Mind of a champion doesn't permit failure
By Frank Luksa
The Dallas Morning News
(KRT)
AUGUSTA, Ga. - An old man sat beneath an older oak tree outside
the Augusta National Golf Club clubhouse. The name on the man's
Masters badge read "Earl Woods."
Earl, 64, lounged in the cool shade provided by the oak's wide
canopy of branches. The tree is estimated to be 140-150 years
of age and to have presided over the altered purpose of these
grounds from plantation to nursery to golf course.
Earl has survived two heart attacks and an under-fire combat
tour of Vietnam. The longer-lived oak has endured drought and
flood, lightning and disease. Together, they symbolized past and
present roots entwined in the history of the Masters.
That was last Friday morning and Earl's son, Tiger, had not
yet won the 61st Masters in record-breaking style as he did Sunday.
Nor had Tiger even teed off on the second round to confront a
three-shot deficit behind John Huston's front-running 67. He was
still a face in the crowd, albeit the favorite face of swollen
galleries moving in step with his tall, slim figure as if urged
by migrating instinct.
Earl was at ease, recuperating from a recent heart flare-up
and under doctor's orders to avoid the physical strain of walking
Augusta National's steep hills. All he could do was talk about
the son he taught to swing a golf club from the crib. Something
Earl said about Tiger rang prophetic:
"Put him in trouble, and that's when he is most dangerous
because he has a very creative mind ... a powerful mind."
Tiger was never in more trouble than after he shot a front-nine,
four-over 40 on the opening round. Whereupon, he exposed TV analyst
Ken Venturi's myth that the Masters really doesn't begin until
the back nine on Sunday. This Masters began instead on the backside
on Thursday.
As he made the turn, Woods was gripped by a skid few repair
in mid-round. He'd left a trail of spilled oil over the front
nine. It's common for the leak to continue until corrected on
a post-round practice range. But not to an uncommonly creative
and powerful mind.
Woods restored his game on the fly. He came home six-under
30. In retrospect, the Masters also ended there. Woods shot the
next 36 holes in 13 under to fashion a nine-stroke feather bed
entering the final round.
If one shot turned him on, it emerged Thursday from more trouble
on the treacherous par-3 12th. He faced a silk-slick, downhill-toward-Rae's
Creek pitch from a rubbish lie. He sank it from 40 feet for birdie
to ignite a birdie at No. 13, eagle on No. 15 and birdie at No.
17.
Tiger's play entered the realm of the unreal. He displayed
cross-county length off the tee, radar-directed irons from the
fairway and safe-cracker touch on the greens. He shrank Augusta
National to a series of short par-4s. His game was so long and
strong that rivals appeared puny and clumsy, as if they swung
broomsticks.
Woods impressed as capable of playing the Masters with one
ball and four clubs - driver, 6-iron, wedge of choice and putter.
Then winning it while playing barefoot, munching a cheeseburger
and side order of fries.
Meantime, much social significance attached to Tiger's mosaic
of bloodlines, which cast him as a minority. He's the product
of African-American-Indian-Chinese father Earl and Thai-Dutch
mother Kultida. On the basis of that mixture, Kultida refers to
her son as the "universal child."
Well he might be because what you heard, saw and felt about
Deep South perceptions of Woods was a healthy attitude. People
were keener to appreciate his prodigious talent than to fix upon
the color of his skin.
Paul Azinger best expressed that thought Sunday: "When
I look at Tiger, I don't see color. I see the kid. And right now,
the kid is the greatest golfer in the world."
Tiger's reaction to his rout-in-progress was becoming and revealing.
He exhibited neither surprise nor undue elation at the prospect
of becoming, at 21, the youngest Masters champion. A stranger
to failure, he has no contact with fear. He emitted a confident
air that his intent to win meshed with a foretold destiny.
So it became Sunday when he finished 70-66-65-69-270 to cut
one stroke from the 72-hole record set in 1965 by Jack Nicklaus
and set another Masters mark for widest margin of victory (12
strokes). Augusta National lay battered and exhausted from an
18-under-par plunder. Woods confirmed his genius for playing this
course by ravaging the last 63 holes in 22 under.
Now he's winner of his first major in his first attempt as
a pro. Mentor-coach Butch Harmon predicts that Tiger's game even
better suits Congressional Country Club in Bethesda, Md., site
of the U.S. Open in June. That is warning enough.
The genie is out of the bottle.
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