Tiger Woods is a far cry from the hotshot who won the duel of a lifetime at Valhalla in 2000 but even with an opening one-over, he’s still the main attraction at the PGA Championship

Half a lifetime ago, Tiger Woods won the legendary match at Valhalla Golf Club. 24 years later he’s back, but Woods is far from the young star who took on journeyman Bob May.

At the 106th PGA Championship, his new Sun Day Red replaced the wide trousers. A goatee has replaced the clean-shaven, fresh face of a 24-year-old. And the youthful energy and finger-pointing have been replaced by a body full of aches and pains.

Yet the sea of ​​spectators lining the fairways to catch a glimpse of the 15-time major winner is just as large – even for a round of one over 72.

Woods may be a lesser threat to the major title compared to the Big Cat chasing the ‘Tiger Slam’ in 2000, but he was still the man everyone wanted to see on Thursday.

The only crowds that could possibly rival the swarm surrounding Woods were those surrounding the groups on either side of him — with hometown hero Justin Thomas and leader Xander Schauffele in front of him and Rory McIlroy behind him.

24 years ago, the 15-time major winner won the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club

The talk surrounding Woods in the lead-up to this week was about the ongoing PGA Tour-PIF negotiations and the Ryder Cup captaincy, but as he stood on the tenth tee – his first hole – next to Adam Scott and Keegan Bradley on Thursday morning, the his and the thousands of fans’ focus was purely on his once great playing and whether he could produce it again.

With a pair of bogeys to negate his lone birdie through his first nine holes, it was largely steady until the crowd was finally rewarded for trudging down Valhalla’s punishing slopes in the sweltering Louisville heat.

On his back nine, Woods looked set for a final reminiscent of his glory days, with birdies on the third and seventh.

Yet earlier in the week he had spoken about a lack of sharpness in his game and it reared its ugly head with unforced errors on the par-three eighth and ninth, the final holes of Woods’ opening round.

Back-to-back three-putts quickly crushed any positive momentum — a story he has become all too familiar with.

It wasn’t the implosion of the third round at Augusta, but it was still pretty unremarkable – nothing compared to the vintage stuff.

Woods finished his round with a pair of unforced errors on the eighth and ninth holes

Back-to-back three-putts quickly crushed any positive momentum from his opening round

The 2000 vintage stuff reached the height of its powers. Woods had arrived in Valhalla seemingly indestructible, on an unstoppable trajectory racing to permanently cement himself as the greatest player in history.

The PGA Championship in Valhalla marked only his fifth major victory, but at that moment it already seemed inevitable that he would overtake Jack Nicklaus.

He recorded victories at the US Open at Pebble Beach and The Open at St. Andrews by a combined winning margin of 23 shots. This year he’s taking a beating from Augusta.

He is now exactly twice as old as he was at the time of the triumph, but his body has experienced much more than just aging.

Natural scandal, multiple injuries, surgeries and a devastating car accident have all left scars on the body of a middle-aged man.

But despite all the wear and tear, 24 years later, he is still a man who still believes he can win. Time and time again, Woods has insisted that he would not enter a tournament unless he believed he could achieve victory.

Woods’ body has gone through a lot more than just aging since his victory at Valhalla in 2000

Six majors into the comeback that began with his miracle Masters in 2022, what could once be seen as admirable grit and determination is starting to taste like madness.

But there’s a small victory in the fact that he’s still pushing. He pushed for the win at Augusta, where Dustin Johnson and Viktor Hovland did not. A month later he tries to do the same thing again.

He probably won’t win again – not the way he did in 2000 – but Woods simply wins every time he plays the match, and so do the fans.

Woods keeps popping up and as long as he does, he will remain the main attraction.