Ten years after the crash, Tiger Woods hunts down other masters
AUGUSTA, Ga. – The tenth anniversary of the car accident on the Thanksgiving night that changed the course of golf history has been months away. But when Tiger Woods left the Augusta National Golf Club clubhouse on Tuesday morning to cheer and applaud, it wasn't too early to consider his renaissance since the fall from grace that began when his then wife left her flirting man out of their drove home and he drove his SUV in the tree of a neighbor.
It could also be an opportunity to observe how cultural status can be recouped with proven, tireless perseverance. Woods kept appearing. There has also been strength in being an über-popular sports figure turned into an underdog that hit the bottom: two years ago he was accused of drunk driving while he slept in a haze of painkillers behind the wheel of his motor-driven car runs. He later pleaded guilty to reckless driving.
Whatever the lens to view the current fate of Woods, it helps to revisit a scene in Woods & # 39; first competitive appearance after five months of blaring gossip magazines about extramarital affairs legacy forever smeared. The scene was similar to Tuesday's, with Woods from the Augusta National clubhouse for the 30-meter walk to the first tee, where he started a practice round on the eve of the Masters tournament.
But in 2010, a wood-clad forest was not met with shouting and clapping, but with an eerie silence. Only a few hundred spectators had gathered for his 8-hour start time, and they quietly broke up without comment to give him access to the golf course.
No four-time Masters champion has ever been treated with indifference in Augusta National, and you probably won't be either. The pretournament suspicion was that Woods would be a target of chattering and hateful remarks. He received the silent treatment instead.
Perhaps Woods believed that the famous serenity of the pristine grounds of Augusta National could bring some calmness to his life-like life, but he only seemed nervous and uncomfortable.
opening of the tee-shot shot into the forest to the left of the first channel, and he hurriedly marched away after the unusually ugly outcome
Woods had reason to feel particularly anxious. Abundant security guards flanked him at every step, including armed sheriffs, unarmed guards, and civilian agents. The swirling of television news helicopters circling above him created a constant noisy soundtrack for his presence.
Worse, Billy Payne, then the Augusta National president, had pronounced a harsh rebuke by claiming that Woods did not live by role model expectations and had "disappointed all of us, and more importantly, our children and grandchildren."
All in all, not a great day for the world's best golfer, who had won 14 major golf championship prizes and it was still expected to go beyond the record, Jack Nicklaus & # 39; s 18.
But the Augusta National scene on Tuesday found Woods humiliated and changed in ways that were unthinkable from the 2010 Masters. Yes, he is still chasing a 15th big championship, but he seems much less hectic about that pursuit than ever. Asked if he had expected such a long-lasting major drought, Woods answered quietly: "Yes, I would say that I certainly did not foresee it."
He thought he would win more, he said, adding, "But unfortunately, I just didn't do it."
Repeatedly, he recognized a new one – or has it been rediscovered? – embrace of the fans of the sport. He talked about the rising gallery that enveloped him in the closing gap of last year's Tour Championship when he won his first PGA Tour event in five years, a triumph that seemed to be the effort of four back operations and countless embarrassing inconveniences. darken.
"I had shivers," he said seven months ago about that gallery at 18.
It was his 80th tour title and yet Woods said about that victory: "I didn't know it when I got there could ever come again, and see, I got there again. "
Meaningfully, Woods also freely revealed his vulnerability, something that happened about as many times 10 years ago as using a green six times
When asked about the reliability of his putting, Woods claimed that he was still a strong putter, but one with a problem.
"The hardest part is that I just can't practice the way I used to," he said. "My back becomes sore. I just can't log into the time I used to be, and that is part of every part of my game."
The invincible Tiger Woods not only showed a weakness, he laughed there too to.
"It was a little easier if I could work on everything," he said with a grin. "But that is no longer the case. You know, I just can't do all things anymore."
Woods, now ranked 12th in the world, continues to believe in his chances this week. He knows the golf course better than any other top golfer in the field. He is convinced of the mental strength offered by the momentum he gained last season when he led the final round at the British Open, so late in the P.G.A. Championship and won the last event of the tour calendar. This season, in five events, he has had four top 20 finishes.
Moreover, Woods, credible and tangible, is no longer haunted by the most glorious chapter of his past. He's fine. looking back. He knows he has made many mistakes.
This week, he announced that in the Masters of 2019 he would once again wear the collarless mock neck sweater that he made famous in his prime. He will give a version of it in all four rounds, he said. That was what he wore in 2005, the last time he won the Masters.
"I thought it was a pretty neat look back in the day," he said with a smile on Tuesday.
All those years later, there was little left to hide.
"I was probably in a slightly better shape at the time," he said. "But I won events that bore the spot. I have always liked to wear them and you will see it on Thursday."
