AUGUSTA, Ga. — There were serious discussions recently about whether Tiger Woods might embarrass himself competing in the 79th Masters. This was only a few days before the year’s first major and no one could be sure whether the 14-time major champion still was chipping like the weekend hacker we saw at the Phoenix Open and Torrey Pines.
“Given what we’ve seen, it’s unimaginable to me that in this short period of time that he would have been able to come to any sort of manageable level of short game,” Golf Channel analyst Brandel Chamblee said during a pre-Masters conference call.
Yet, there was this from ESPN’s Paul Azinger: “I don’t think he’d show up unless he feels like he solved that problem.” But even Azinger admitted, “Nobody knows what to expect.”
No one knew. That is why Woods’ performance at Augusta National is a success. Far from embarrassing himself, Woods is on the leaderboard heading into another Masters Sunday after a 4-under-par 68 on Saturday. His second straight sub-70 round leaves him 6-under par for the tournament and tied for fifth, 10 shots behind leader Jordan Spieth.
Making Sunday more interesting, Woods also will be paired with Rory McIlroy, the No. 1 player in the world, who also shot a third-round 68 and is at 6-under.
As for Woods, he didn’t play in the 2014 Masters because of back surgery and has missed the last two months, taking a self-imposed break to get his game together. After an 82 to miss the cut in Phoenix, he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open to fix his horrific short game.
He came to Augusta saying he had “worked my [butt] off” to fix his problems, and validated it with rounds of 73 and 69 to make the cut. He showed flashes of magic again on Saturday. He strung birdies together at holes 2, 3, and 4 headed to an opening nine of 32, his lowest at the Masters since 2011.
He had more memorable moments on the back nine, hitting a duck hook off the 13th tee, but making birdie out of the trees by draining a tricky 20-foot putt to go 7-under. By then Chamblee was saying, “It is incredible and amazing to watch.”
Woods added another birdie at the par-5 15th, but bogeys at the par-4 14th and the par-4 18th kept him from making more of a charge.
“I had my chances to make this a really special round today,” Woods said. “I had it going there for a little bit and made stupidly good birdie at 13 and stupidly bad bogey at 14. It all evens out.”
In a way it was refreshing to see Woods pumping his fists after birdies and slamming clubs the way he did after his second shot from the pine straws on the 14th fairway. He displayed his old fire and emotion just when we thought maybe he had gotten soft with all the hugs and chatter about family this week.
Whoever puts on the Green Jacket on Sunday will have earned it. Woods is trying to make sure of that.
“I’ve got to go out early and do what I did a few years ago — shoot 30 or 31 [on the front] and continue on the back nine [and] at least give myself a chance,” Woods said. “It’s in Jordan’s hands right now.”
