TIGER’S on the PROWL
Woods wants to show kids his best
THE two biggest names in golf could hardly have done more to add to the anticipation surrounding this week’s 83rd edition of the Masters.
Tiger Woods signed off the last major championship season with a stunning final-round 64 for second place at the US PGA, carrying with it the promise that this year he could progress one step further in his remarkable comeback and add to his tally of 14.
Rory McIlroy heads to Augusta for his latest tilt at the career Grand Slam with the PGA Tour’s flagship title to his name and as the first man since Tiger in 2000 to notch seven top-10 finishes before April 1. No wonder Paul McGinley believes he is in the form of his life.
As if we ever needed any encouragement for the appetite to be whetted, therefore, now the eight- month long major wait is almost behind us, Tiger and Rory have done their bit.
The pair have been practising alongside one another at the Bear’s Club in Florida, preparing for the new, truncated majors campaign where nearly all their hopes and ambitions for the 2019 season lie in what happens over the next 14 weeks.
Woods is third favourite for Augusta, which is some ranking for a man who is 43, been putting erratically, last won the Masters in 2005, or any major in 2008. When he returned to golf 15 months ago, there was a mischievous glint in his eye as he made a resonant declaration: ‘ I want to give the current generation a taste of what it was like for the guys in the past.’
So far, we have had tantalising glimpses. He loved stomping all over Rory to win the Tour Championship in Atlanta last September for his 80th PGA Tour title. He was at it again at the WGC- Match Play Championship last weekend.
At the Open at Carnoustie last year, he hit the front with eight holes to go, only to show that even Tiger feels the heat on Sunday afternoon when he has not been there for a while.
A month later, at the US PGA, there was nothing wrong with his nerve or his putting stroke. He shot the third lowest 72-hole score in the history of the event. He was just unlucky that Brooks Koepka was in one of his imperious moods and shot the lowest.
Will that prove as close as he gets to winning another major, or does his recovery still have one more astounding leap to come? One thing is for sure, he could not ask for a better set of venues than the starry quartet over the next three months, where he gets to tour the scenes of some of his greatest hits.
Bethpage, the Long Island beast hosting the US PGA in May, was where he won the US Open in 2002. The US Open in June, meanwhile, will be staged at Pebble Beach, the scene of unquestionably the finest major performance in history, when Tiger won by 15 strokes in 2000. Golfers like nothing better than to play courses where they feel comfortable and Woods will begin with his 20th Masters as a pro at Augusta, where he has also won four times.
One thing on his side is the fact that no member of the current world top 10 — Woods is 12th — knows what it is like to win the Green Jacket. Four of them — Koepka, Justin Thomas, Bryson DeChambeau and Xander Schauffele — have been struggling for form over the past month.
Of the rest, world No 2 Justin Rose might be the best bet to end the freakish anomaly. After all, in 13 appearances at Augusta, he has done practically everything else bar win. He has led after the first, second and third rounds and even been tied for the lead after 72 holes, only to lose out to Sergio Garcia in that play-off two years ago.
Rose has never finished outside the top 40 and only once since 2011 — in 2013, when he finished tied 25th — has he been placed outside the top 15. It is hard to imagine, therefore, that he will not be part of the narrative once more.
Like an athlete aiming to peak for a certain race, Rose has taken a back seat recently with the aim of being right for Augusta. After winning in California in January he took a month off, even though he knew it would mean he would lose his world No 1 ranking. The bigger picture was to make sure the batteries were fully charged come the second weekend in April.
With two wins already this season, world No 1 Dustin Johnson will begin as one of the favourites. Like McIlroy, much will depend on whether he can hole enough putts. There is a reason why he has reached the age of 34 with all that talent but just one major to his name.
The UK’s hopes are not confined to Rose and McIlroy. Paul Casey will be the quiet fancy of many after successfully defending his Valspar title in Florida last month and he is another with a fine Masters record. Do not discount Tommy Fleetwood either.
The stage is set once more, therefore, and the weather forecast looks perfect for the sort of Masters we all cherish. Following the 83rd edition, we could be marvelling at McIlroy joining the immortals or Woods underlining the marvels of modern medicine and his strength of will. A rare win for an Englishman, perhaps, or another victory for a relative outsider.
This is the fascination of the modern game, where there are no certainties. The fact it will all unfold on the most beautiful inland course in the world and one of the most revered cathedrals in sport, completes the picture.