Tiger’s back on the prowl
Winning Masters would cap amazing comeback
AUGUSTA, Ga. – He’s so big that no one has to refer to him by name at Augusta National. He’s just “he” to thousands of patrons who stream onto the grounds in search of him during practice rounds for the 82nd Masters Tournament. He, if you had to ask, is Tiger Woods. Not even Phil Mickelson or Sergio Garcia or Bubba Watson has achieved “he” status. Though they’re all Masters champions, instantly identifiable by their first names, they’re not he who blots out the sun.
“I haven’t seen the reaction I saw by the crowds on the range to any other player,” said Spanish star Jon Rahm. “As soon as Tiger walked in everybody stood up and started clapping. It doesn’t happen for anybody else.”
Woods hasn’t played in the Masters since 2015 and hasn’t won on the PGA
Tour in 41⁄2 years. When he slipped into his fourth green jacket in 2005, Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas were in grade school. Yet he casts a massive shadow here because of what he has done (14 major titles and 79 victories) and what he may yet do (fill in the blank).
His Masters victory in 1997 ranks among the three or four most important moments in golf history. His victory here in 2001 finished off the “Tiger Slam,” when he became the first man to hold the four major championship titles simultaneously. His victory in 2002 made him only the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles. And victory No. 4, 13 years ago, made us think he’d win a handful more.
It didn’t happen. Or it hasn’t happened, yet. Woods’ life became a train wreck, his body betrayed him and his golf game unraveled all at once, in very public and very painful fashion.
Asked at his pre-tournament news conference about the torrent of criticism he faced and whether he thought it was harsh or unfair, Woods smiled and said, “Yeah, I’m really excited to play the Masters this week.”
I’m not here to make excuses for him. Off the course, he did what he did and he must live with it. But I can tell you, having watched him play parts of two practice rounds here, that the gallery support for him is unfailing, unflinching and unapologetic.
People love comeback stories and should Woods win a fifth Masters title Sunday, not quite one year removed from back fusion surgery, it would rank among the biggest comebacks in sports history. Last year at this time he was in excruciating pain just sitting in a chair at the Masters champions dinner. His fourth back operation, a last-resort fusion of the L5-S1 vertebral segment, saved his career.
“I am a walking miracle,” he wrote on his website.
After being able to compete in just one official tournament in a span of 29 months, Woods has rocketed up 553 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking since Jan. 1, to No. 103. He had chances to win in his last two starts and his swing speed is back in the mid-120 mph range, among the fastest on tour. That’s astonishing. Most importantly, he’s pain-free.
“Anytime Tiger Woods is healthy and in this sort of form, he’s dangerous at any golf tournament,” Rory McIlroy said. “But given his history here, even more so.”
It’s not just the winning, at Augusta National and practically everywhere else, that draws people in. Woods mesmerizes. He has what Mickey Mantle and Arnold Palmer and Michael Jordan had, the quality that blurred everything on the periphery when they had a bat or a club or a basketball in their hands.
There are boards at Augusta National on which the practice round times and pairings are posted. When Woods’ name went up on the board near the second fairway, one woman let out a shriek, whipped out her camera and took a photo. Of Woods’ name on a practice-round board.
Mickelson and Woods, joined at the hip like Nicklaus and Palmer because of their overlapping and brilliant careers, played a nine-hole practice round together Tuesday, their once icy relationship thawed by Father Time. The old adversaries teamed to take down Fred Couples and Thomas Pieters in a friendly match, playing a five-hole stretch in a mind-boggling 7-under par.
Couples suggested that Tiger and Phil could be paired again Sunday, meaning late in the day.
Woods contributed eagles on Nos. 13 and 15, one day after chipping in from behind the green on No. 2 for a quasi-eagle (he’d pulled his drive out of a fairway bunker) that produced a Sunday-in-Amen-Corner type roar. Three eagles in 18 holes? Granted, Augusta National’s set-up goes from friendly on Tuesday to fiendish on Thursday, but consider those eagles warning shots across the bow.
“The game, for him, looks easy,” Mickelson said. “He’s got the shot-making and he’s already hit all these great shots for so many years. What’s surprising is his speed, because I thought with the injuries his speed might not be as great. But some things never change, and I can’t keep it up with him.”
A lot of people are saying this Masters could be among the best ever because of the number of good players in top form.
“There’s a lot of talent in the pool now,” Jason Day said. “There’s not really too many big fish anymore. There’s just a lot of medium-large fish that are just trying to chomp at each other.”
Maybe so. But there’s still a shark, rising from the depths. And his name is not Greg Norman.