As far as people-watching goes, you could do worse than the third hole at Augusta National. The rope line separating the gallery from the green is to the right of the putting surface, which is also just behind the tee box of the Homeric par-3 fourth. With no sand traps or obstructive trees around, it’s one of the best spots on the course to observe players execute multiple shots.
Late afternoon on a Monday in April 2015, a pair of competitors strolled unexpectedly toward the third pin. One was former Masters champion Mark O’Meara. The other was his friend Tiger Woods. There had been speculation among the patrons that day of whether Tiger, then a rare sight in public, would put in some extra practice after missing the previous year’s tournament—the first time in two decades that he failed to appear. Because Augusta National bans cell phones on the grounds, the only ways to know were through word of mouth or developing a hunch based on the movement of the crowd. “Here comes the thundering horde,” one of my companions quipped, as people began to line the second fairway and trickle toward the third tee box in unusual numbers. Several minutes later, Woods, wearing a blue polo with white stripes, approached our spot off the third green with the old pal he called “Marco.”
Practice rounds are fun for the golfers and crowds alike: The two parties often acknowledge each other with brief small talk, and playing partners shoot the breeze well within hearing distance. But such days at this particular place are showcases for Tiger’s swagger. After finishing up on the third green, O’Meara teed up at the 240-yard par-3 fourth: an unpleasant test, with a boomerang-shaped green guarded by a large, intrusive bunker on the front-right. The pin placement that day was a little beyond the sand—a comically tough spot for tournament golf. O’Meara, lacking the length of younger players, selected a “rescue club” with a thicker club head than a long iron to strike his shot. He caught it clean, and it arced over the trap to what looked like a distance of about 10 feet. It was brilliant, and the gallery reacted accordingly.
Tiger was impressed, as well as motivated to show off. He grabbed a long iron—not the easiest type of club for holding a shot on the green—and striped it. It landed and stopped inside O’Meara’s ball, single-digit feet to the hole. The patrons erupted—and don’t tell them the shot “didn’t count.” O’Meara joked to them about the showmanship, and Woods grinned ear-to-ear. His last four major-championship results had been “did not play,” “did not play,” 69th, and cut. He had battled the well-documented “yips” with his short game, flubbing chip shots in amateurish fashion. Injury, scandal, deteriorating performance: Tiger Woods in 2015 was a star in late-stage decline, and yet he still found comfort at Augusta. Days later he was tied for fifth after three rounds, and he finished tied for 17th. That was the last time he’s played four rounds in a major.
The hype surrounding his return to Augusta this week is a bit much. The odds-makers pegged him co-favorite at 10-to-1 with two-time Masters winner Jordan Spieth, this after going from human-interest story to serious contender in the span of a month. At the outset of 2018, no one—not even Tiger—expected him to reappear on the first page of leaderboards with regularity. It was an accomplishment to make the weekend in January at the Farmers Insurance Open, played at one of his favorite venues, Torrey Pines. But he didn’t make the cut in his next event in mid-February. In the month and a half since, his results have gone from 12th to consecutive top-fives, the first, at the Valspar Championship in early March, flirting with a finish of top-one. The quality of his game is beyond doubt. But it’s based on a limited sample, after several unsuccessful comeback attempts, and he hasn’t won a major in a decade. Continuing to regard Tiger’s reemergence as a pleasant surprise rather than a return to old times is the more reasonable assessment.
Because the old times aren’t coming back—with the depth at the top of men’s golf, they can’t. Nine of the top 11 in the Official World Golf Rankings are, in order: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jon Rahm, Spieth, Hideki Matsuyama, Rory McIlroy, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, and Jason Day. Their ages: 33, 24, 23, 24, 26, 28, 29, 27, and 30. Golf resembles a mixer for young professionals. Tiger is the organizer emailing “Hope to see you there!”
There are, however, a few curious traits of his game recently that stick out. He’s pummeling the ball: Although his driving accuracy continues to be a dreadful deficiency (201st on tour), his average distance exceeds 300 yards. At a long course like Augusta, he won’t lack for power among his younger peers—he just needs to find the short grass. It’d be a big leap for him to do so on short notice.
But if he pulls it off? Well …
Tiger is an undisputed top-10 player right now between the fairway and the green, per PGA Tour stats. He needs to improve the quality of his approach shots (his typical birdie putt length is tour-average), but his ability to make par and even threaten birdie from the rough is still world-class, and his short game is yip-free. His greatest strength, as it often has been in his career, is his putting—there’s an argument that he and his old rival Phil Mickelson are the two best rolling it at the moment. He’s third on tour in putts per round, solid from the 10-to-25-foot distance that comprises most realistic birdie opportunities, and avoiding three-putts.
This resembles the best that Tiger has to offer. And as the calendar would have it, he’s playing this week at the place that brings out his best.
