TIGER’S ON THE PROWL

Woods grinds in Masters return

AUGUSTA. Ga. — Around the practice green they waited. And waited.

Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, appeared first. Observers noticed that LaCava, who lives in Connecticut, had a New York Rangers T-shirt under his white caddie uniform. “Last-place-Ran-gers,” a man chanted, ever so softly. Then Woods emerged, a dashing figure dressed entirely in black, save for the white Swooshes.

Expressionless, he dropped two balls on the green and then toweled off his putter grip.

A man noticed that, as he strolled to the back of the green, Woods walked in the putting lines of his playing partners, Marc Leishman and Tommy Fleetwood.

“He doesn’t give a (damn),” the man said.

The man then debated whether to try to snake his way to the first tee.

“If you want to see him tee off, you better be 7½ feet tall,” one fan responded. “It’s 40 people deep.”

Indeed, if you want a close-up of Woods on the first hole, you walk up the left side of the fairway. If you can pace it off, go about 285 yards.

Former instructor Hank Haney wrote a book about Woods called, “The Big Miss,” and Woods’ big miss on No. 1 always goes left. Sometimes it hooks enough to end up in the ninth fairway.

He pulled his drive Thursday, and the ball bounced and then … “It’s coming for us!” one man hollered. “Oh, my God!” another said. It settled in the pine straw, its “B” Bridgestone logo visible. Within seconds, several marshals in green jackets (not those green jackets) knifed through the gallery. “Everyone will need to move back six to eight feet,” one said.

“Move way back, folks,” he said, using the two-handed pass-interference signal we see on football weekends.

Fans were giddy over their good fortune, a potential interaction with Woods, playing in his first Masters since 2015. Woods arrived but said nothing to the crowd, completely focused on the next shot.

LaCava told Woods he had “46” to the front, meaning 146 yards. Woods would have to hook his ball, off the pine straw, to an uphill green.

“Nice and still, please,” LaCava said as Woods took practice swings.

Considering the circumstances, the shot was sensational. No. 1 often plays as the hardest par-4 on the course, and every jittery player just wants to make a par on the first hole of the season’s first major. Woods’ shot bounced up to the front fringe, and he twoputted for par.

He later joked about his poor drive on No. 1: “Hit a little fade up the left side. It didn’t fade.”

The hole reflected a meandering day for Woods, who hit eight fairways (meh), 11 greens in regulation (more meh) and shot a pedestrian 1-over 73.

The fans were eager to show their affection for Woods, but he gave them little to work with. His reactions to his three birdies were muted.

“The crowds have been incredible,” he said. “It’s been awesome this entire comeback. I got a standing ovation on the range. Coming up to the first tee, the people come out of the clubhouse and the putting green. They’re really into it.”

Years from now, Stewart Spinks likely won’t recall Woods’ score. But he’ll remember how Woods’ ball glanced off his shoulder. “My bad shoulder,” he joked. “I have kinesiology tape all over it.”

Spinks, the chairman of a chain of convenience stores in South Carolina called Spinx, has been coming to the Masters since 1960, when he worked in the scoreboards as a 13-yearold. “I grew up here,” he said. “It’s a thrill to see Tiger playing. We all love him.”

I asked why. “I grew up in a segregated world — no integration,” he said. “I went to the University of Tennessee on a football scholarship. I never played with a black athlete; I never got to see the talent. It’s wonderful to see the world change to appreciate people of all color. That’s a world my parents didn’t know.”