It wasn’t the conclusion Tiger Woods wanted but it also wasn’t the end. If he proved anything across his week at the Masters, it is that he has retained his capacity to amaze well beyond his time as a contender for titles.
This trip was never going to end with another, no matter what he may have told himself. That jacket was always heading for one of the men not yet on the course when he left it at 1.30pm, soaked in sweat and holding an ugly scorecard.
But success can live in many guises and for Woods there was triumph to be found in those 77 blows of his closing round. Just as it could be found in the 82 comprising his worst ever loop of a major on Saturday.
Combined, those numbers left him sitting dead last of those who made the cut, but there was victory in that too. Not the sort he would care for. But how many great players didn’t make the cut here?
As a starting point you can list Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Viktor Hovland. You can also add Wyndham Clark and Brian Harman, who both won majors last year.
Tiger Woods posted a score of 77 for his final round at the Masters on Sunday afternoon
He shook hands with low amateur Neal Shipley after his round after a warm day on the course
Having only played at one event this season, Woods pushed many boundaries this weekend
They did not reach the weekend, but Woods did for a record 24th time in succession on these grounds. After everything that has failed in his body, after all the difficulties he has brought on himself, he is still pushing out boundaries.
And that is to be admired, even if his Saturday and Sunday laps were proof that sport loves nothing more than to follow a tickle with a smack in the chops.
Again, he won’t see it that way, which is why he signed for 77 and then spoke of his feeling that maybe, with a few more things going in his favour, he could have matched the 66 shot by Tom Kim. But that’s a conversation about delusion. Just as it was when he said he could win ahead of the tournament and once more after two rounds. A harmless delusion but a delusion nonetheless.
He won’t win again in the way he most cherishes, but he keeps on winning in what he shows in the grind. In how he outsmarted Augusta at its most vicious in the winds on Friday. In how he made it to the finish line of a major for the first time in two long years.
‘It was a good week all around,’ he said. ‘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. Today the round that Tom is playing (a 66) I thought I had in my system. Unfortunately, I didn’t produce it.
‘I need to keep the motor going, keep the body moving, keep getting stronger, keep progressing.’
Crowds flocked to watch the five-time Masters champion in action during his final day
While Woods made the cut, his friend Justin Thomas missed out for the second time in a row
Woods would also make it to the weekend while Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth missed out
Sunday’s 77, taking his final tally to 16 over par, a full 23 behind the mark on which Scottie Scheffler started his final round, was not as poor as it might sound.
With 14 pars, it was mainly steady, beyond one almighty mess on the fifth, which he triple-bogeyed when his drive into the trees was declared unplayable. After returning to the tee for a reload he eventually three-putted.
The rest of the loop was fairly nondescript, save for the finale when he came within an inch of chipping in for birdie at the last.
This was not vintage stuff, and yet the mere sight of Woods can lift a day for those around him. That is his place in golf.
Consider the reaction of his final-round playing partner, the 22-year-old college amateur Neal Shipley.
He was devastated after closing out Saturday’s round with a double bogey, only to then learn he would be paired with Woods.
Shipley said on playing with Woods: ‘It was really cool. Playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week’
Woods ended his weekend 16-over par, 23 shots behind Scottie Scheffler as he teed off
McIlroy ended his weekend posting a score of one-over par, taking him to four-over par
Highs and lows from Sunday at Augusta
Tiger Woods
Never mind that the weekend was a horror show for him, the fact he made the cut for a 24th successive time was remarkable in his circumstances. It was also a record. The list of players to not make it to the final rounds included Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman and Viktor Hovland, so to see Woods outperform the more physically able, especially in the winds of Friday, was a triumph of mind over matter.
Ludvig Aberg
What an astonishing major debut. We have stopped applying limits to the potential of a lad who only turned professional 10 months ago, but to see him top the leaderboard on Saturday strengthened the assessment that this is a generational talent. Golf has a habit of providing stars that burn bright and brief, but there is no obvious weakness in his game or mindset.
Bryson DeChambeau
Folk have always tended to snigger about golf’s mad scientist and even among his fellow pros he has had the feel of an outsider. But he is great to watch and fascinating to hear — that he was contending here with irons produced by a 3D printer and only approved for use at the start of the week was one dose of wackiness. Another was the picture of him carrying a sign post on his shoulder like Jesus with the cross — the picture of the week.
Zach Johnson
Even the mildest of individuals can crack in this place and that is what happened to Johnson on Friday. He wears last year’s US Ryder Cup loss as captain heavily and faced a harsh reaction from elements of the galleries in the months since. When a few taunted him after he made a hash of the 12th in the second round, he was heard to say: ‘Oh f*** off’. That was actually quite understandable; his attempts to claim he was speaking to himself were a touch harder to buy.
Viktor Hovland
The list of great players without a major is a long one but Hovland is close to the top and this was a dire week for the world No 6. His second-round 81 gave him no chance of making the cut and his mood was best captured by him missing a tap-in on the fifth and hurling his ball into the water.
Slow play
There is no doubting the conditions were brutal on Friday and the pin positions on Saturday also justified some extended thinking time. But the second round saw rounds being completed in somewhere close to six hours. That is utter madness. Put them on the clock and speed it up.
Bryson DeChambeau has been excellent viewing this week, not just for his golf!
‘When we got here this morning and saw Tiger on the range, it was like, “Oh, my gosh, this is actually happening”,’ he said. ‘It was really cool. Playing with Tiger, Sunday at the Masters, the whole week, I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week.’
He at least won the day — Shipley’s 71 was six better than that of his partner and he sampled galleries that were bigger than any that later followed the leaders. Certainly larger than those accompanying Rory McIlroy, whose tournament never came close to igniting. Then there was the defending champion Jon Rahm. Clocking off at nine over following a closing 76 made for a bleak return.
Out on the course, playing for far more than pride, Scheffler had commenced his round with Collin Morikawa, Max Homa and the phenomenon Ludvig Aberg all within three shots of his lead at seven under.
He had showcased enough vulnerabilities in his third-round 71 to offer hope, but chasing down the 2022 champion is one of the tougher tasks in sport presently. While his playing partner, Morikawa, could only par each of the first three holes, Scheffler opened the gap to two with a birdie at three, when he got up and down from a greenside bunker.
While that looked ominous for the chasers, there had been signs of frailty. Scheffler had relied on a six-footer for par at the first and also clattered an approach into the crowd on his way to parring the second. His first real mistake came at the fourth when he overshot the green on the par three and missed a 15ft putt for the save.
To capitalise, there needed to be a bolter from the pack. At the time of going to press, it wasn’t coming from Morikawa — he was playing steady with six pars to start.
Homa produced some sensational golf on Sunday afternoon as he put pressure on Scheffler
Aberg, on his major debut, appeared to be one of the biggest threats to Scheffler on Sunday
But Scheffler has played phenomenal golf all weekend. Chasing him might be one of the toughest tasks in world sport
Likewise Homa balanced one birdie with a bogey in his first seven holes in the group behind, but Tommy Fleetwood was making a good run, albeit from far back.
After nine holes he had surged from one under to three under, with fellow Englishman Tyrrell Hatton also making a dent — starting three over on a course he dislikes, he had reached two under through 14. Great round, but surely too little too late.
Where the threat seemed to develop was from Aberg, 24, on his major debut. A 22ft birdie putt at the second and another birdie at seven moved him to six under.
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