Tiger turning on
Jacket certainly is an iconic part of the Masters Tournament. We plan to have a very distinctive award for the winner of this event, and we think in time that will become iconic as well – and the winner is going to be very excited to receive it.”
In 2019, the first two rounds of the 54-hole strokeplay event will take place at the nearby Champions Retreat Golf Club, with the final competitive round at Augusta National on Saturday, April 6. ❑ ONE of Georgia’s regular visitors in Masters week is John Daly, the four-time-married redneck anti-hero who cannot stand the stuffiness of Augusta National, with its rules about what to wear and what to say.
Daly, however, has not played Augusta since 2006. These days he sets up a stall outside the gates of Magnolia Drive in front of a Hooters bar where he make money selling souvenirs.
Unfortunately this year he has a reminder of what could lie ahead with a hell-fire preacher occupying the adjoining pitch loudly urging passers-by to repent the error of their ways. ❑ he insisted there was space in the locker. “Of course there’s room for another jacket and it would be great to see because Tiger’s shown already this year he’s playing well enough to win the Masters,” said Burke. “But then some guy could come up from nowhere, particularly if the poor weather comes in, so there’s no telling you. Knowing Tiger, he will not be thinking on Thursday that he can win, because it’s winning Sunday that matters.” TIGER WOODS was on the practice putting green knocking in one-handed 4ft putts in the fading sunshine.
It was 6.15pm and there were no other players around, just Woods and his caddie Joe LaCava – oh, and a wall of humanity 20 deep behind the ropes, snaking along the walkway and into the far, green distance.
In their thousands, they watched his every move transfixed. It felt quasireligious – the believers and the want-to-believers gathered for the Second Coming.
No golfer of his generation can match Woods for magnetism, and as the countdown clock to today’s Masters comeback has ticked down, his pull has grown stronger than ever.
Perhaps it is the realisation that this is time-limited; that golf should make the most of the man who changed the face of the sport before his body breaks down irrevocably.
We are all suckers for a redemption story and, after all his troubles and travails, when he tees off today the fantastic tale of Woods and his quest for a fifth Green Jacket will draw in millions more around the globe.
The greatest comeback in golf? The greatest comeback in sport? The hype-o-meter will explode if Woods wins.
“I have four rounds to play, so let’s just kind of slow down,” said Woods. “I have had anticipation like this before. If you remember the nine-month build-up from the USPGA of 2000 to the Masters of 2001 and what that tournament would mean – this is the same thing.
“I’ve got to go play and then let the chips fall where they may, and hopefully I end up on top. But I’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then.”
Woods did successfully complete the ‘Tiger Slam’ with the world watching in 2001 and, back in his natural habitat at Augusta after a three-year injury absence, he is AT AUGUSTA on the prowl again. But the landscape is markedly different now. The jungle is filled with big beasts.
Rory McIlroy is rumbling again after his win at the Arnold Palmer Invitational last month, Jordan Spieth, whose record at Augusta is borderline certifiable, played himself into form with third place at Houston last week.
Past champions Phil Mickelson and Bubba Watson have also been in the winners’ circle already this season, while defending champion Sergio Garcia has posted three top-10 finishes in his past three events.
Can a 42-year-old ranked 202nd in the driving statistics on the PGA Tour really hope to eclipse them after four back operations? “He loves this golf course and I am pretty sure he has worked these last two weeks trying to prepare for this. I wouldn’t be surprised if he is contention come Sunday,” said two-time winner Jose Maria Olazabal.
“Sometimes you need something special to win but, knowing Tiger, his determination will be as big and as high as anyone else.
“I’ve always said that if he is completely pain-free, with his mental strength, I didn’t have any doubt that he would be competing to win more events – and Major events too.”
Competing yes; winning? The unknown is how the great closer will cope should he be part of the picture as the tournament reaches its conclusion on Sunday.
It seems a strange question to ask given his anaesthetist’s touch with his rivals when he was in his prime. But that was then, this is now.
On the two occasions he has been in contention since his return, the conclusion did not go to plan. He pulled his tee shot out of bounds at the 16th at Bay Hill, vaporising his chances, after having failed to deliver the pinpoint approach shot he needed when it mattered at the last hole of the Valspar Championship, leaving him one shot adrift of winner Paul Casey.
Still, if Woods is even part of the picture in what is set up to be the most compelling of Masters, the power stations in Georgia can take the afternoon off. Augusta National will have its own electricity supply. “All these young guys have never seen what it is like,” said Casey. “I want those younger guys like Rory and Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler and Spieth to experience that. It would be fantastic.
“We have all seen that and it was amazing, but if he is competing on the back nine on Sunday this time, it will be an atmosphere greater than we have ever seen.”