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Taking in a round at Augusta
Posted: Friday April 07, 2000 12:04 PM
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Had a blast cruising around the course Thursday. Like every other person on the grounds, I followed Tiger this morning. The first hint that he didn't have his A game came on the first tee, when he uncorked a push-block that clanged off the tree in front of the bunker. Tiger was really fighting his swing early on. Going for the green at the par-5 2nd, he sent a wicked slice into the gallery short and right of the green, and subsequently blew an eight-footer for birdie. At 4 and 5 -- both of which he bogeyed -- Woods didn't hit his long-iron approaches that poorly, but he missed in the worst possible places, making up-and-downs all but impossible. Instead of following Woods up the Eiger-like hill to 8, I cruised up to the veranda for a club sandwich, fruit plate, side of fries, peach cobbler and a half-dozen, industrial-strength iced teas. I wound up sharing a table with a lovely older woman who happened to be with Leonard Decof, the renowned sports attorney/PGA Tour nemesis who, among other things, humiliated the Tour in its lawsuit against Ping way back when. Leonard appeared in short order and brought me up to speed on any number of juicy goings on involving the Tour. All and all, an excellent little snack break.
After Bjorn and his playing partners drove we spied Tiger on the adjacent 15th tee and decided to watch him maul that par-5. Alas, he yanked his drive behind a pine tree and had to lay up (on the day he reached none of the par-5s in two), following with a disappointing par. I followed Woods in and sat in for a low-key post-round interview. He couldn't have been more bored. It's obvious Tiger, despite his shocking double and triple bogey, feels like he is still very much in the thick of the tournament, and that three more good rounds -- say, 69-69-69 -- is all it will take to win in these brutal conditions. He claimed to be satisfied with every facet of his game, and chalked up his struggles to ill luck and the vagaries of playing this golf course. Augusta National had played more unfairly in the past, but rarely more difficult. The wind was exceptionally swirly and tempestuous today, bringing the first cut into play off virtually every tee. Also, Paul Azinger and Phil Mickelson, among others, have been saying the sand is different this year -- there's more of it, and it's fluffier, leading "nine out of 10 balls," according to Mickelson, to plug. All in all, par will be a very good score these next three rounds. After Tiger's press conference I scurried back onto the course, following Davis Love/Hal Sutton/Greg Norman on 10 and 11, then picking up Jack Nicklaus/Arnold Palmer/Gary Player from 12 through 16. About the latter pairing, I was surprised the pooh-bahs at the Masters went in for that kind of cheap sentimentality. Nicklaus helped inspire his older comrades to stay in the ball game, but he seemed a little irritated by the whole thing. If you read Mike Bamberger's piece in last week's issue of Sports Illustrated, you know Jack came to this Masters thinking about winning, and watching Arnold struggle to break 80 doesn't exactly help. Still, the Big Three drew the biggest gallery of the day, and they added some excitement to what was otherwise a rather tame round. I like the leaderboard O.K., especially Sergio Garcia, who drove the ball great and scrambled his way to a fine round; Tom Lehman, who has looked locked and loaded all week; Mickelson, who was brilliant last week in Atlanta and is clearly still riding the momentum; and all those mack daddies lurking at even: Darren Clarke, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, Justin Leonard, José María Olazábal, Vijay Singh, Sutton and 'Zinger. And now, after an eventful week full of low humor and hopefully a little insight into what goes on around here at the Masters, I must bid adieu to all of you faithful readers, so I can concentrate on my game story. It's been fun, and, by the way, if Dennis Paulson holds on to win, these will be my final published words. Tell the authorities to look for my body at the bottom of Ike's Pond, where I would rather be than in front of my computer, banging out 2,500 words about that guy. Sports Illustrated golf writer Alan Shipnuck will take you On Tour each
Wednesday at golfplus.cnnsi.com. Click here to send Alan
a question or a nice, friendly comment.
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