McIlroy reminds us how special a golfer he can be

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — His name went from nowhere to high on the leader board, but not high enough. Everybody knew Rory McIlroy wasn’t going to win this Masters.

But at least they knew him.

Knew of his brilliance as a virtual kid. Knew of his four major championships. Knew of that collapse in another Masters that even now, more than a decade later, seems to identify Rory more than his victories.

On a Sunday when the weather reminded us of the beauty of springtime, McIlroy reminded us of how special a golfer he can be.

The 2022 Masters was destined on Saturday to be won by Scottie Scheffler, who was miles ahead heading into the final round, and a few hours later that’s what happened, Scheffler shooting a 1-under-par 71 for 278.

What we never guessed was McIlroy, who has won a U.S. Open, British Open and PGA Championship — all but the precious Masters, and that’s what stings — would come up with the week’s best, an 8-under-par 64.

That placed him at 281, which left him three behind Scheffler, who McIlroy called the best golfer in the world — after four wins over the last two and a half months, it’s hard to disagree — and also left Rory in a great mood.

McIlroy, now 32, was touted as the next Tiger Woods, and even though we know there’s never going to be a next Tiger Woods, whether it’s McIlroy or Scheffler or anybody ever, there was a bit of a link this Masters, Woods reminding us of his fighting spirit and Rory reminding us of his potential.

And because we dwell on the failure that has stained his career until now. It will until he does win a Masters.

Which with his skill and at his age is quite likely.

“I’ve had the lead on the back nine here and couldn’t get it done,” said McIlroy.

Indeed. It was 2011. McIlroy was blowing them away the first three days. He constructed a four-stroke lead. Then it was as if he never played the game before.

On the 10th tee, that fourth-round McIlroy’s drive was so awful it hit one of the little cottages — they’re known here as cabins — and sent fans ducking and his game into oblivion. An 8-over-par 80 left him in a tie for 15th, and left the skeptics ruminating: Would he ever recover?

He did win the Open that summer. He’s still not won a Masters to complete the career grand slam.

He needs to play as he did Sunday.

“I think it’s being a little more aggressive,’’ he said, “but especially Thursday in this golf tournament is not the day to be super aggressive. It’s a day to just hang in there.”

He hung in, and then with 18 holes to go, he attacked. Birdies and an eagle and a rush towards the top. But not to the top.

He was the longest driver in the tournament, averaging 320 yards. He’s never been the best putter, however, and even though he also led in greens in regulation, you’ve got to get the ball into the cup.

“I’ve always known that I can do it,” said McIlroy about playing well in the Masters.

“I love playing good enough around here. I just haven’t strung four rounds together like that, but I’ve always known I have the game to win at this place.”

He just needs to prove it.

Whatever Tiger shot, it was a victory

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — There will be no references here to Cinderella’s coach pulling away into the gloom. No questions asking whether Tiger Woods stayed too long at the fair.

The game turned on Tiger on Saturday, as it does on so many golfers no matter their age or condition — remember, he’s 46 and still getting rehab on a reattached foot.

No matter whether the tournament is a local pro-am or as prestigious and difficult — at least for him; it sure isn’t difficult for Scottie Scheffler — as the third round of the Masters.

Woods shot a 6-over-par 78. He had three double bogies, one a four-putt. He played the final three holes, 16, 17 and 18, four over.

It left him, and his fans who tramped after him, depressed. It also left them with perspective.

Only a week ago, many people doubted that, 14 months after a car accident so serious that one law enforcement officer said Woods was lucky to be alive, he could play in the Masters, much less any tournament.

But he played, and he made the cut. That his scores climbed each successive round was unimportant. He made us understand what’s possible. In sports, in life.

He’s won 15 majors, 82 tournaments overall. But going the distance this Masters, no matter where he is on the scorecard, and after 54 holes he’s tied for 41st, may be his most impressive win ever.

There are days when the sun is warm and the flowers are in full bloom that Augusta National seems to be the greatest place on earth for a golfer.  

The clouds never broke Saturday. The wind whistled, and the temperature was in the 50s. For the young, in-shape guys, that was OK. For a guy who is not so young and needs to ice the repaired body parts, it was a struggle.

Asked if he were bothered by the change in conditions, Woods said, “Changed? It hadn’t changed. It’s been hard. (Saturday) was a challenge with the conditions. They were tough today. They were tough Friday. But at least (then) we got a little bit of a lull at the end.

“I mean, it’s just like I hit a thousand putts out there on the greens,” said Woods. “I didn’t hit it that bad, but had two three-putts and a four-putt.” The latter was on that demonic 5th green, which is too far away and steep for many fans to have seen up close.

“Obviously, it affected the score. You take those (extra putts) away and I have a normal score.”

As golfers know all too well, putting is very much a part of the game, arguably the most critical part.  A three-inch putt counts the same number of strokes as a 300-yard drive.

And on the first two days of the Masters, it was Tiger’s putting that kept him marginally in contention.

Yet this tournament has been uplifting, for Woods and for golf.

“Never give up,” he said of what others might gain from this Masters. “Each and every day presents a challenge. Each and every day, I get up and start the fight all over again.”

Which is the best anyone can do.

Masters is missing one master: Phil

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — He’s not on the leader board. The people up there are Scottie Scheffler, Charl Schwartzel — a past champion — and Sungjae Im.

Great golfers, certainly, at least great enough to play in this first major championship of the year.

But not great names. Like Phil Mickelson.

Still, they’re here. Who knows where Phil is? Suspended? Hiding out? Preparing for the Champions Tour? The mystery, perhaps self-created by Phil, will not be solved until someone speaks out.

It all seems contrary to the nature of golf, a sport more than any other built around honesty and openness. Contestants keep their own scorecards; players are expected call penalties on themselves.

But it’s also a sport where the people in charge, the administrators, are absurdly protective, reluctant to be candid.

Someone in the NFL or NBA is fined or suspended, we are given the facts and the fees. Golf gives us the runaround.

Several years ago, Dustin Johnson, who is very much in contention halfway through this Masters, virtually disappeared from golf.

He was stepping away, we were told. Was it because he had been stepped on by the Tour, suspended? That was the rumor.

It’s been a difficult few months for Mickelson. His idea of remodeling the “greedy” PGA Tour, more specifically the money distribution, by uniting with the Saudis, embarrassed Mickelson, who hasn’t played anywhere since.

The shame is Phil had made history in 2021 by taking the PGA  Championship at age 50, becoming the oldest man ever to win a major.

“He’s been a big part of our history,” Augusta National chair Fred Ridley said of Mickelson. “I certainly and we certainly wish him the best, sort of working through the issues he’s dealing with right now.”

Ridley was asked during a Wednesday news conference whether the Masters had “disinvited” Mickelson. Ridley denied that had happened.

Mickelson has not played a tour event since January, and it is not clear when he might return to competition. He has made 29 starts at the Masters, and this year will mark the first time he has not participated since 1994, when he was recovering from a broken leg suffered in a skiing mishap. Mickelson, who won the Masters in 2004, 2006 and 2010, reportedly was not in attendance Tuesday at the annual champions’ dinner.

“I know I have not been my best,” he wrote in a February statement, “and desperately need some time away to prioritize the ones I love most and work on being the man I want to be.”

When will that be? If Phil thought his appearance would have a negative effect on the Masters, well, the opposite is true. The media, the public, want to know why he’s absent.

Tiger Woods returned this Masters after that awful auto accident. Phil also returning would have awarded the tournament its finest champions of the last 20 years, and revived a hint of their tremendous rivalry.

Come on back, Phil.

Once more, the Masters belonged to Tiger

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Once again, the Masters belonged to a master, taking us back in time to what not even half a year ago seemed an impossible dream.

Tiger Woods got around Augusta National on Thursday without a limp and with only two bogies.

That after an opening-round 1-under-par 71 he was several shots out of the lead that mattered much less than the fact he was very much in the tournament.

It was Feb. 23, 2021, that Woods was in a rollover car accident so serious one law enforcement official insisted Tiger was fortunate to survive. 

His right foot had to be reattached, and the thought of him walking normally again, much less a full 18 holes in a round at one of game’s most difficult courses, seemed unlikely.

But there he was, wearing a glowing pink shirt and hollered on by a massive crowd of fans — sorry, patrons — saving pars and, some cynics might say, golf itself.

Even nature seemed to be welcoming Woods and the Masters, the sun making an appearance after days of thunderstorms that drenched the property to the point that play Thursday was delayed a half hour.

But once it began, golf got the unexpected joy of Woods, who roamed from one hole to the next and kept adding followers, like the Pied Piper.

Sure, there were other golfers on the course, including the Australian Cameron Smith, who double-bogied one, double-bogied 18 and still had a 4-under 68, a shot behind leader Sungie Im. But they were bit players in this story.

Woods, now 46, won five Masters in his younger, dominant days (one fewer than the record six of Jack Nicklaus), and because of his history (including but not limited to the auto crash), you’d have to say he didn’t disappoint us. Or himself, although certainly he hoped (if not planned) to be in first place, no matter the circumstances.

The first question to Woods after he signed his scorecard was an interesting one: “Considering what’s transpired over the last 14 months, how would you describe your emotions leading to the first shot on the first tee this morning?”

Woods had prepared himself, as he always does for any situation, discourse or divots. From the moment he arrived, there were cameras as well as curiosity.

“Well, I did not have a very good warmup at all,” Woods began. “I hit it awful. As my dad (used to say), did you accomplish your task?

“That’s exactly what I did (mentally), not blocking physically to avoid hitting a hook. I felt, hey, I’m warm. Go play. Let’s just go get it done. You know where to put it. Execute each shot.”

If that sounds like somebody who has just taken a lesson, not somebody who has won 82 PGA Tour events, well, even the greatest are prone to slipping back on occasion, if not for long.

And not having competed in any regular tournament for more than a year, much less a major such as the Masters, Woods had to have some nerves. 

“I was able to get to the red,” he said, talking about the numbers on the scoreboard designating under par.  “I made two stupid mistakes (the bogies). But to end up in the red, that’s right where I want to be.” 

Tiger is right where the golfing public, and the media, want him to be, playing again where he gained fame.

“The thing I came up here for,” he said, “was a test run to see if I was able play 27 holes (including the par-3 contest). And once the adrenaline kicks in, I get fired up and into my world.”

An opening day of the Masters again belonged to Tiger.

Of course Tiger was going to play

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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Of course he was going to play.

Tiger Woods hadn’t come to Augusta National just to check out what Hideki Matsuyama was going to serve as the featured dish at the Champions Dinner.

He came to show us he could still could play. Came to show himself he still could play.

“You da man,” is the accurate if ungrammatical shout for Woods. He is and has been since that emphatic, historic Masters victory in 1997, the one that changed competitive golf — the whole tour started lifting weights and working out — and our response.

The Masters had Hogan and Snead, Palmer and Nicklaus. But until Woods and his fist pumps, it never had a golfer who appealed to the masses and especially to ethnic groups.

It wasn’t so much that he changed golf. He changed the way the world approached golf.

It no longer was a genteel pastime where an official in a voice barely above a whisper would remind, “Quiet, please.” It had evolved into a a boisterous confrontation, Giants vs. Dodgers, Packers vs. Cowboys — partisan instead of polite.

Golf purists were horrified, saying in essence, “Look what they’ve done to my game.”

If Woods were on the course, the first question was “How’s Tiger doing?” And that led to learning what everybody else was doing.

ESPN understood. It goes for names as much as it goes for games, and there is no name larger than Tiger’s. It didn’t so much cover an event as it covered Tiger.

An ESPN SportsCenter segment on a tournament, anywhere, anytime, would start with Woods, no matter how poorly he played. It was infuriating. And brilliant.

There is a precedent from another era, Arnold Palmer’s. Writers might tell you Arrnie wasn’t in a tournament rather than who was in.

“Why don’t you mention the other guys, then the fans will know who they are?” a PGA Tour official once told me.

Correct, the fans will know they aren’t Arnold Palmer.

Woods said his start in the Masters on Thursday is, borrowing from the NFL, a “game-time decision.” He’s not worried about hitting the shots. He’s never lost that ability, although at age 46 he doesn’t have the length of the big hitters.

He’s concerned with the condition of the right foot that was surgically reattached after the rollover car accident some 14 months ago. At the time, an LA County sheriff said that Woods was lucky to be alive.

The Masters course, Augusta National,  is hilly and long, and Woods, along with every other golfer in the field, must walk every step of the way. Yet, proud and intense, Tiger would not have made what seemed a surprising decision to enter if he were not confident of going the full 18 holes.

“I’ve worked hard,” said Woods, as if he required a reason to compete. “My team has been unbelievable. I’m lucky to have great surgeons and physicians. We’ve worked hard to get to this point, to get this opportunity to walk the grounds and test it out. To see if I can do it.”

He'll do it. Tiger is anything but a quitter, as we were reminded in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines when on a leg injured so painfully he grimaced on every swing and won — needing to go an extra 18 holes in a playoff.

Everyone will be watching Tiger. He’s not going to want to disappoint. “My recovery has been good,” he said. “I’m excited.”

He’s certainly not the only one.

“I’ve had to endure pain before,” he said, anticipating his struggle. “This is different, obviously. This is a lot more traumatic. It gets agonizing and teasing. The simple things take hours.”

Success never is simple. It demands all that a person can offer. Woods has won the Masters five times, and so after what he’s gone through, someone asked whether Woods thought he could win again.

“I do,” he said.

Or else he wouldn’t play.

In a Masters without drama, a green jacket for Matsuyama

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The crew in the CBS booth kept hoping, kept pointing out that Xander Schauffele might hole that putt or Will Zalatoris could close the gap. And who could blame them?

They didn’t necessarily want Hideki Matsuyama to stumble in this Masters. They simply wanted some competition, some drama, some reason to watch and listen other than to view another shot of the azaleas — yes, they were in bloom — or hear for the 50th time how nobody from Japan ever had won the tournament.

They wanted someone to be able use the line, “The Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday.”

But they didn’t get it. What they did get was an historic win by Matsuyama.

The other players never really made a run, and Matsuyama only stumbled occasionally, holding a lead in the final round that usually was at least two strokes and at times was as much as six.

At the end of the 85th Masters, in which the 29-year-old Matsuyama made history by making off with the famed prize to the champion, the green jacket, the margin of victory was only one. But that was because he bogeyed the 72nd hole, which was all he needed to do.

This was Matsuyama’s Masters since he grabbed the lead Saturday and entered the last round four shots in front. Sure, he had a shaky start, in the last day, a bogey on the first hole, but immediately Matsuyama birdied the second. 

The others were going to have to catch him.  But they could not, even though he shot a 1-over 73 for a 72-hole total of 278, and with bogies three of the last four holes, he became first Masters champ since Trevor Immelman in 2008 with an over-par closing round.

Matsuyama finished at 10-under 278. Zalatoris, who grew up in the Bay Area before moving, had a 70 for 279. Jordan Spieth and the star-crossed Schauffele — he had a double bogey and then at 16, into the pond, a triple — tied at 281.

Immelman, interestingly, was one of the announcers on Sunday for CBS where a main theme as play progressed was the unrelenting pressure on Matsuyama, real or perceived, from the country of Japan, impatient for their first men’s major golf champion.

Yet Matsuyama never flinched.

After his one large error, a ball into the water on the par-5 15th — the hole where a few years ago Tiger Woods also hit one in, and then when an official blew it, was allowed to drop in the wrong place — Matsuyama took only a bogey.

Y.E. Yang of Korea became first Asian man to win a major, holding off Woods in the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine. That Matsuyama would join him is no surprise.

Ten years ago, he was low amateur in the Masters. When Matsuyama won the 2014 Memorial, Jack Nicklaus’ event at Muirfield, Nicklaus said, “I think you’ve seen the start of one of the world’s best players the next few years. This young man is going to win a lot of golf tournaments.”

He’s won 15 around the world, six on the PGA Tour. He doesn’t speak much English, a translator being used for interviews — although when he walked off the course on Sunday, Matsuyama said in English, “I’m really happy.”

Then he said in Japanese, “Hopefully I’ll be a pioneer in this and many Japanese will follow. I’m glad to be able to open the floodgates so more will follow.”  

Eight days before the Masters, Tsubasa Kajitani of Japan won the Augusta National Women’s amateur. Matsuyama didn’t see that, because he was in the Valero Texas Open. But you can be certain Kajitani saw Matsuyama.

The entire world of golf did.

“I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like,” he said, “but it will be a thrill to take the green jacket back to Japan.

It will be no less a thrill for all the country.

No Tiger, but his news dominates Masters week

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There was a story two days ago when the tournament was about to begin that lamented Tiger Woods, the man who wasn’t there, of course. But if Woods is not in the field or on the property, he’s still the biggest golf story of this Masters week.

With the exclusion of Japan, certainly because three rounds into the 2021 Masters the leader, by a good margin, four strokes, is Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

Matsuyama, coming out of a one-hour-plus storm delay Saturday, played the final eight holes 6 under par and shot a 7-under 65.

And yet by accident — the pun is intentional — the news in the sport belonged to Woods.

It’s all about recognition, about headlines, and for better or worse, over a decade those have been earned by Tiger, both for his achievements — 82 wins, sharing the record with Sam Snead — and difficulties.

It’s always been that way in sport and life.

There are big names, and there are huge names. In New York, on the day Lou Gehrig hit his record 23rd grand slam, Babe Ruth announced his retirement. The Babe got the attention.

So it has been this week with Woods.

After the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department announced it determined the cause of the February 23 car crash, from which according to some, Tiger was lucky to survive, the information had to remain private. There are legal protections.

Then almost inexplicably, Woods gave permission for the information to become public. That it was released the week of the year’s first major golf championship, the event Woods won five times including unexpectedly, and spectacularly, in 2019?

Only Woods and his advisors would know.

Matsuyama on Sunday could very well become the first from Japan to win any major, and wouldn’t that be poetic justice for the anti-Asian violence and comments of late?

Still, except for golf purists, it doesn’t compare with anything involving Woods.

Matsuyama might get the cover of a golf journal; in an earlier time (say, five years ago before the magazine changed), even the cover of Sports Illustrated. Tiger, on course or off, gets everything.

Woods is no mere sporting hero, he’s an A-list celebrity. If only just for one of the most famous single names in the world. People who don’t know an unplayable lie from a politician’s lie know Tiger.

What none of us knows at the moment is why Woods went public with the crash investigation results, but in the end the choice may be beneficial to Woods and as a warning to others.

The determination was that Woods was driving too fast. Way too fast. Something like 85 to 90 mph in a 45 mph zone in a residential area near Los Angeles.

Woods always pushed the limits, wherever and whatever, channeling his late father, Earl, a Green Beret. Tiger skydived, bungee-jumped, went through military training.

Although not quite the same, he took his chances in golf, going for the green instead of laying up. That Tiger would step on the gas would not be unexpected.

Woods’ nature was never to ease up. He won the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines despite playing with a virtual broken leg that caused him to wince with pain after a swing. He never conceded, to his body or to other competitors.

The Genesis SUV that Tiger was driving hit the center divider and rolled several times. He was critically injured and after first going to a medical facility in southern California is now recovering at home in Florida.

USA Today is covering the Masters, if not quite with the urgency and depth it has covered Tiger — hiring forensic analysts who criticized the conclusions of the L.A. County Sheriff’s report.

Controversy sells, we’re told. But if Matsuyama holds the lead in the Masters, there should be no controversy.

He will have earned the victory that in itself may not make him as famous — or infamous — as Tiger Woods.

But he’ll be a Masters champion, which should be enough.

Masters success still elusive for Rory; he shoots a 76

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Sam Snead won 82 pro golf tournaments, more than Jack Nicklaus, more than Gary Player. More than anyone except Tiger Woods, who also has 82 victories.

But Snead never won the U.S. Open, and that bothered him until his final days.

The four majors, the tournaments we remember, the ones we remember. Or in the case of Snead, choose not to forget. Snead won three of the four, as did Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson.

Rory McIlroy also has three. He lacks the Masters, and although Rory is skilled enough, and days from his 32nd birthday young enough, it is legitimate to wonder if that shortcoming can be conquered.

Not only because of what McIlroy shot Thursday in the opening round of the 2021 Masters, a 4-over-par 76 that left him 11 shots behind Justin Rose, whose play at Augusta National of late has been as exciting as McIlroy’s has been discouraging, but because McIlroy seems perplexed by what continues to happen year after year — from heartbreak (that collapse in 2011 when he shot 40 the back nine) to humor (on Thursday he hit his own father in the small gallery with an approach shot to the seventh green).

“Obviously there have been a few rounds where I’ve put myself behind the 8-ball, not being able to get any momentum,” McIlroy said Tuesday when asked to describe his relationship with a course that should fit his game.

“But they all are learning lessons, and you just try to go out next time and do a little better.”

What he did the first day here was par the first four holes, then bogey the next three. You win at Augusta by making birdies, and McIlroy had only two on 8 and 15, both par-5s. Yes, the greens were hard and slick, and the wind was blowing, but you’re talking about a young man who has been No. 1 in the world rankings.

“It was tricky,” said McIlroy. Not so tricky, one must remark, that Rose couldn’t shoot 65, even though he was 2 over par after seven holes.

Surely there’s a zone of comfort — in 2017, Rose tied Sergio Garcia for first and lost in a playoff — or a zone of discomfort. Ten years on, what befell McIlroy remains the stuff of nightmares.

Tied for first with the final nine holes to go, McIlroy yanked his drive from the 10th tee so far left the ball nearly smacked into one of those buildings Augusta calls cabins and took a triple bogey. He followed that with a four-putt double bogey at 12. A final score of 80 dropped him into 15th.

Other majors, the U.S. Open, the PGA, the British, rotate among several courses. The Masters goes nowhere. It’s always at Augusta National, and so are the memories and agonies.

The Masters is back. So is Rory. So are the same questions.

Sort of golf’s version of the film Groundhog Day. Say, Rory, can we talk about where the ball landed at 10?

What McIlroy discussed after his round Thursday was everything from plunking his dad down at the seventh to the instructor with whom he once worked and again is providing assistance, Pete Cowen.

“My goal is to play well,” said McIlroy, “at least give myself a chance. Honestly, I’m quite encouraged the way I hit it on the way in. I think anytime you’re working with things on your swing it’s going to feel different.”

His father? “I knew it was my dad when I was aiming at him,” McIlroy said. “Give him an autographed glove? I don’t know. He needs to go and put some ice on it. Maybe I’ll autograph a bag of frozen peas.”

For Dustin Johnson, a Masters of success and tears

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By Art Spander

It seemed more coronation than competition. Sure, there were a few moments of doubt early on, but when it was finished there was Dustin Johnson, fighting back tears and wearing a green jacket.

Johnson had both realized a dream and broken records, taking the Masters by a figurative mile and fulfilling the promise of greatness that had been forecast but, for so long, remained more curse than blessing.

When he putted out Sunday at the final hole of the first November Masters, Johnson had a 4-under 68, an unimaginable total of 20-under-par 268 — two shots lower than the winning marks shared by Tiger Woods and Jordan Spieth — and a five-shot victory, the largest margin since Tiger’s triumph in 1997.

And when CBS’ Amanda Balionis, on a green near the Augusta National clubhouse — alone because of pandemic restrictions — asked Johnson what the win meant, he reached up to wipe his eyes and then paused several times to gather himself.

“On the golf course, I’m pretty good at it,” he said about controlling emotions. “Out here, I’m not. As a kid I dreamed about winning the Masters.”

He is the son of a golf pro and grew up in South Carolina, a couple hours away from Augusta.

“It’s been the tournament I wanted to win most,” he said.

Now he’s won it, a second major along with the 2016 U.S. Open at Oakmont — a poignant answer to those who belittled his golfing intelligence, who emphasized his failing instead of his success. And since he’s No. 1 in the world rankings, he’s had a considerable amount of success.

He has 27 wins and was PGA Tour Player of the Year in 2016 and 2020. At 36, Johnson is both young and experienced. He survived disappointment and criticism — blowing that lead in the last round of the 2002 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach made him wiser stronger.

“He’s been knocking at the door so long,” said Rory McIlroy of Johnson. “I think this validates what he did at Oakmont.”

McIlroy also has been knocking on the Masters door. It’s the only one of the four Grand Slam tournaments Rory hasn’t won. He was nine shots behind Johnson this time.

Asked about Johnson’s devil-may-care image, McIlroy said, “He’s smarter than you think. He’s switched on more than everyone in the media thinks. I’ll just put it that way.”

The fourth day of this unique Masters, one without paying spectators — patrons, they’re called by the club — one in autumn rather than April, began with in morning in order to finish before afternoon NFL games.

Johnson was four shots ahead at tee-off, but that margin was trimmed to one after he bogied four and five.  It quickly was restored. Johnson birdied six and went on his way.

Cameron Smith of Australia, who shot 69 and became the first player in the tournament’s 84 years with all four rounds in the 60s, and Sungjae Im of Korea tied for second at 273, 15-under.

“I was actually saying before, you know, I'd take 15‑under around here the rest of my career and I might win a couple,” said Smith. “So yeah, that’s just the way it is.”

Because Johnson was just the way he was — and the course, after that heavy rain Thursday morning just when play began, was just the way it was. Brooks Koepka, winner twice of the U.S. Open and twice of the PGA, said the turf was to Johnson’s liking.

“The course suited him down to the ground,” said Koepka, who tied for seventh. “He’s more of a picker of the ball. He doesn’t spin it that much with his irons. The ball’s not going to be backing up.

“He’s been on a tear since the Travelers (in June, after the Tour restarted). It almost feels like it’s coming, and it was this week.”

Said Johnson, alluding to the virus pandemic and tournaments without fans and thus without cheers, “It has been a really strange year, but it’s been really good to me.”

You might say it was a masterful year.

Dustin should win — but in golf, nothing is certain

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By Art Spander

He is four shots ahead with only a single round remaining, the world No. 1 playing like the world No. 1, loaded with confidence on a course that suits his game, breaking par and practically breaking records.

There’s only one reason that Dustin Johnson wouldn’t win this Masters. It’s called golf, and in golf nothing is certain.

Golf is a game in which you don’t have control over your opponents, and sometimes not over yourself.

A game where a one-foot putt and a 300-yard drive each count the same number of strokes. A game where you can lose a lead before you tee off.

A game where there’s no relief pitcher or backup quarterback when things go bad.

Dustin knows all about the agony of golf. He tossed away a three-shot advantage in the final round of the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, shooting 82.

He three-putted the 72 hole of the 2015 Open at Chambers Bay.

He also knows all about the ecstasy. He won the 2016 Open at Oakmont and this year everything else on the pandemic-shortened Tour schedule.

Johnson, yes, ought to take this tournament. On Saturday, he became the first in 84 years to shoot a second round of 65 in the same Masters, and his 65-70-65—200, 16 under par, ties the all-time low for 54 holes at the tournament set by Jordan Spieth.

Still, golf can be chilling. In 2011, Rory McIlroy also had a four-shot margin at the Masters and shot 80 the final day.

And only three months ago, Johnson held the lead in the PGA Championship at Harding Park in San Francisco, albeit by one stroke, and came in tied for second, a shot behind Collin Morikawa.

Yet everything seems perfect for Johnson, including the fairways and greens, soft from the big rain on Thursday morning.

“If I can play like I did today,” said Johnson, referring to his missed chances of the past, “I think it would break the streak. (Sunday) is just 18 holes of golf. I need to go out and play solid. I feel like I’m swinging well. If I can just continue to give myself looks at birdies, I think I’ll have a good day.”

He’s on a roll, which seems the proper word at Augusta National, where the hills and swales have an effect, where big hitters such as Johnson always have had an edge. On Saturday he reached the downhill 575-yard 2nd hole with a 5-iron and made the putt for an eagle 3.

His only mistake of the round was at 18, and, of course, he saved par. On the Golf Channel, Brandel Chamblee compared it to a pitcher losing a perfect game with two outs in the ninth, but it was not that fateful.

So much has been written about the power and length of Bryson DeChambeau. Dustin Johnson is a less bulked-up DeChambeau, muscular and effective. DeChambeau, by the way, came out on Saturday, played nine and made the cut after being forced to stop on Friday because of darkness.

Self-belief is a necessity in golf. When you know you’ll hit the way you want, you do just that.

“Coming off a good finish” at Houston, the previous week, Johnson said on Tuesday, “Got a lot of confidence in the game ... As long as the game stays in good form, I think I’m hopefully going to be around here Sunday and have a chance to win.”

He’s got a chance, an excellent chance.

On Saturday, after three rounds and that big lead, Johnson was no less enthusiastic.

“I would say the game is in really good form,” said Johnson. “It’s just very consistent. I feel like I’ve got a lot of control over what I’m doing, controlling my distance well with my flight and my shape. I’m very comfortable standing over the golf ball, and obviously that’s a really good feeling.”

He just needs to hold on to that feeling. In golf, it can disappear as rapidly as a ball into a water hazard, and there are plenty of those the back nine at the Masters.

Cantlay is back as a contender at the Masters

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By Art Spander

The same guys seem to play well there every year. Patrick Cantlay said it about the Masters. He meant people like Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson and Dustin Johnson.

He could have included someone else: himself.

Cantlay briefly was in the final-round lead a year ago after an eagle at the 15th. A couple of bogies and that celebrated win by Tiger all but chased him out of our memories.

Now, two rounds into this ’20 Masters, Cantlay’s back, and very much so.

The leaders, four people including Johnson, Justin Thomas — two of the same guys — Abraham Ancer and Cameron Smith (who are new guys), were tied for the temporary 36-hole lead at 9-under-par 135. Temporary because the second round wasn’t concluded.

Cantlay, whose 66 shared Friday’s low round, was a shot behind for 36 holes, at 136. He needed nine holes Friday morning to complete the first round that was unfinished Thursday, and then he played another 18. Phew.

“Today was a long day,” he said, as if one that began on the course at 7:30 a.m. and ended in late afternoon could be anything else.

It also was a successful day, if a bit nerve-wracking. The first time around, his second shot to the 15th landed on the crest of a slope and trickled into the water.

“I got up and down for a par 5,” said a relieved Cantlay, “which was pretty big at the time.”

In the afternoon he birdied the hole, just missing an eagle attempt.

Cantlay is 28. His background is the stuff of movie plots, perhaps appropriate for a native southern Californian. While at UCLA in 2011, he was the world’s No. 1 amateur. He went pro and first incurred a stress fracture in his back, then became despondent after his caddy, a long-time friend, was struck fatally by a hit-and-run driver in Newport Beach near where Cantlay stood.

“For a while, I could care less about everything,” Cantlay told the Santa Ana Register. “Not just golf, everything ... Nothing felt like it mattered.”

Certainly golf matters now. He won the Zozo tournament, his third Tour victory, at Sherwood outside Los Angeles, his home area, three weeks ago. And while he said that is a confidence boost, he tries not to get too emotional. Even about his chances at the Masters.

“I do everything in a stoic way,” said Cantlay. ”I don’t work on it too much. If anything, I work on trying to smile a little more. I’m just kind of naturally that way. I’m that way when I eat breakfast. I’m that way when I play cards. That’s who I am.” 

That works for both cards and golf, of course. Don’t show how you feel, until the end. Don’t get rattled or excited.

Ben Hogan would have approved. The great Hogan rarely changed expression on the course. Golf was serious labor to Ben, as it is to Cantlay.

“I enjoy it out there,” said Cantlay. “Golf is what I love to do. But I’m just as focused as I can on doing the best I can.”

He should be pleased, then, to know that in the last four rounds played in the Masters, of the players on the leaderboard, he’s been the best, at 20 under par.

“I think part of that,” he said about the achievement, “is you just get good feelings here, and you come back every year. I’m just trying to build those good feelings.”

Construction is nearly complete.

“I think for the most part my game plan hasn’t changed much,” said Cantlay, “but just feeling comfortable and getting some momentum around here ... Some good stuff was coming, and it did at the Zozo.

“Hopefully there’s still more to come.”

Woods’ opening Masters round was ‘Tiger-esque’

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By Art Spander

Tiger-esque. Justin Leonard used the word, a neologism, about a round of golf Thursday by, yes, Tiger Woods — who else?

He used it on the Golf Channel. Used it to describe the way that Woods shot a 4-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Masters. Used it to emphasize that, in this era of power, this age of Bryson DeChambeau and 400-yard tee shots, there’s still a place for accuracy and consistency.

There's still room for someone like Leonard himself, the 1997 British Open champion, who when he wasn’t splitting fairways was saving pars out of bunkers.

Day One of the 84th Masters, and there was Woods — near the end of a golfing year full of disappointment and questions — high on a leader board of nostalgia.  

Tiger was three shots behind Paul Casey — a lead that, because the round would not be completed until Friday after a 2-hour, 47-minute rain delay, was not definite. But Woods was there, definitely. And unexpectedly, perhaps.

The Masters is the old guys’ major, where experience counts. Those greens are killers, loaded with subtle breaks and drops, even when the tournament is shifted to the fall for the first time from its traditional spring dates because of the pandemic.

Jack Nicklaus won it at age 46 in 1986. Familiarity brings contentment when you no longer can bring the long ball. Check Thursday’s scores: Bernhard Langer, 70 (he’s age 63); Larry Mize, also a 70 (he’s age 62).

Tiger isn’t quite in that age group, but he will be 45 in December, and he hadn’t done much since the Tour restarted in the summer after the Covid suspension.

But he is Tiger. We’ve seen it in Nicklaus, in Gary Player, in athletes from other sports. Greatness may diminish, but it doesn’t disappear. As Woods reminded us.

He stunned us in the last Masters, winning when supposedly he had no chance. He couldn’t do it again, could he?

“In the beginning of his career, (Woods) was Nolan Ryan,” said Leonard, invoking a fellow Texan for comparison. “He could do things nobody else could do with a golf ball. Now he’s more of a Greg Maddux. He’s got to mix his pitches. He’s got to paint the corners of the plate. He’s got to fool the hitters.”

A baseball analogy. In golf, the only people Tiger has to fool are those who figure his career has reached the end.

“I saw Tiger (on Thursday) hit a lot of little knockdown shots,” said Leonard, about lower-trajectory or punch shots. “He has to do things differently. (Fellow analyst) Brandel Chamblee spoke of softer conditions bringing the medium-length hitters back into the fold. It certainly was soft, and Woods certainly is a medium-length hitter.”

Still, your score is based on how many strokes you take, not how long or short you hit the ball.

On Thursday, Woods took almost a minimum. He had nothing higher on any hole than a par, his first bogey-free round of his last 106 rounds in the majors and his first at the Masters since 2008. He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 greens.

“Yeah, I did everything well,” said Woods. “I drove it well, hit my irons well, putted well. The only bad shot I hit today was, I think, eight. (That’s the uphill par-5). I had a perfect number (yards) with a 60-degree sand wedge, and I hit it on the wrong shelf.”

Woods said he is upbeat any time he’s at Augusta National Golf Club, the Masters' home, and why not? He’s won the tournament five times, one fewer than Nicklaus and one more than Arnold Palmer.

“Understanding how to play this golf course is so important,” said Woods. “I’ve been saying that I’ve been lucky enough to have so many practice rounds throughout my career with so many past champions. And I was able to win the event early in my career and build myself up for understanding you’re going to come (here) every year.

“I saw Raymond (Floyd), Bernhard (Langer) and Freddie (Couples) always contend late in their careers (each was a Masters champion). Just understanding how to play this golf course was a big part of it.”

Tiger Woods, who has been a big part of the Masters, obviously understands.

Pretension and competition — that’s the Masters

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By Art Spander

The Masters always has been a tournament of equal parts pretension and competition.

The insistence to call spectators “patrons” can be discomforting.

The intent to put on an event CBS’s Jim Nantz calls “a tradition unlike any other” — is that pretentious enough for you? — can be satisfying.

A month from his 45th birthday, Tiger Woods will appear in this Masters, which starts on Thursday. As both defending champion and symbol.

He has become not only the face of the event but, because of his ethnic background and singular recognition, the voice as well, interesting especially for those who remember the bad old days of racism in the game and at the club.

A sport once as white as the balls used for play, golf crept slowly into the present. The Masters began in 1934. No African-American appeared until 1975, when Lee Elder was in the field.

The current Masters chairman, Fred Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion, announced Monday that Elder, now 86, next April would join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit a ceremonial first tee shot.

Woods tweeted his delight, and on Tuesday, interview day for so many of the big guns, Tiger said in affirmation, “Lee was a pioneer. He was the one that broke the color barrier here and paved the way for players of color like myself to be able to play in this event.”

Woods also was aware of a chronological connection.

“It’s ironic he did it in ’75.” Woods said of Elder. “I was born in ’75, and when I won in ’97 (Elder) was on the back of the green. So to have him here Monday, and to be able to see him and have him as our honorary starter next April — it’s awfully special and important in the history of the event. But for me personally, it’s probably even more important.”

When it comes to importance, no one at the moment compares to Tiger. As ESPN is all too well aware.

The network may not care that much for golf — the NFL is the hot item, of course — but it cares for personalities and ratings. Since ESPN has the Thursday and Friday rounds (CBS has Saturday and Sunday), it has overwhelmed us with Tiger.

Look, Woods’ come-from-behind victory 19 months ago was stunning, but it wasn’t a world changing, “where were you when?” sort of occurrence like the moon landing. Big in sports? Absolutely. But let’s not get carried away.

Tiger’s first Masters was in 1995, when he was 19 and a freshman at Stanford. A quarter century later, he recalls a Wednesday practice round with a couple of tournament champions named Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

“I was a little punk college student,” a chuckling Woods said, “and we’re playing for skins (dollars) and I didn’t have any cash in my pocket.”

Through the years, even after he earned millions, Woods was notorious for not paying off golf debts.

“Arnold makes a putt on 18,” said Tiger. “Takes all the skins away from us. And Jack and Arnold asked me, ‘Hey, do you want to go play the par-3 contest?’ Well, I’m scheduled to go later. ‘Well, just follow us.’ And we played together, and that was awesome.”

The word is overused in sports, but it very much applies to Woods. He won the ’97 Masters, and as the TV folks tell us, he “made the dial move.” Anytime he’s out there, it still moves.

Woods has won five Masters and 82 pro tournaments. He’s won the love of golf fans — well, patrons — and manufacturers of golf products, not a small percentage of which have shirts and hats with his logo on the front.

A fixture in April, the Masters in 2020 has been shifted to late autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic.

”We’ve never played it in the fall,” said Woods. “The grass is different. The conditions are different. The run-up to the event is different.”

But it still is the Masters, pretension and competition. Wonderful.

Tiger Woods fan Tony Finau has major talent of his own

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

AUGUSTA, Ga. — He is the baggage handler’s son of Tongan-Samoan descent who at age 7 for the first time in his life watched a golf tournament on television. It was the 1997 Masters. He was transfixed.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2019 Newsday. All rights reserved.

For Tiger, a special award and a solid round

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By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

AUGUSTA, Ga. — This was another award for Tiger Woods. Yet not just another award. He had won Opens on both sides of the Atlantic, won Masters, been voted Player of the Year. But the trophy he was given Wednesday night was as much for courage and fortune as it was for success.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2019, The Maven 

Newsday (N.Y.): Jordan Spieth makes run at another jacket, but finishes two shots back

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By Art Spander
Special to Newsday

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Jordan Spieth was nine shots behind, virtually out of this Masters when he teed off Sunday in the final round. Not only was he trailing the leader, Patrick Reed, but major winners such as Rory McIlroy, Bubba Watson and Henrik Stenson, an all-star cast.

The plan then was to play with no expectations, “stress-free golf,” he called it.

Read the full story here.

Copyright © 2018 Newsday. All rights reserved.