Tiger follows in Jack’s footsteps
Here’s a spooky coincidence. In 1986, the supposedly washed- up J ack Nicklaus, ranked 33rd in the world, claimed his sixth green jacket, 23 years after he won his first.
At the 84th Masters yesterday, the supposedly washed-up Tiger Woods, ranked 33rd in the world, began his quest for a sixth green jacket, 23 years after his first.
Is there any point at which the careers of the two greatest players isn’t inextricably linked?
As Tiger wandered to the 10th tee, some 20 minutes after Bryson DeChambeau began his quest, we had another inconceivable ‘first’ in this year full of them.
When Woods tapped in for his win last year, imagine someone saying to you that he would begin his defence with half the watching audience of Bryson?
Indeed, this must have been the first time since Tiger won this event by 12 strokes on his debut in 1997 that someone else in a major played in America attracted more interest.
Not that Tiger was alone. About 100 people comprising media, volunteers and interested parties kept him company down the steeply downhill fairway, where he followed an ideal three wood with a terrible iron approach.
‘Must have got a mud ball,’ said a member of his coterie. Doesn’t Tiger j ust hit bad shots now and then?
A feature of his stellar Augusta career, however, is that he has always known where to miss the greens, the spots that give him the best chance of recovery.
Here he played a beautiful chip to tap-in range for a par. You take that at any time on the 10th, and particularly when it’s your first hole.
similarly the 11th, where Woods struck two beauties to 20 feet below the hole and two putted.
What must have been going through his head at the 12th, the hole where it all unfolded in his favour last year?
No grandstands this time. No manic cheering as he went through his pre- shot routine. As the ball landed, he looked a little anxious, worried that it would spin back into rae’s Creek. ‘ Fringe,’ he called with relief to his caddy Joey LaCava, as the ball came to rest on the edge of the green.
At the 13th, he registered his first birdie with two lovely shots into the middle of the green at this neutered par five.
This was proving the ideal start, a world away from the Tiger we’ve seen so far this year, with no top 35 finishes i n seven starts since February. Twas ever thus at this place for him.
Wh a t was particularly encouraging was his sure touch on the greens. At the 14th, where the slopes are positively elephantine, he got down in t wo f r om long range.
At the par five 15th, he was over the back of the green but again got down in two, chipping to 10ft and holing the putt. A par at the 18th and, at three under, he’d matched his best opening nine in relation to par in his entire Augusta career.
On his back nine, he continued to hit one solid shot after another.
The scorecard might show Tiger finished with eight straight pars but they were fashioned with the minimum of fuss or stress.
‘I’m happy with every facet of my game,’ he said ominously.
‘It’s about experience, a sense of ease coming here. I understand how to play this course and I think I showed that.’
At his f i nal hole, one more beautifully crafted approach left him with a 10ft birdie putt to shoot the lowest opening round of his Masters career.
He grimaced as it slipped just by, perhaps aware of the significance. It was a small disappointment on a day filled with promise.
Washed-up? At Augusta National, it never pays to write off Tiger, just as it never did with Jack.