It was as windy as most of us have ever seen at Augusta National, the kind of day that makes a difficult game close to impossible. Many were brought to their knees. Dustin Johnson, Bubba Watson, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman, Justin Rose, all major winners. They slammed their trunks and headed for the airport. And the older guy with the broken body, Tiger Woods, coped. Without fuss and, indeed, without much jeopardy.
For the 24th consecutive time, Woods made the cut at the Masters. No one else in the history of this tournament has done that. One more record for a man not in short supply. Should you happen to encounter him when he comes to Troon for the Open Championship in July, it’s probably best not to mention his new record.
Congratulating him for making a cut, even 24 of them at the Masters, is akin to praising Plácido Domingo for clearing his throat. Soon after Woods had leaned on his masterful short game to save par on the 18th green, a TV interviewer asked what taking the outright record for most consecutive cuts at the Masters meant. He offered but a crumb of what the interviewer sought.
“It’s consistency,” he said before getting to the point. “You can’t win the golf tournament unless you’re here for the weekend. Anyone who makes the cut has a chance. Lance [Bennett, his caddie] and I really did some good fighting today, and we’ve got a chance.” At one over par, he has a lot of ground to make up on the leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler, but there’s a lot of golf still to be played.
At 48 years old and with so many plates and bolts holding him together, Tiger Woods could literally be the game’s most magnetic player. Metaphorically, he is certainly that. He has been at the centre of the sport for 27 years and even now things happen that are uniquely tied to him. Star quality is hard to define, easy to recognise when you see it. Standing high on the steep path that drops from the sixth tee to the green, we stop because from here the view is exceptional. Woods has hit his tee shot, it just about clears the front bunker and sits on a little upslope in front of the green.
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“He should be able to get that up and down,” the TV commentators will say. Behind me stands a young man, mid-thirties, with his hands on his girlfriend’s shoulders. He is talking a lot faster than Woods now walks. “You see where Tiger’s ball is?” he ask. “Yeah,” she replies. “I’m telling you, he could chip this in.” “Really?” she says.
● As it happened: Masters second round
Of course, he is just sharing his enthusiasm for the game, offering her a way in. Overhearing the conversation, I feel a silly urge to turn and point out that it’s a pretty straightforward chip, one that every professional could hole and a few would expect to hole. Better to let it pass. Woods gets to the green, pulls a wedge from his bag and holes the chip. Good pace, it’s going nowhere but into the hole.
My neighbour on the path isn’t settling for understated satisfaction. “I said he would chip it in, didn’t I? F***ing great shot, awesome shot.” His girlfriend nods her approval. Maybe golf isn’t a boring game after all.
How Woods ends his sporting life matters. He had to play 23 holes on the second day of his tournament, as a rain delay meant he could play only 13 holes on the first day. And the breeze turned into swirling wind, making the conditions seriously difficult. Same for everyone but more problematical for those with extra holes to play. Down at Amen Corner he went from the 11th green to the 12th tee and Butch Harmon thought he saw Woods limping.
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Mentally, he stayed strong. In such difficult conditions, bogeys became part of pretty much every player’s card. Perhaps more than any player in the tournament, Woods can feel the wind and adjust his expectations. He birdied the third, bogeyed the fourth and fifth, made that chip-in on the sixth, bogeyed the seventh, birdied the eighth. He gives them, he takes them and he forgets them before he reaches the next tee.
There were moments when the wind was at its most capricious that it seemed he was just a bogey away from trouble with the cut line. But this was to forget who he is, how much skill he still retains and how unrelenting his desire to stay in the fight is. Playing is what others do, competing is what he does.
There are more smiles now, less impatience with a wayward shot, but he nevertheless remains a man dedicated to getting the best of himself. For this alone, he deserves his place in the weekend field and, even though he doesn’t attach any significance to the record-making 24th consecutive cut at the Masters, it is not an inconsequential achievement.
Before this, he shared the record with Freddie Couples and Gary Player. Couples has long been a buddy. Asked if he would be teasing his friend, he said, “I think I will be able to as soon as I’m done with you guys, [I will] text Freddy and give him a little needle.” The record that Woods attaches some importance to is the 142 consecutive cuts he made on the PGA Tour.
This is all related to his character, his refusal to give up. He is Tiger Woods. He can still play. Why, he silently wonders, would you imagine I might miss the cut? As it turned out, he made it by four shots.
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In the gusting winds, sand swirled from the bunkers and every player was missing greens. Chipping counted and Woods’s short game was immaculate. To chip the way he did after playing only 25 holes of tournament golf this year was truly remarkable. His chipping saved him many times but being able to chip well may be the game’s toughest challenge. Trust him to be good at it. That and his ability to hang tough helped him through the first two days.
When it was all done, he was asked how he felt. “Really tired and really hungry,” he said. “I need some food and some caffeine.” It’s the least he deserves.
