A Vintage and a New Tiger Woods Were Both at the Masters, and It Was a Joy

The effort required just to get to this point, Michael Rosenberg writes, was extensive for Tiger Woods. Then in an opening 71, he summoned his old self.

Michael Rosenberg | Apr 7, 2022

A Vintage and a New Tiger Woods Were Both at the Masters, and It Was a Joy /

AUGUSTA, Ga. – If you were wondering whether you would see that old Tiger Woods magic or an old, limping Tiger Woods, the answer was yes. In his first true competitive round since November 2020, Woods shot 71, which was, incredibly, right on his previous average for a Masters round (70.87). On the par-3 sixth hole, he stuffed his tee shot close to the pin, eliciting a roar from the crowd packed around the green, then walked gingerly down the hill between the tee and the green, one of the steepest on the course.

He looked like he could do this forever, and also like he could never do it again.

Woods has had more incredible days at Augusta National than many World Golf Hall of Famers have had on the whole planet. But even for him, this was insane. He got a huge ovation as he walked to the practice putting green. The crowds around every hole were unlike any I’ve seen for him (or anyone) at the Masters, including when he won in 2019. And this was just Thursday.

Shooting 71 just 14 months after he mangled his leg in a car accident was absolutely outrageous – not because he came all the way back, but because he didn’t.

“People have no idea how hard it's been,” Woods said, and the tone was not woe-is-me or wow-I’m-superhuman. I think he meant, literally, that people have no idea how hard it’s been.

“If you would have seen how my leg looked to where it's at now, the pictures — some of the guys know,” he said. “They've seen the pictures, (or) they've come over to the house and they've seen it.”

He said he felt “as sore as I expected to feel.” He also said he “had a terrible warmup session. I hit it awful.” But as soon as he put a tee in the ground on No. 1, he was Tiger Woods and this was Augusta National and nothing else mattered. He had told his medical team “come game time, it will be a different deal. My adrenaline will kick in. I'll get into my own little world, and I'll get after it,” and that happened almost immediately.

But the gait was uneven. He appeared to be using his driver a bit like a cane on the 15th hole. And this was just Thursday.

It is logical to assume this was the best Woods will feel all weekend. He said, “I'm going to be sore, yes. That's just the way it is … and this is only one round. We've got three more to go. There's a long way to go and a lot of shots to be played.”

Wrapped inside Woods’s remarkable day was a still-uncertain future. Woods said this week that he expects the pain to go down over time, but his mobility will probably not improve. He has also said he will never play close to a full schedule again. If he can’t practice nearly as much as elite golfers, and he can’t compete as often as elite golfers, and every walk from tee to green brings considerable pain, can he really win again? And if not, will all the work still be worth it?

Like the old Tiger, he said Tuesday that he came here to win. But he also said Thursday that this was already a win. It absolutely was a win. But will he consider playing Friday’s second round a win? Is making the cut a win? If he does make the cut, will making the next cut be a win?

For any rational golf fan, just seeing Woods play again is a joy. Whether he wins or not shouldn’t really matter. But fans aren’t the ones putting in the work, and fans aren’t the crazy competitor who has conditioned himself to expect greatness.

Woods has always said he did not want to be a ceremonial golfer, getting cheered for shots he hit years ago. He still thinks like the guy who won 15 majors. He began his media session after Thursday’s round by saying “I'll start off with disappointment,” and then he bemoaned making bogey when he could have made birdie on the par-5 eighth.” He was asked whether he was hesitant about pulling it off what was perhaps his best shot of the day, a violent swing off the pine straw from 190 yards at No. 14, and he flashed that steely exterior we see from so many legends: “I was going to pull it off. I had a gap. I had a window. I was going to hit it.”

Woods is not really battling Jack Nicklaus anymore. He is not even primarily battling the other golfers or even the course. Every round he plays is a battle between his competitive spirit and his physical limitations.

“It did not get easier, let's put it that way. I can swing a golf club. The walking's not easy … my leg, it's going to be difficult for the rest of my life. That's just the way it is, but I'm able to do it.

He kept crediting his team, and for once, a golfer talking about his “team” did not sound ridiculous. It did take a team to get Woods here. But that 71 wasn’t the team; it was all Tiger Woods.

Let’s put it in context, or try. Justin Thomas, whom Woods refers to as a little brother, is one of the best golfers in the world. Thomas has improved measurably since he reached No. 1 in the world in 2018; he can now hit so many different shots in so many conditions that his game seems made for Augusta National. He has also played enough here to know, as Woods says, “where to miss.” Thomas shot 76 Thursday. Woods beat him by five strokes. That is the difference between a future World Golf Hall of Famer and Tiger Woods.

His toughness, his desire, his resilience are so far off any chart you could possibly imagine. But we knew all that about Woods. There are two hopes now. One is that he can summon more rounds like Thursday’s. The other is that even if he doesn’t, he can still find joy in the game and share it with others. At his peak, Woods was so focused on winning that he was unmoved by sentiment on the course. As he walked to the 16th tee Thursday, he tipped his cap, a subtle acknowledgement that no matter how he finished his round, he had earned every damn one of those cheers.

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