Tiger looks to past to end 11-year hurt

IT WAS in the southern state of Georgia and on a course long associated with Bobby Jones that Tiger Woods returned to the winner’s circle last September for the first time in five years. Now, as he prepares for his 20th Masters as a professional, Woods will seek to draw on what he learned that week at the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta to step up another level and win his first major for more than a decade. ‘It was such an important week for me in my comeback because it proved to me I could win big events again,’ said Tiger. ‘I’d been close at a couple of events and close at a couple of majors but until you actually win you don’t know whether you’re still capable. I led from the first round, and that’s never easy to do. It gave me a lot of belief going forward.’ The intriguing link binding the course where Jones learned to play the game at East Lake to the more illustrious cousin he created 120 miles away at Augusta is their obvious similarities. Both are ‘second-shot’ golf courses, where finding the fairway is the easy bit but finding the right spot on the greens is fraught with difficulty. Both have fast, undulating putting surfaces and both require a gossamer touch around the greens. No wonder, therefore, Woods is gleaning a lot of encouragement from his East Lake triumph when he contemplates what lies ahead this week. The good vibe continued on a practice round last Wednesday, when he breezed round in 65 strokes. ‘I came up mostly to see the changes to the fifth hole (they’ve built a new tee and lengthened it by 40 yards), but it never does any harm if you go on to score well,’ he said, smiling. ‘What always amazes me when they make changes is that you look at them and think they’ve been here for 100 years.’ Now 43, Woods confessed he was surprised he hadn’t won a major since the US Open all the way back in 2008. ‘I wouldn’t have foreseen that after winning my 14th,’ he said. ‘I’ve had my chances, including last year at the Open and the USPGA. I’m hoping there will be a few more.’ Asked about the advantages he had when he won here by 12 shots on his pro debut in 1997 and those he has now, Woods replied: ‘The great thing I had back then was length, the fact I could reach all the par fives with irons for my second shots, and some of them short irons. Now, the thing I have is this vast library in my head as to how to play the course.’ Woods didn’t try to kid anyone as to the better asset: ‘I’d happily take bombing it 50 yards past everyone else and take my chances.’