It was just before 8am and Tiger Woods stood in shafts of glinting early morning sunlight at the foot of the slope that leads up to the 14th green at Augusta National.
He bumped a chip up towards the putting surface and watched it roll 22ft past the hole. He judged the line of his par putt perfectly but left it a foot short. He stared sullenly at his ball.
The pain in the limbs and the joints of Woods’s body, a body ravaged by time, misadventure and the relentless pursuit of greatness is at its worst after dawn and he thrust his hands deep into his pockets as he walked towards the 15th tee, his expression set and grim. People called out words of encouragement but he did not seem to hear.
This was the start of Tiger Woods’s longest day, a day when the weather, the fates and The Masters tee times had conspired to bequeath to this generation’s greatest golfer, a man held together by metal rods and spinal fusion surgery and ankle fusion surgery, the physical challenge of playing 23 holes before the end of the afternoon.
Tiger Woods’ longest day at Augusta National was a struggle between light and darkness
Woods played 23 holes on Friday after his first round was cut short by bad light on Thursday
But what the five-time Masters winner is doing at Augusta this week has been remarkable
He may have played more holes in 24 hours when he was younger but not since he nearly lost a leg in a car crash in the hills above Los Angeles in 2021, an accident, caused by his own driving, that left him in so much pain that he was forced to withdraw from The Masters midway through the third round last year.
There was a delay on the 15th tee while Woods and his playing partners, Jason Day and Max Homa, waited for the group in front to move out of their range and Day tried to engage Woods in conversation. Woods responded but he did not look particularly enthusiastic about the exchange. It would be fair to say that Day did most of the talking.
Then they hit their drives and Woods smote his between the two lines of pines that formed a corridor leading away from the tee. The brilliant white ball soared into the air against the clear blue sky and came to rest in the middle of the lush green fairway, as the crowd roared and a father moved his son closer to where the five-time winner stood.
Everyone wants to sense the presence of greatness in sport close up and to watch Woods play, to see him walk up the fairways at Augusta, is to feel the richness of the history of golf and his place right up there with the giants of the game such as Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones and Arnold Palmer.
Everyone wants to sense the presence of greatness in sport close up and to watch Woods play
Woods and Andy Murray’s greatness comes from their refusals to retire from golf and tennis
Greatness can progress through different iterations in a player’s career and now Woods’s greatness is contained in his absolute refusal to accept that his physical limitations can neuter his absurd levels of natural talent. It is the same with Andy Murray and his metal hip. Forget the people who urge Woods and Murray to retire. They are every bit as inspiring at this stage of their careers as they were in their prime.
Woods, 48, was still shooting for history on this Friday in Georgia, too. He had made the cut at The Masters 23 consecutive times before this year, tied for the most in tournament history with Fred Couples and Player. This was his shot at being out on his own at the head of the field.
Woods followed his ball down the 15th fairway, trailing behind everyone else in his playing group, his hands still deep in his pockets to protect against the lingering chill in the morning air. When he reached it, he saw that it wasn’t far away from Day’s ball. As it happens, Woods had outdriven Day by about six feet.
Police said the golfer was ‘lucky to be alive’ after he hit a raised central reservation while driving at high speed in 2021 and crashed his SUV
Woods, who won in 2019, continues to prove that he is a phenomenon on the golf course
What Woods is doing here at Augusta this year is remarkable. Utterly remarkable. He has a talent for the remarkable, after all. I was here in 2019 when he won his fifth Masters at the age of 43, not long after he had been so stricken with back issues that he could barely walk. It was probably the greatest individual sporting achievement I’ve ever witnessed. The man is a phenomenon.
He finally finished his first round at 9.29am, having dropped another shot on the 18th. He disappeared into the clubhouse briefly. There were only 48 minutes until the start of his second round. When he re-emerged and walked through the crowd waiting for him under the famous oak tree, someone shouted ‘Come on Tiger’ and Woods puffed out his cheeks as though he were bracing himself for a physical ordeal.
Which is partly what golf has become for him now. He disappeared towards the first tee, as the crowd formed a corridor for him and his retinue of security guards and it felt like the preamble to a title fight. Given the battle ahead, perhaps that was apt. Many expected him to fade from then on and miss the cut. Woods was not among them.
As he walked down the first fairway, a woman held the hand of a young girl in a floral dress and pointed in the direction of the man limping determinedly up the hill in the direction of the first green. ‘See that man in the white hat?’ she said to her daughter. ‘That’s Tiger Woods.’
Woods and Jason Day were seen chatting during their round on Thursday afternoon
While he made the cut, Woods won’t stop there, saying he thinks he can win again at Augusta
Woods kept fighting. His second round was a struggle between light and darkness. He birdied the third and bogeyed the fourth and fifth. To the backdrop of a deafening roar that rolled across the course, he chipped in from the edge of a bunker on the 6th for a birdie. To great groans of disappointment, he bogeyed the 7th. Then he birdied the 8th.
At Amen Corner, he fashioned a brilliant par at the 11th when Homa, by now the tournament leader, could only manage a bogey. When he walked on to the 12th tee, the huge gallery of patrons gathered there rose in their thousands to applaud him and watch as he carried his tee shot safely over Rae’s Creek.
He played steadily now, making five pars in succession before bogeying the 14th. Then he hit a majestic second shot at the par five 15th to within 15 feet of the hole. After Woods plays a shot, armies of spectators move, eager to follow him every step of the way. They saw him leave his eagle putt short but drain a birdie.
It was obvious Woods would make the cut and that history would be made. It is unlikely Woods thought of it like that. ‘I think I can get one more,’ he said on Tuesday, when asked how far his ambition spread for the tournament. When his round finished, he was eight shots off the lead. There was still work to do.
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