On the 18th, a tired approach shot left him way short and he made bogey again. In his weather-proof jacket, Woods thrashed out of fairway rubbish on 17, livid with the result and a bogey five buried him. The temperature dropped, the wind got up and it rained again. Tiger had rope-a-doped the event, had he? He needed a spectacular finish.įive holes left, four shots to make up. In the space of 20 minutes, he had a Kinshasa moment: back-to-back birdies for four over, three outside the cut with seven holes left. Early in his round, the breeze could do no more than tug at his thinning curls. Woods was not trying to win the tournament. The putt, curving like a longbow over about 25 feet, was magnificent, dropping gently into the hole for a birdie. He looked every inch a champion in a white top and black trousers – then shoved his first tee-shot into the semi-rough. There were flickers of greatness before he left. But three of Woods’s missed cuts in majors have come at the Open – in 2009, 2015 and here. Between 19 Woods made a record 142 cuts in a row, one of the most astonishing records in the history of the game Byron Nelson’s 113 and Nicklaus’s 105 are way in the distance, next best. Jack won it in ‘86 at 46, his 18th and last major. He won his fifth Masters at 43, after all, the 15th major of his career. Yet mortals always demand miracles from their heroes. And like Federer at Wimbledon last Sunday, he has learned to cope with disappointment. Like Federer, he loves his sport to distraction. He is playing to keep the last embers of his fire going. Woods, one of the first billionaire athletes, is not playing “just for the money”. “When you start playing just for the money,” he said last year, “it’s time to wonder.” The Swiss, 38 next month, has husbanded his resources like a war-time sugar thief. So, maybe Woods was not so much Ali – who could find the self-destruct button in the dark and punched his way into a palsied abyss – but the more measured Roger Federer. I had a different body.”ĭavid Duval endured a torrid two days at Portrush. But there are times when I’m just not going to be there. I’m going to be in contention, and I will win tournaments. However, although the tailor probably needed no more than minor tweaks to fit his green jacket, there would forever be vulnerability in his broad back and his unreliable knees.īefore departing Portrush, he said: “One of the hardest things to accept as an older athlete is that you’re not going to be as consistent as you were at 23. The former is technical and he was able to harness his revamped swing at Augusta. So I’m going to have to make those adaptations.”įor Woods, golf has become a dual calibration: of what he can do with a golf ball, and what he can ask his body to endure. Let’s be honest, I don’t have the flexibility I used to have, and never will. If I handled those par-fives, well, I would be right there. I was in perfect condition all three of them. “I had a chance to get it back to even par for the tournament. Woods was characteristically tough on himself, and candid. Five hours later, he was 14 behind Holmes and going home. As with his career, the clock was ticking louder and faster than before. On a morning milder than the on-off wet chill of Thursday, Woods was 12 shots behind the overnight leader, JB Holmes, and, at seven over, five or so shots beyond the estimated cut.
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