This weary, wounded Tiger is still a winner in every way
IT wasn’t the conclusion Tiger Woods wanted but it also wasn’t the end. If he proved anything across his week at the Masters, it is that he has retained his capacity to amaze well beyond his time as a contender for titles.
This trip was never going to end with another, no matter what he may have told himself. That jacket was always heading for one of the men not yet on the course when he left it at 1.30pm, soaked in sweat and holding an ugly scorecard.
But success can live in many guises and, for Woods, there was triumph to be found in those 77 blows of his closing round. Just as it could be found in the 82 comprising his worst-ever loop of a major on Saturday.
Combined, those numbers left him sitting dead last of those who made the cut, but there was victory in that, too.
Not the sort he would care for. But how many great players didn’t make the cut here?
As a starting point you can list Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland. You can add Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, who both won majors last year. They did not reach the weekend, but Woods did for a record 24th time in succession on these grounds. After everything that has failed in his body, after all the difficulties he has brought on himself, he is still pushing out boundaries.
And that is to be admired, even if his Saturday and Sunday laps were proof that sport loves nothing more than to follow a tickle with a smack in the chops. Again, he won’t see it that way, which is why he signed for 77 and then spoke of his feeling that, maybe, with a few more things going in his favour, he could have matched the 66 shot by Tom Kim.
But that’s a conversation about delusion. Just as it was when he said he could win ahead of the tournament and once more after two rounds. A harmless delusion but a delusion nonetheless. He won’t win again in the way he most cherishes, but he keeps on winning in what he shows in the grind. In how he outsmarted Augusta at its most vicious in the winds on Friday. In how he made it to the finish line of a major for the first time in two long years.
‘It was a good week all around,’ he said. ‘I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time, it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately yesterday it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to.
‘Today the round that Tom is playing [a 66] I thought I had in my system. Unfortunately, I didn’t produce it.
‘I need to keep the motor going, keep the body moving, keep getting stronger, keep progressing.’
Sunday’s 77, taking his final tally to 16 over par, a full 23 behind the mark on which Scottie Scheffler started his final round, was not as poor as it might sound. With 14 pars, it was mainly steady, beyond one almighty mess on the fifth, which he triple-bogeyed when his drive into the trees was declared unplayable. After returning to the tee for a reload he eventually three-putted.
The rest of the loop was fairly nondescript, save for the finale when he came within an inch of chipping in for birdie at the last.
This was not vintage stuff, and yet the mere sight of Woods can lift a day for those around him. That is his place in golf.
Consider the reaction of his final-round playing partner, the 22-year-old college amateur Neal Shipley. He was devastated after closing out Saturday’s round with a double-bogey, only to then learn he would be paired with Woods.
‘When we got here this morning and saw Tiger on the range, it was like: “Oh, my gosh, this is actually happening”,’ he said. ‘It was really cool. Playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week.’
He at least won the day — Shipley’s 71 was six better than that of his partner and he sampled galleries bigger than any that later followed the leaders. Certainly larger than those accompanying Rory McIlroy, whose tournament never came close to igniting. He finished four under after a 73, with the modest claim that it was at least better than the defending champion Jon Rahm. Clocking off at nine over following a closing 76 made for a bleak return.
Playing for far more than pride, 2022 champion Scheffler had commenced his round with Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and the phenomenon Ludvig Aberg all within three shots of his lead at seven under. Tommy Fleetwood was also making a good run, albeit from far back.
Scheffler had shown enough vulnerabilities in
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his third-round 71 to offer hope. While his playing partner, Morikawa, could only par each of the first three holes, Scheffler opened the gap to two with a birdie at three, when he got up and down from a greenside bunker. While that looked ominous for the chasers, there had been signs of frailty. Scheffler had relied on a six-footer for par at the first and also clattered an approach into the crowd on his way to parring the second. His first real mistake came at the fourth when he overshot the green on the par three and missed a 15ft putt for the save. Another bogey came on seven as he shared the lead with Morikawa, Homa and Aberg.
Then came the big move, consecutive birdies at 8, 9 and 10 leaving him two in front again.