The roar on the 18th green at Augusta said it all.
The one from Tiger Woods, after his final putt dropped, signalled a golfer who had climbed back to the top of his game. But the accompanying roar from the crowd was redemption, forgiveness from fans who he, himself, had said he’d let down.
Victory at Augusta and a 15th golf major for Tiger Woods is one of the most extraordinary comebacks in sport, but the superstar has not just had to climb the golf rankings, he’s climbing out of a hole all of his own making.
After his rapid rise to fame, came the shame of a fall from grace few celebrities have ever recovered from – disgraced by a series of revelations about mistresses, infidelity, escorts, and addiction.
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And only a couple of years ago, his body was as trashed by injuries as his reputation. A dinner at the US Masters ended with Tiger jetting off to London that very night to see a specialist.
Last week, the 43-year-old confessed: “I was done at that particular time. I had to get a nerve block just to be able to walk.
“I ended up going to England that night, saw a specialist there, they recommended, unfortunately for me, the only way to get rid of the pain I was living in was to have the spinal fusion surgery.”
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So doctors rebuilt the billion dollar man. Yet those who know Tiger say his heart and soul were put back together by two women – including one who was there to celebrate on the 18th green.
After becoming champion again, Erica Herman, his restaurant manager girlfriend of the past 18 months, was one of the first people he hugged.
Some say the brunette has been chasing him for as long as a decade, despite his previous girlfriends, including Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn, being decidedly blonde.
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But while she was not there to cheer him on and despite betraying her with as many as 120 women, his ex-wife Elin Nordegren is still a central figure in his life as the mother of his children Sam, 11 and 10 year-old Charlie.
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He’d failed as a husband, as a man even, but he must not fail as a father, she told him in no uncertain terms.
An insider said: “The truth of the matter is Elin is behind it all. She said he needed to step up as a father. She’s made it her focus that Tiger should be a better human being for the sake of their kids.”
Those images of Charlie and Sam hugging their dad immediately after Sunday’s victory show he’s done just that. They also echo pictures from more than two decades ago of a young Tiger, embraced by his own proud dad after his first victory at Augusta.
It was Earl Woods who determined Tiger would be a golfer and guided him to becoming the world’s first billionaire player.
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But it was the death from prostate cancer of the former Green Beret and Vietnam veteran in May, 2006, which was the beginning of the end of the first act in Tiger’s dramatic life.
Earl met Tiger’s Thai mum Kultilda on a tour of duty in 1968 and they settled in California, where Tiger was born in 1975. At the age of just two, he was introduced to golf by his dad and it rapidly became his life.
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But it meant Tiger did not enjoy anything like a normal childhood.
On and off the golf course, he practised with his dad, with few friends of his own.
Maybe this explains why, as he became a sporting superstar, many of the stories which came out about Tiger described him as a Peter Pan figure – the boy who never grew up.
He would check into hotels under the pseudonym Logan Howlett – the alter ego of the X-Men’s Wolverine.
At a New York club with Michael Jordan, surrounded by beautiful women, Tiger is said to have asked: “What do you do to talk to girls?”
But young boys also idolise their fathers. “My dad told me I had two paths to choose from,” said Tiger once – either golf or special forces soldier.
And, after Earl died, Tiger explored that other path, regularly visiting US Navy SEALs and training with them, jumping out of planes and pushing his body to the limit.
By then, he already had four green jackets from Augusta, but it seemed he would have traded them for one green beret.
Then, in 2009, his life spiralled out of control. Elin, now 39, suspected Tiger was playing away. So while he was knocked out on painkillers, she called one of his other women – nightclub manager Rachel Uchitel.
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Her fears confirmed, Elin chased Tiger out of the house with a golf club. He got in his car, but crashed into a fire hydrant. The police arrived and the whole murky story unfolded.
Other mistresses soon came out of the woodwork, saying Tiger liked to talk about his childhood and about the grief of losing his dad.
In February, 2010, with his mum in the front row, Tiger made a 15-minute toe-curling public apology.
But he lost Elin, his status in golf and his sponsors, taking refuge in years of therapy.
Even as late as May, 2017, Tiger was arrested for driving under the influence – and a toxicology report cited five different drugs in his system.
The following month, he checked into rehab for addiction to prescription drugs. It was clear Tiger was still lost despite years of therapy.
At rock bottom, mentally and physically, the only way was up for Tiger and it seems that finally it was the combined influence of two women who helped him grow up.
One is Elin. “She’s made him switch his priorities from enjoying a bachelor lifestyle to being committed to his children,” said the insider.
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The other is Erica.
One of Tiger’s few very close friends is US golfer Notah Begay III, who confirmed Peter Pan has finally grown up.
“I just think that he’s really matured over the last few years,” Begay said. “When you’re injured and you’re hurt, and the future is sort of uncertain, you start to ask yourself a variety of different questions.
“And I think he came up with some really great answers and started to put a lot of his time into other things that were of interest to him.
“I think it really helped him develop as a father – and as a friend.”
