In the eye of the Tiger
Masters champion Tiger Woods at Augusta National Golf Club
The member in the green jacket said he’d see his friends later.
“I’m waiting for the man,” he said and stood to the side outside the Trophy Room, the main exit from the Augusta National clubhouse.
A camera crew stood at the ready and a few minutes later the door opened and Tiger Woods burst out into the dappled sunshine and made a determined beeline for the putting green and his 100th round in the Masters.
He emerged like a prize fighter, not a five-time champion looking to saunter around Augusta National on Masters Sunday alongside the hulking figure of US Amateur runner-up Neal Shipley, who would later play his part in the green jacket ceremony in Butler Cabin as the leading amateur. Shipley had double-bogeyed his final hole on Saturday night to card an 80. But it was a score that came with a silver lining.
“We went quickly to the practice facility to get some work in,” he said after he’d shot 73 to Woods’ 77 to officially finish as the leading amateur on 12-over 300.
“My caddie came up to me and said, ‘Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?’
“I was just like, ‘No way it's Tiger.’
“And he said, ‘Yeah.’
“I got pretty excited, and that's when the emotions turned around.”
Five years have passed since Woods won his fifth green jacket and while he was only making up the numbers after carding an 82, his highest Masters score, he moved like a man going for jacket number six.
“He told me that he woke up at like 3:45 this morning just to get ready for the day, which is -- I got about three hours more sleep than him,” Shipley said
“He's really grinding and making a big commitment to be out here for everyone. It's awesome to see the Patrons really appreciative of him and really enjoy having him out here.”
Woods was greeted like a god on every tee and every green.
Dressed in Sunday red and black, he finished on 16-over-par having claimed his personal victory by making the cut for the 24th time in a row on Friday, surpassing the record held by Gary Player and Fred Couples.
For a man who had played just 24 holes of golf, it was another historic achievement for the 48-year-old Californian, who still managed to wind back the clock and treat the Patrons to some vintage shot-making.
The roars as his eagle putt tracked towards the hole on the second were something to behold and while he bogeyed the third and lost a ball from the tee at the seventh, running up a triple bogey, he never once looked like a man going through the motions.
He headed through Amen Corner like a conquering hero and played textbook golf from the second shot on the 11th to the tee shot on the 13th, executing each one top perfection to set up stress-free pars.
At the 14th, he pinged the flagstick from 147 yards and while he took six at the 15th, overcooking his third, he almost. reproduced his “In your life” pitch at the 16th.
This time he was in sand rather than on fairway grass but with no green to work with he splashed out beyond the flag and watched it climb the slope, then stop and roll back towards the cup for a tap in par.
He topped it all off by shaving the hole with his birdie chip at the 18th before striding through a tunnel of roaring fans to sign for his 77.
A huge media contingent awaited him, keen to hear his thoughts on the recent meeting with PIF governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan in the Bahamas and his plans for the remaining majors.
“Tiger, it's remarkable how you can be competitive for a couple of days without any reps. How can you turn two rounds into four moving forward?”
“Well, this is a golf course I knew going into it, so I'm going to do my homework going forward at Pinehurst, Valhalla and Troon, but that's kind of the game plan.
“It's always nice coming back here because I know the golf course, I know how to play it. I can kind of simulate shots. Granted, it's never quite the same as getting out here and doing it.
“Same thing, I heard there's some changes at the next couple sites. So got to get up there early and check them out.”
Sweat was pouring off Woods in rivulets, rilling down his cheeks and around his chin.
What will be the challenge to get ready for Valhalla, if that's the next one?
“Well, just keep lifting, keep the motor going, keep the body moving, keep getting stronger, keep progressing,” he said. “Hopefully the practice sessions will keep getting longer.”
As for the Bahamas, he had little to say.
“I don't know if we're closer (to a deal), but certainly we're headed in the right direction,” he said. "That was a very positive meeting, and I think both sides came away from the meeting feeling positive.”
He was proud of the way he fought through the wind on Thursday and Friday to create yet another Masters memory and while he didn’t get that sixth jacket, he was at peace.
“It was a good week,” he said. “It was a good week all around. 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.”
As he looked at the leaderboard, Tom Kim was en route to a closing 66.
“Today the round that I -- the way that Tom is playing I thought I had in my system,” he said. “Unfortunately, I didn't produce it.”
And he was off, 100 not out.
