Woods "Tigerproofs" Augusta all by
himself
By DOUG FERGUSON AP Sports Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) - He didn't hit drives as far or his irons
as crisp, nor did he putt particularly well. When the Masters
was over, Tiger Woods was even a little off when he tried to fit
Mark O'Meara with the green jacket.
"Tiger had the right arm so high, I couldn't reach to
get the sleeve on," O'Meara said.
It was a typical conclusion to Woods' defense of the tournament
that many figured he would win simply by showing up. As it turned
out, Masters officials didn't have to bother making Augusta National
"Tigerproof."
Woods took care of that by himself.
By the time Woods teed off Sunday afternoon, it was clear that
nobody - not even him - would be able to come close to his record
score of 18-under-par 270 that he shot last year.
In bombing every drive, hitting par-5s with wedges and topping
that off with the unthinkable - no three-putts - there were suggestions
from every corner that Woods had made Augusta obsolete.
This time, Augusta made Woods just another golfer.
"I'm human," Woods said after a 70 - his 11th straight
round without breaking 70 - left him at 3-under 285, six strokes
behind his neighbor and good friend, O'Meara.
"The only thing I can say about my game is I go out and
give it everything I've got," he said. "Sometimes I'll
shoot like I did last year. Sometimes it'll be like this year."
Woods had described his domination of Augusta last year as
the whole package. He boomed his drives an average of 323 yards,
which left him shorter irons into greens that must be hit in the
right place.
And if the ball is on the right section of the green, it becomes
a little easier to not only make birdies, but to avoid three-putts.
About 30 minutes before Woods teed off in the final round,
still only five strokes back and confident he could win, he was
on the driving range with coach Butch Harmon trying to fine-tune
his iron play.
He would take the club a quarter of the way back and then stop,
check his alignment, and continue with the swing.
It didn't seem to work. Woods was errant with his iron play
all week. Not by much, but it doesn't take much at Augusta.
As a result, he hit only 46 of the 72 greens in regulation,
compared with 55 greens last year. And it didn't help that his
driving distance of 295 yards was 28 yards shorter.
As for those three-putts? Woods' streak of 113 consecutive
holes without one ended Saturday on the first green, and he had
another one Sunday on the par-5 eighth.
That in itself spelled disaster for Woods. A year ago, Woods
was 13 under on the par-5s alone. Not only did he fail to make
an eagle on any of them in four rounds, he made bogey twice -
No. 8 on Sunday, and No. 15 in the second round.
It was there Woods conceded his chances to become only the
third repeat winner at Augusta were over. He stuck a 7-iron to
about 10 feet on No. 15, only to see the eagle putt slip below
the hole.
"Unfortunately, I wasn't able to make the key shots and
the key putts to get things really started," he said.
Woods still wound up in a tie for eighth and stayed in contention
for all four rounds in a major for the first time since he won
the Masters last year.
Jack Nicklaus said Woods would win at least 10 green jackets,
and Woods proved last year he wasn't kidding. This week, Woods
showed only that it won't be easy.
"People just don't know how hard this golf course is,"
Woods said. "I don't think you need to change this golf course.
The conditions here are just tough enough as it is."
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