Hungry Tiger is still the biggest draw for doting Americans
THE breakfast room in the upstairs library in the clubhouse at Augusta National has been as busy as ever this week. On Thursday morning, after he had opened the 2015 US Masters with the ceremonial first tee shot, Arnold Palmer held court at his table. Jack Nicklaus dined nearby.
Yesterday, Ben Crenshaw was there with his family, settling into his place in Augusta history after Friday’s emotional final round at the tournament he won twice. In years to come, when he is no longer a contender, Tiger Woods, whose picture is displayed on a wall with the images of other champions on the ground floor, will sit here, too.
But no one wants to consign Woods to history already. If this week has proved anything, it is that America is not ready to give up on Tiger just yet. That is evident in the swarming galleries that have followed Woods around Augusta this week. It is equally evident in conversations with US television executives.
‘While Tiger is still competing to win golf tournaments, he will always be our horse,’ one television boss said in that library as he prepared to watch Woods’ third-round grudge match with Sergio Garcia yesterday.
‘He is still the most popular guy out there for American viewers. By a distance. By, like 3-1 over anybody else.’
That applies to Jordan Spieth, to Phil Mickelson, to Rickie Fowler and to Rory McIlroy. Even as he struggles to recapture his greatness, even as his game flirts with mediocrity, Woods is still the biggest draw in golf. The game is desperate for him to hang on just a little longer.
It is only a few weeks since Woods’ sporting obituaries were being written as he took a break from golf to try to fix the problems with his short game. Many experts said he had a version of the yips and that, however hard he worked, they would reappear when he came under pressure.
Woods has defied those predictions at Augusta. Even though he began yesterday’s round 12 shots behind runaway leader Spieth, it did not escape anybody’s notice that his halfway score of 172 was the same as that of McIlroy, the man golf has rushed to anoint his successor.
Woods was supposed to be out of the picture by now, leaving the way clear for McIlroy and the new generation. Here at the Masters, Woods has served notice that predictions of his imminent demise may have been premature.
‘I’m still right there,’ Woods said before yesterday’s round. ‘I’m 12 back but there’s not a lot of guys ahead of me. Anything can happen, ’96 proved that.’
It was interesting that Woods tossed in the reference to the 1996 tournament. That was the year of one of the biggest chokes in the history of the Masters when Greg Norman blew a six-shot lead on the final day, allowing Nick Faldo to win his sixth and final major.
Woods may be an elder statesman now but he is not averse to trying to add to the pressure on Spieth. Woods, who will hit 40 later this year, feels as if he’s back. His on-course demeanour changed markedly from Thursday to Friday which is in keeping with the recent phase of a career that seems to lurch from optimism to Armageddon with crazy regularity.
On Thursday, he looked grim and anxious. Much of the time on the course, he looked anguished. He dropped his club in disgust several times. Once, he swung it viciously after a botched iron shot and stared at it as if he wanted to snap it in half. After he bogeyed the first, missing a three-foot putt for par, he stalked off the green wearing the gaze of a man who was in shock.
On Friday, the smiles were back. ‘I’m very proud of what I’ve done, to be able to dig it out the way I have,’ Woods said. ‘I was at a pretty low one in my career but to basically change an entire pattern like that and put it together and put it in a position where I can compete in a major championship, is something I’m pretty proud of.’
Woods’ image has improved this week, too. He played the Par 3 contest here for the first time since 2004 on Wednesday and brought his daughter, Sam, 7, son, Charlie, 6, and girlfriend Lindsey Vonn, along for the fun. America swooned. ‘A kinder, gentler Tiger emerges,’ USA Today’s front page said the next day.
Others were more cynical. The much-respected veteran American golf writer, Dan Jenkins, who fell foul of Woods after penning a rather tame piece of satire about him in the form of a mock-interview, suggested he was suspicious of Woods’ change in behaviour.
‘Tiger and Sergio, who don’t like each other, are paired today,’ Jenkins wrote on Twitter. ‘If Sergio gets a hug, I might be the only one who doesn’t get one this week.’
Most, though, remain in thrall to Woods and the resuscitated dream of a comeback. ‘Hey, Tiger, you’re still my boy,’ a patron yelled out when he spotted Woods outside the clubhouse. Woods did not crack a smile. He just kept walking.