The accolades keep coming for Tiger Woods. His comeback at the Masters in April, where he won his 15th major and first since the 2008 U.S. Open, was named the 2019 Associated Press Sports Story of the Year.
“A green jacket. A heart-melting embrace. A stirring return to the top of golf by one of the sport’s all-time greats,” wrote the AP’s Eddie Pells in summarizing why the victory by Woods topped the likes of the U.S. women’s soccer team’s victory at the World Cup.
The balloters consisted of a mix of AP member sports editors and AP beat writers.
“Voters went with the uplifting escape of a great comeback over options that were as much about sports as the issues that enveloped them in 2019: politics, money and the growing push for equal pay and equal rights for women,” the AP wrote.
Other top stories included: titles won by the Toronto Raptors, Washington Nationals and the University of Virginia basketball team; the blown call that cost the New Orleans Saints a chance at the Super Bowl; a California law that threatens to upend the NCAA; and Simone Biles’ dominance at gymnastics’ world championships.
But none could match the way Woods climbed back to the top of the game with his fifth green jacket and the moving moment when he came off 18 at Augusta National and hugged his son, Charlie, and daughter, Sam.
“In a sports year dominated by weightier topics, Woods at the Masters stood out – a comeback story that left people smiling at the end,” Pells wrote.
