Tiger Woods and 12 more of the best sporting comebacks in history
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Tiger Woods and 12 more of the best sporting comebacks in history
There is absolutely no doubt, Tiger Woods’s Tour Championship victory in Atlantic was special. Very special in fact. After all, his fall from World No.1 to outside the top 1000 had been well documented.
Woods had gone five long years without a win, had personal scandals and suffered with a number of injuries that culminated in him undergoing a fourth major back surgery last year.
At the time it was thought the 14-time major champion’s career was all but over. But Tiger was determined to prove the doubters wrong. It had been an impressive season leading up to the Tour Championship finale on Sunday, and it felt just like old times as he completed a wire to wire victory to claim his 80th PGA Tour title.
It’s an amazing turn of fortunes and here we look at other sporting superstars, individuals and teams, who have delivered the goods when all seemed lost…
GOLF
Ben Hogan was not only one of the best players the game has ever seen, he is also one of the most courageous. In 1949, aged 36, Hogan and his wife were in a head-on car collision with a bus and Hogan suffered a broken clavical, a complex double fracture of the pelvis, a fractured left ankle, broken ribs and facial injuries.
Doctors doubted whether he would walk again, never mind play golf while in hospital he nearly died from blood clots. Hogan though was determined to battle on and returned to the tour in 1950, capturing the US Open at Merion while the following year won both the Masters and the US Open. Hogan won nine majors in his career, six after the car crash.
BOXING
The one and only Muhammed Ali made a few comebacks during his glittering career but his finest moment surely came in 1974 when he disposed of defending champion George Foreman in the ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in Zaire. Ali went toe to toe with a bigger, younger man thought to be unbeatable, but used great guile, skill, heart, courage – and yes some psychology – to break Foreman and knock him out in.round eight.
MOTOR RACING
Widely regarded as the greatest Formula One driver of all-time, three-times world champion Austrian Niki Lauda cheated death but suffered severe burns following a crash at the 1976 German Gran Prix at the Nurburgring. Despite the severity of his injuries inflicted in the near-fatal crash, he was in action six weeks later in the Italian GP and clinched his third world championship in 1984, finally retiring a year later.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
New England Patriots’ ninth Superbowl appearance in 2017 wasn’t going well against Atlanta Falcons who were seemingly cruising it at 28-3. Inspired by the legendary Tom Brady, Patriots hit back, overcame a 25-point deficit to take the game to overtime before eventually running out 34-28 victors. Previously no side had overcome more than a ten-point Superbowl deficit and it was the first overtime game in Super Bowl history.
TENNIS
Nearly three years after being stabbed in the back by a crazed spectator court-side in Hamburg, Germany, in 2013, Monica Seles displayed amazing guts and courage to not only get back on-court but achieve her fourth Australian Open title in 2016, defeating Anke Huber in straight sets in the final.
HORSE RACING
Jockey Bob Champion conquered cancer to win a tear-jerking Grand National – the world’s toughest steeplechase – in 1981 on crippled racehorse Aldaniti. The moving 1984 film ‘Champions’ based on the jockey’s life and times, good and bad, was equally tear-jerking. Asked about his biggest achievements, Champion declared: “Beating cancer – I didn’t want to die.” The Bob Champion Cancer Trust has raised £15m.
GOLF
J B Holmes was a chief source of inspiration to US teammates he lined up alongside in the 2016 Ryder Cup at Hazeltine after undergoing life-threatening brain surgery just five years earlier. Holmes was determined to win the biggest battle of his life and, sure enough, he returned to the Tour in early 2012. Besides that victorious Ryder Cup at Hazeltine, he’s celebrated two Tour wins and reached the top 20 in the 2015 World rankings. “I’m still living the dream,” he says.
FOOTBALL
Paris St Germain were well on course for their first Champions League victory in 2017. They hammered quarter-final opponents Barcelona 4-0 in their home 1st-leg and were seemingly cruising in the return at the Nou Camp. However, Barca astonishingly progressed thanks to a 6-1 scoreline with three of the goals coming from the 88th minute onwards, the vital tie-clinching sixth coming in the 95th minute!
FOOTBALL
It was the 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul and Liverpool, bidding for their fifth European crown, looked to be dead and buried at half-time as they trailed AC Milan 3-0. But three goals in a devastating six-minutes second-half burst saw them force extra-time and seal an unforgettable night by winning the penalty shoot-out.
GOLF
Surely it was all over bar the shouting? America went into the Sunday singles at the 2012 Ryder Cup at Medinah with an unassailable 10-4 lead. Or that’s what most people thought anyway but not Jose Maria Olazabal’s side. They silenced the shellshocked home crowd, staged a stunning recovery with Martin Kaymer sinking the putt that saw the cup remain in Europe and created the ‘Miracle of Medinah.’
CRICKET
England looked incapable of stopping Australia from going 2-0 up in the 1981 Ashes series at Headingley….until all-rounder but Ian Botham and paceman Bob Willis entered the fray. ‘Beefy’ smashed 149 to make the Aussies bat again and Willis sent the tourists packing by returning 8-43 to clinch an unbelievable 18-run victory which inspired a 3-1 Ashes triumph.
SNOOKER
Genial Irishman Dennis Taylor was getting thumped 8-0 by red-hot favourite Steve Davis in the 1985 World Championship final at the Crucible but displayed true grit to level things at 17 frames apiece and take it to a final frame decider. Taylor triumphed by sinking the final black….
