AUGUSTA-It was a simple question that generated a simple response. “How long have you been practicing specifically for Augusta?” a reporter asked Tiger Woods on Tuesday.
“Probably, since the beginning of the year,” Woods said.
He didn’t elaborate, but it offered a snapshot into his extensive preparation for the 65th Masters that begins today at Augusta National. Woods is attempting to become the first player to hold all four modern-day major championships, a goal he has anticipated since capturing the PGA Championship last year at Valhalla.
When Woods said he has been preparing for this day since January, he wasn’t exaggerating. A confidant of Woods said one reason the world’s top-ranked player went five PGA Tour events without a victory was because he was utilizing shots in those tournaments that he would be using this week at Augusta National.
“That’s one reason he was mad about people saying he was in a slump,” the confidant said. “No one really knew what he was really doing. In a way, it was amazing that he was in contention during those tournaments.”
While many of the world’s top golfers are talking a good game about their chances of beating Woods and winning the year’s first major, Woods knows his only true foe is Augusta National. It’s not Phil Mickelson, Davis Love III or defending champion Vijay Singh. It’s 6,985 yards of beautiful, but treacherous Georgia landscape that offers the potential for trouble on every hole. Woods has learned this the hard way.
He lost his chance to win the 2000 Masters when he shot a 75 in the opening round last year, a score inflated when his tee shot on the par-3 12th landed in Rae’s Creek. Since January, Woods has been working on the trajectory of his shots with Augusta National in mind.
“You are going to have to be very conscious of your trajectory control coming to the greens,” Woods said. “You have to make sure you come in with the right trajectory and the right spin to the slopes, because if you are wrong on both of those occasions, you are going to get into some spots where it’s just going to be extremely difficult to make par.”
Woods humbled Augusta National in 1997 when he won his first Masters with a record 18-under-par 270. But since then 1 3/8 inches of rough has been added, the 10th and 11th greens have been rebuilt, trees were added to narrow the 15th fairway and tee boxes have been moved back on Nos. 2 and 17.
As a result, Woods has shot just two rounds in the 60s, in finishing eighth, 18th and fifth over the last three years.
“I’ve been in contention,” Woods said. “I just haven’t won. That’s just part of playing a championship, especially majors. I think the key is to keep putting yourself there. If I can keep putting myself there for the next 15, 20, 30 years, whatever it is, I’ll win my share.”
Butch Harmon, who serves as Woods’ swing instructor, has told people he wouldn’t be surprised if his player shot 20-under par for the tournament. He hinted that Woods would be using some “new” strategy in attacking the course. There were no hints as to what that new strategy might be.
While his strategy might be new, the keys to winning here are as old as the tournament. Landing approach shots that offer the easiest putts is crucial.
“You can putt well,” Woods said. “But it’s going to make things a lot more difficult if you’re not hitting the golf ball in the right spots. The year that I won, I drove the ball beautifully, but I really hit my irons into the spots where I had uphill putts. One of the keys to this golf course is to put yourself in situations where you can be aggressive with your putts. It’s not hard to make 10 and 12 footers if you have them uphill all day, versus 10 and 12 footers coming straight down the slopes.”
There are few courses with the hilly terrain and adulating greens that make August National such a difficult test of shot-making. That’s why it’s believable that Woods might have been practicing a shot for the Masters, while competing in a tournament as prestigious as the Players Championship, which he won two weeks ago.
Today’s opening round has been three months in the making for Woods. Now it’s time to see if all that practice can pass one of golf’s toughest tests. The 65th Masters isn’t about Woods against the playing field. It’s Woods against Augusta National.
