Profile: Tiger Woods returns to familiar turf as a changed man

After years of injuries and accidents, and fighting his own personal demons, the superstar golfer is back, looking once more for redemption

Tiger Woods shook golf to its core when he emerged as a young superstar in the mid-1990s. Illustration: Peter Hanan

It remains one of the seminal images in golf history. It’s 1997 and Tiger Woods, at the age of 21 the youngest ever winner of the Masters tournament at Augusta National Golf Club, sinks his final putt to not merely win, but to finish streaks ahead of the rest of the field.

His father Earl, who has just had major heart surgery, hauls himself out onto the course to enjoy the moment. Woods strides purposefully ...