mania swept across Delco. I had already featured him on the front page of our Sunday preview of the tournament, and what his presence meant to the county in terms of tourism.

I can sum it up in two words: Big Bucks.

Look, I'm a golf nut. I will likely be in front of the TV Sunday afternoon watching the PGA.

But when the guy in the red shirt is on the leaderboard, Sunday becomes different. It's not golf; it's an event.

Unfortunately, as has proven so many times this year, it was not to be.

My plans for a Monday front page hailing Tiger's return to the winner's circle got derailed.

Actually, the tournament didn't even finish Sunday. It got washed out.

The final round was completed Monday. Tiger shot a sizzling 65 but still finished three shots back.

After leading most of the round, Justin Rose, who I was going to nickname Captain Philadelphia if he managed to follow up his U.S. Open win at Merion with a title at Aronimink, missed a par putt on 18 to fall into a tie with Keegan Bradley.

Rose bogeyed the playoff hole, while Bradley parred to take the BMW Championship.

Me? I'm still waiting for Tiger to win again.

I know he will do it.

I just wish he had done it in Delco.

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