Woods called on spirit of Seve
SEVE BALLESTEROS hated being called the car-park champion. It was one of the reasons he took such pleasure in sticking it to America in the Ryder Cup. He thought the tag disrespectful. Actually, it was the opposite. Ballesteros’s recovery from near the wheels of a black Ford Cortina at Royal Lytham in 1979 (pictured) was the mark of a true champion. Golf is a game of yardages and precision. Most of the shots professionals play have been calculated and practised a thousand times. It is what they do when out of this comfort zone that reveals their true nature. Ballesteros was a genius around a golf course; so is Tiger Woods. His putt on the ninth green at Augusta was the encapsulation of greatness. Like Ballesteros in the car park, the shot was the result of an error. Woods hit to a dreadful part of the green, 80 feet shy of the pin, putting downhill across two level changes and a sideslope. Each time the ball rolled down towards another small plateau it would gather speed. It looked impossible to control. So this was not the type of putt any professional would have practised, because no professional would envisage ending up in such an alien corner. It would be like practising hacking out from underneath a gorse bush — or from the members’ car park. That stuff isn’t meant to happen. Nobody gave Woods a chance. It was a three-putt for sure. Woods hit it 12 foot. To clarify: the putt travelled much farther, but the momentum from Woods’ putter carried no more than 12 feet. Gravity did the rest. He left it as close as he could, without it dropping. And he played many holes more perfectly than the ninth; but it was what he did to escape from trouble, his improvisation, his feel, that set him apart. Nearly 20 years ago, I sat at the back of the 17th at St Andrews on the third day of the Open, to write a piece about the iconic Road hole and how the professionals dealt with this unique challenge. It was a bad idea. Unless they were in trouble, most came in exactly the same way. Until in the final group, a ball arrived from an entirely different route, took a line that had yet to be explored and ended up just perfect. Tiger Woods. Those moments of inspiration are when you see the man.