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Out Of Sight
Amateur champion Tiger Woods was nothing short of sensational in his masters debut
By Jaime Diaz
Issue date: April 17, 1995
It surely says something significant about Tiger Woods that in a week in which he 1) was low amateur in his first Masters, 2) made his first cut in seven tries in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, 3) drew history-hungry throngs that ran the gamut from Lee Elder to Shoal Creek founder Hall Thompson, 4) got rave reviews from every top pro who saw him play, 5) hit some talent shots destined to become part of the tournament's lore and 6) kept his conduct above reproach under a media microscope that covered every move of the first black amateur ever to play in the racially complicated atmosphere of the Masters, the 19-year-old Stanford freshman was still disappointed when it became clear on Saturday that he could not win the tournament. Half an hour after holing out for a third-round 77 that had put him five over par and 15 strokes behind the leaders, Woods laid his lanky 6 1", 150-pound frame on a worn but comfortable green sofa in the Crow's Nest, a cozy room that is topped by the cu pola of Augusta National's clubhouse. "I'm so frustrated," said Woods. Birdies on the 2nd and 3rd holes had gotten him to two under for the tournament and on the verge of going on the leader board. But then a spate of bogeys, punctuated by a 6 on the par-5 8th hole when he took 4 from the edge of the green, turned the round into a struggle.
But rather than mope, Woods's face took on a knowing smile, the kind a smart kid gets when he has run into something that is, for the moment, bigger than he is. On Sunday he came back with a solid 72, birdieing three of the last four holes for a total of 293, five over, to finish 41st.
"The way I drove it and putted, I know I could have been in the hunt," said Woods, longingly watching the telecast of the third-round leaders finishing their rounds. "I guess everyone feels that way, but I feel like this place is perfect for me. I guess I need to get to know it better."
He paused and gestured toward the black-and-white framed photographs of Masters champions hanging on the walls. "Someday," he said, the smile growing tighter, "I'm going to get my picture up there."
It would be easy to dismiss such talk as a young man's delusions of grandeur. After all, when confronted with the most essential challenge that the Masters presents, hitting the precise landing areas on Augusta National's rolling greens, Woods was unable to consistently deliver, even with short iron and wedge approaches. Critics could choose to consider the first official putt of Woods's Masters career--a 30-footer on the 1st hole that trundled past the cup, off the green and down an embankment before stopping 50 feet from the hole--as an ugly harbinger. They might also point out that both Ben Crenshaw in 1972 and Phil Mickelson in 1991 did better in their Augusta debuts as amateurs. They could make a case that the reigning U.S. Amateur champion is becoming a victim of hype.
They would be wrong, however, because to dismiss Woods's performance as anything but extraordinary would be to miss the point. For if Woods proved one thing last week, it is that despite whatever sociological baggage anyone cares to impose, he and the Masters are a perfect fit. Although Tiger's excellent adventure was satisfying on many levels, it was most important as a reconnaissance mission to lay the groundwork for many future trips to--and almost surely some victories in--Augusta.
The fact is, based on the manner in which he played if not necessarily his score, Woods brought a unique energy to the 59th Masters. From his first practice round on Monday to his early finish on Sunday, the only male player in history to win three U.S. Junior Amateur championships showed a talent for the game every bit as electrifying as that of the young Nicklaus and the young Ballesteros, both of whom also came to their first Masters at the age of 19.
With the impassive aplomb with which he bombed his opening tee shot on all four days within wedge distance of the 1st green, Woods demonstrated that he feels frighteningly comfortable at Augusta. For emphasis Woods made another statement after Saturday's third round while on the practice range next to eventual runner-up Davis Love III. When Love, the longest hitter on the Tour last year, pulled out his driver, the spectators in the bleachers cheered and loudly urged him to try to carry the 50-foot-high netting, some 260 yards away, that is designed to keep balls from going onto Washington Road, a main thoroughfare that abuts the range. After Love failed on two attempts, Woods shyly asked, "Should I try?" When Love nodded, Woods unsheathed his Cobra oversized driver to the delight of the spectators. Woods then smoothly rocked into his compact backswing and ripped a perfectly straight cannon shot that easily cleared the netting, causing the stands to erupt and drawing a smile from every player on the range.
If such feats have little to do with shooting low scores, Woods's practice-round partners at the Masters--a formidable collection including Nick Faldo, Raymond Floyd, Greg Norman, Fred Couples, Nick Price and Gary Player--each said that the young man possesses as near to a complete package as they have ever seen in a player his age. All of the veterans are acutely aware of the precariousness of early success in their sport, yet all said that Woods possesses something extra, both physically and in his mental approach to the game.
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Ben Crenshaw dedicated the win to Harvey Penick, his long-time instructor, who passed away just before the tournament.
photograph by John Biever |
"Certain players, you look at them once, and you see something," said Player, who was paired with Woods in the Par-3 tournament. "The first time I saw Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer or Ben Hogan or Sam Snead or Lee Trevino, I saw something special. As soon as I saw Tiger Woods swing today, I thought, Man, this young guy has got it. 'It' is something indescribable. It's the way he puts his hands on the club, the way he stands over the ball. It's agility, it's speed. 'It' is what a great horse has." Norman, whose swing instructor, Butch Harmon, is also Woods's, was more succinct. Asked on Wednesday what kind of finish he thought would constitute a good tournament for Tiger, Norman said, "Probably to win, for him. He is good enough."
Had Woods been able to break a pattern of hitting long into the greens with so many of the short irons and wedges that his immense drives left him, he would have convinced everyone else that he is good enough. Other than sending his approaches to places from which it was very difficult to make birdies, Woods played almost flawless golf, driving with a power and accuracy reminiscent of John Daly at the 1991 PGA Championship at Crooked Stick, and demonstrating finesse and control around the greens.
Woods was astounding in his sheer length. Statistically he was the longest driver in the field, with an average of 311.1 yards, with Love second, averaging 306.5 yards. Although Woods appears too skinny to generate a lot of power, students of the swing were awestruck by the speed of his motion through the ball. "He has the fastest rotation through the ball of any player," said Rick Smith, who instructs both Nicklaus and Lee Janzen. "It's an incredible gift."
With Augusta's wide, fast fairways beckoning, Woods held back little in his compact but explosive action, and in the practice rounds he consistently outdrove all his partners, including Couples and Norman, sometimes by 25 yards or more.
"I don't know if he's unfair or unreal," said Woods's caddie, Tommy (Burnt Biscuits) Bennett, a looper in 20 previous Masters who was hired after 63-year-old Earl Woods decided against caddying for his son. "Tiger swings so pure, and that ball doesn't want to come down. Sometimes I felt like there just wasn't enough golf course out there for him."
Once the tournament proper began, Woods didn't let up. At the 500- yard, par-5 15th hole, he hit four straight drives more than 330 yards and picked an eight- or nine-iron into the green for his second shot. Only once did Woods hit more than a seven-iron to any par-4.
Several of the relatively few long iron shots that he hit were as immense as his drives. In the first round, on the 555-yard par-5 2nd hole, Woods hit a three-iron from 235 yards onto the green from a lie underneath trees that forced him to punch the ball. ("That's why his name is Woods, because he can hit out of any woods," said his mother, Kultida, who along with her husband walked all 72 holes with their son.) On Friday he hit two classic shots: another three-iron to 20 feet from 235 yards, uphill, on the 360-yard 3rd hole after his drive hit a tree; and a monstrous two-iron from 250 yards on the par-5 13th that he had to cut around a huge pine and carry over the creek in front of the green.
Unfortunately, Woods was releasing his body with the same force on shots of between 110 and 165 yards, causing him to hit over several greens. "We knew distance control would be the biggest challenge for Tiger, and this course taught him what he has to work on," said Harmon. "Otherwise, I thought he performed and managed himself beautifully."
For a young man immersed in golf, Woods couldn't have had a better week. He arrived at the club Sunday at dusk and quickly took his putter and a couple of balls out to the practice green to check out the lightning pace he had seen so often on television. After his customary cheeseburger, followed by 12 hours of sleep, Woods played a practice round with Faldo. In the afternoon he and amateur Trip Kuehne, his roommate in the Crow's Nest, went out for another 18. It was Kuehne whom Woods defeated in the U.S. Amateur final last August, coming from six down to win one up, and the two friends played an intense match for $ 5 that Woods finally won with a par on the 18th hole.
"Everything here is so perfect," said Woods during another twilight session on the putting green. "I get to live here, they serve us great food, and all I have to do is walk out the door to use the best practice facility and the best course in the world. How can you not play well?" It was a theme that would be repeated. On Tuesday, during his practice round with Floyd, Norman and Couples, Woods was waiting to hit his ball from near the gallery ropes on the right of the 2nd fairway when he said, "What a beautiful day. You know, I could be in a classroom." Answered a marshal, "Yeah, but you would never be getting an education like this." Woods would say later that this relaxed practice round, and particularly the friendly way in which Couples treated him, was the main reason he felt no nervousness when the tournament started.
So calm was Woods that he had no problem acknowledging and, after his rounds, interacting with a public that clearly found him appealing. Woods's presence attracted more black spectators than ever to the Masters, and he made an effort to fulfill what he seemed to sense was a special responsibility. All week long he signed autographs for Augusta National's employees, a large proportion of whom are black. At 6 p.m. on Friday, after making the cut at even-par 144, Woods and his father drove to a nearby public course, Forest Hills, where Tiger put on a free clinic for caddies and junior golfers. It was his way of honoring Augusta National's black caddies, who, until 1982, were used exclusively in the Masters.
"It's a black thing," said Earl Woods. "We are acknowledging that we know who came before Tiger and that they suffered humiliation and that we realize the debt. It's a way of saying thank you and a promise to carry the baton." Jerry Beard, a former Masters caddie who carried winner Fuzzy Zoeller's bag in 1979, said, "Just knowing Tiger came to hit balls for them is enough to get some of these kids playing golf. As for the caddies, we deeply appreciated it. We have been the forgotten men of the Masters, but maybe Tiger will help us be remembered."
As Woods, surrounded by aging men and young children, hit crisp five-irons off turf nearly devoid of grass, his father announced over a microphone to the crowd, "This young man this week has passed from adolescence to manhood. I'm very proud of him."
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