Woods’ comeback falls short, leaves him a tad – The Masters Tournament
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Herewith the anatomy of a comeback that was not to the man’s liking, which he really didn’t want to talk about, but after all, this was the new himself: “Yeah, I finished fourth,” Tiger Woods was saying, after stepping off Augusta National’s 18th green, aiming the cutting edge of his voice at the obviously deferential TV guy trying to bring this momentous moment to the world. Gracious wouldn’t be making it on this interview.
“Not what I wanted,” Woods said. “I wanted to win this tournament. I think people are making way too much of a big deal of this thing. I was not feeling good. I didn’t have it, and it was pretty evident.”
As many observers were to note, most guys would be delighted to finish fourth in the Masters after that hiatus and all that preceded it, but Woods was not a happy ex-camper, and so he was short and dismissive of TV commentator Peter Kostis, who drew the short straw at CBS for marking this historic occasion.
“I’m not going to be smiling, I’m not going to be happy,” Woods said brusquely. As to an analysis of his play, he said simply: “As the week went on, I continued to hit it worse.”
Woods started the final round four shots off the lead, and he was flirting with his fifth Masters jacket for a while, after a remarkably amateurish start. Take No. 1 for example. He put his tee shot wildly left, over the trees and into the adjoining No. 9 fairway, and it was a credit to his skill and persistence that he came out of there with a bogey. At the par-5 2nd, he saved par after needing two shots to get out of a perfectly innocent bunker. He missed the green at No. 3 and saved there, too, then bogeyed the par-3 No. 4 after missing the green, and then No. 5, where he bunkered his tee shot. At this point, he was seven shots behind the leader, Lee Westwood, and the Fat Lady began to count him out.
The other Tiger Woods showed up at the par-4 No. 7, and dealt himself a hand when he holed out from the fairway for a nifty eagle. He followed that with birdies at the 8th and 9th. Let the delirium begin. He was only three off the lead.
What does he do for an encore? Call the Fat Lady back.
He scrambled a magnificent save at the par-4 11th, threading a chop-out from the trees after a hacker drive, then had the faithful hopping. He went birdie-bogey-eagle from the 13th, but by then he’d become an object of academic interest. His closing birdie gave him a 69, and he tied for fourth with K.J. Choi at 11-under -277.
As to whether he had an idea when he would re-return, Woods said, “No – I’m going to take a little time off and kind of re-evaluate things.”
PARTY TIME – Anthony Kim, 24-year-old reformed frat party boy, almost threw a beauty in the final round. Kim started the final round seven shots off the lead, and after warming up with a 34 on the front nine, he swept up five shots in four holes from No. 13 – birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie, and held the clubhouse lead with a 65-276. It would lock up third place, his best finish in two Masters.
“I didn’t get anything started early,” Kim said. So I just tried to make as many birdies as possible and fire at a couple flags. I hung in there, and I’m proud of the way I stuck it out.”
TROPHY ROUND – Nathan Green, 34-year-old Australian, might want to tell the grandkids someday about the 75 he shot in the final round of the 2010 Masters. A 75, grandpa? You mean three over par, grandpa?
Yep. He started bogey-bogey-double bogey. He bogeyed the 5th. Then birdied the next three. He was just warming up. He bogeyed the 11th, tripled the 12th, then eagled the 13th and aced the 16th. A bogey-par finish got him home in 75, and he finished 48th and dead last. His plans: “Just going to have a couple beers and sit and watch it.”
LOW AMATEUR, FOR REAL – By definition, the last amateur left standing in a tournament is low amateur. But Italian prodigy Matteo Manassero, at 16 the youngest ever to make the cut in the Masters, did better, closing with a par-72 and a 4-over total of 292, tying for 36th in his first visit. What would he take away from Augusta?
“Everything here,” he said. “Playing on a course like this obviously makes you understand that you can play on every course.”
And then the obvious question:
“When did it hit your that yes, it’s real. Was there a moment it hit you that this was real, and not a dream?”
Said the kid: “I always thought it was for real.”
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