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In a different life, when the only thing Tiger Woods was trying to ace was high school algebra, I was asked to cover the Masters for the first time. And yet it has always felt like I started covering golf’s signature event in 1997, when a 21-year-old Woods grabbed the entire sport by the throat.
He famously shot 40 on his opening nine holes of that tournament before playing the next nine in 30 then destroying the field in record fashion. This was the dawn of a staggering new era in the game, as Woods would prove that a golfer — of all things and of all people — could stand among the three or four most recognizable figures on the planet.
My desire to cover the Masters going forward was really tethered to my desire to cover Woods’ attempts to keep winning it. It’s been a hell of a ride for him at Augusta National — including five indelible triumphs, a few heartbreaking defeats, one inappropriate scolding from the club chairman over his infidelity and one comeback from career-threatening back injuries to end all Masters comebacks.
That was in 2019, after a Hail Mary of a spinal-fusion surgery pulled him from the brink of early retirement and restored him as a champ. Three years later, Woods seems poised to attempt yet another comeback that could top them all. If he makes it to the first tee Thursday — not even 14 months after he crashed his SUV south of Los Angeles and nearly lost his right leg — that will make for what old newspaper writers used to call good copy. Really good copy.
Meanwhile, on the verge of covering the tournament for a 22nd time, I offer up a list of the most compelling Masters moments I’ve witnessed, with a certain terminator in Sunday red dominating my memory bank as much as he dominated the field.
2019
This was the first and only time I scored a Masters ticket, which I gave to my big brother — it turned out to be our last trip together before his death, elevating it to my personal No. 1 on the all-time list of sporting events I’ve covered over 36 years. Security guards at Augusta National never cut anyone a break from the club’s draconian rules, but for some reason one allowed us to crouch down in an off-limits area near the 16th green Sunday to watch Woods finish off the biggest birdie of his fifth and most dramatic victory. “You’ve never been to a major golf championship before,” I told my brother Dan as we hustled to the 17th. “And here you are witnessing the greatest Masters of all time.”
1997
Colin Montgomerie made the fatal mistake of challenging Woods on the eve of their third-round pairing, suggesting that young Tiger might have difficulty facing the pressure of holding a major championship lead on the weekend for the first time. Monty had no idea that Woods loved nothing more than converting real or imagined slights into jet fuel. Tiger went out there Saturday and just buried the Scotsman, outplayed him by nine strokes. I’ll never forget Monty looking like such a beaten man over the final couple of holes. “We’re all human beings here,” he said afterward, “and there is no chance humanly possible that Tiger Woods is going to lose this tournament.” Woods won by a dozen shots.
1998
At age 58, needing hip replacement surgery, Jack Nicklaus tore up the front nine on Sunday and put himself in position to win his seventh green jacket. That’s probably the most fun two hours I’ve ever spent on a golf course. Defending champ Woods, playing directly in front of his idol, was reduced to an awestruck spectator all day, and just tried to get out of Jack’s way. Nicklaus couldn’t make the back-nine putts he made in 1986 and finished four strokes behind winner Mark O’Meara. But Jack did beat Tiger, who was 36 years younger, by two precious shots.
2004
At 33, Phil Mickelson finally broke through and won a major in the Tiger Era with that forever downhill putt on 18 that fell through the left side door. Hard to believe that Lefty talked himself out of the 2022 field, but if nothing else, the memories of his three Masters victories — especially his first one — can’t be taken away from him.
2015
After failing to close the year before, Jordan Spieth brought Augusta National to its knees at the same age (21) as Tiger was in 1997, tying Woods’ tournament record of 18-under. Spieth’s father Shawn gave his son a pregame pep talk/warning about the final-round adversity he was likely to face — just like Earl Woods had done 18 years earlier — and Jordan never flinched.
2016
Spieth held a five-shot lead with nine holes to go, and I was never more certain of a winner in my life … before I was never more shocked by a collapse in my life. Spieth was known as a mentally tough competitor, so his quadruple at the 12th had Shakespearean tragedy written all over it. I’ll never forget him walking to Danny Willett’s championship ceremony with his head down and his hands stuffed in his pockets. Spieth was wearing the green jacket he’d won the previous April, but he looked like a lost little boy who just had his bicycle stolen.
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