Page 18 - AT

A18
Wednesday 4 december 2019

Joke as

playing

captain Ball

turns into

reality HaWks

for tiger

By DOUG FERGUSON
AP Golf Writer
NASSAU, Bahamas (AP) —
Tiger Woods meant it as a
joke. And it was accompa-
nied by laughter.
Woods was introduced as
U.S. captain for the Presi-
dents Cup in Australia on
March 13, 2018, and the
first question was whether
he considered being a
playing captain.
"Yes, I have," Woods said. Seattle Seahawks sit at
The laughter that followed
that day at Bay Hill could first place in the NFC West
have been interpreted two
ways.
His answer was quick and
short, no elaboration nec- Seattle Seahawks' Jason Myers (5) kicks a field
essary, because a guy who goal against the Minnesota Vikings during the
dominated golf like no one second half of an NFL football game, Monday,
else had never considered Dec. 2, 2019, in Seattle.
himself anything but a
player. Associated Press
Or maybe it was sim- Page 20
ply laughable to think of
Woods playing in team
matches again.
At the time, it had been
four years and five months
since he played on his last
team, the 2013 Presidents
Cup at Muirfield Village.
He had gone through four
back surgeries since then,
limiting him to only six tour-
naments in the previous
two years. And only five
months earlier, when he
was a vice captain at the
Presidents Cup, he said he
could envision a scenario
where he never competed
again.
"It was a joke," Woods said
Tuesday at the Hero World
Challenge, smiling at the
memory. "But it turned into
reality. Here we are."
That now seems so long
ago.

Continued on Page 23