David Briggs: As Tiger recovers, golf fans in Toledo are no stranger to a great comeback

Feb. 26—Before we get to Tiger Woods and the path ahead, indulge us on a quick look back.

Golf fans in Toledo are no stranger to a good comeback story.

It was here where another star that seemed larger than life once thrilled the galleries.

Ben Hogan could do no wrong, not in the minds of the tens of thousands who came out each summer for the Inverness Invitational Four-Ball, a seven-round team event that was one of the signature tournaments on the PGA Tour from 1935 to 1952.

Hogan paired with Jimmy Demaret, a bon vivant who was his opposite off the course but the perfect partner on it. With the best-ball format allowing them to cut loose, the big-hitting tandem was damn near unstoppable. Hogan and Demaret won four championships at Inverness, the last of which came in 1948.

That final year, Hogan, then 35, announced with regret that his time in Toledo was coming to an end.

"The little 145-pounder said his reason for quitting the Inverness event was ... he has been bothered with a back ailment," The Blade reported, "and the weekly tournament grind had tended to take more out of him than it returned."

Still, Hogan made sure to go out on top.

He dazzled in his Toledo farewell — he and Demaret won the Inverness Four-Ball by a tournament-record 10 points — and pretty much everywhere else in 1948. Hogan also won the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, confirming that, bum back or not, he had more greatness in him yet.

And he did.

Like no one could have ever believed.

On a foggy morning in February 1949, Hogan was driving down a two-lane Texas highway when his Cadillac collided head-on with a Greyhound bus.

His protective instincts spared his life — he would have been impaled by the steering wheel if he had not thrown himself across his wife at the last moment — but his body was shattered. Hogan sustained a broken ankle and collarbone, a double fracture of his pelvis, and crushed ribs.

Doctors feared he would not walk again.

Sixteen months later, Hogan won the U.S. Open.

Incredibly, he won 11 tournaments after the accident, including six of his nine major championships. Hogan even teamed once more with Demaret — who called his three Masters championships and four titles with Hogan at Inverness the proudest feats of his career — at the 1951 Ryder Cup. They won their match, 5 and 4.

It was all nothing short of a golf miracle.

And a long-winded lead-in to the question that now rivets America.

Will we see the sequel?

As Woods recovers from a terrifying car accident that left his right leg in pieces, it is hard not to evoke Hogan's comeback tale.

Maybe that shouldn't be our first thought (at least after concerns for Tiger's well-being). And maybe, too, the coverage of the crash was a little over the top, befitting of our voracious celebrity culture.

Still, it's OK to root for Woods the golfer, the rare celebrity with the capacity to enthrall and inspire.

Like him or not, think of the emotions Woods stirred at the Masters in 2019.

There was the legend, once broken, personally and, as his body broke down, professionally. Two years earlier, Woods had his fourth back surgery, a spinal fusion that kept him from swinging a club for six months. He wondered if he would play again, let alone capture a 15th major.

Yet he did just that, the man who had it all only to hit bottom electrifying Augusta as he climbed back to the top. It was human drama at its best.

That same year, Woods received the Ben Hogan Award in honor of his comeback. He said: "It's meant a lot to me to receive this award after its namesake. What Mr. Hogan went through, and what he did, what he was able to accomplish post-accident, was truly remarkable."

We'll see what happens.

The parallels between Woods and Hogan are not perfect, of course. Hogan was 36 at the time of his accident. Woods is 45 and coming off a fifth back surgery.

But a bet against Tiger is never a safe one.

Golf has seen miracles before. Here's hoping it will again.

First Published February 25, 2021, 3:23pm