AUGUSTA, Ga. — Choosing the moments that will most define the career of Tiger Woods is like selecting the most beautiful snowflakes in a New England blizzard, but it’s difficult to find better than the five occasions when he sat atop the glamorous end of the leaderboard at the Masters.
In 1997, when he won his first major championship by 12 strokes.
In 2001, his sixth major victory and fourth in a row.
In 2002, when he became only the third man to repeat.
In 2005, when his chip-and-drip on the 16th hole produced the most celebrated call in the career of Verne Lundquist.
And in 2019, the most improbable of them all, when he held off the world’s best golfers, Father Time and Mother Nature to grab his 15th and most recent major, almost 11 years after his 14th.
“Most recent.” One could type “last,” but Woods has achieved the implausible so often that those who have covered him are hesitant to suggest finality. But the time when optimistic caveats are dispensed with is obviously at hand, and would be so even if he wasn’t 48 years old and more familiar with the knife than a jar of peanut butter.
The 88th Masters was Woods’ 26th. He finished in 60th place, last among those who made the weekend. In terms of competitive relevance, physical power, intimidatory aura and leaderboard position, he was as far from the player he once was as it seems possible to get. And yet the man who famously said “second sucks, and third is even worse” was able to find small successes on that bottom rung.
Tiger Woods tees off on No. 3 during the third round of the 2024 Masters Tournament. (Photo: Adam Cairns-USA TODAY Network)
“It was a good week. It was a good week all around,” he said. “I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time, it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, yesterday it didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to.”
Entering the week, Woods had completed 72 holes just three times in the past four years. He sits 959th in the Official World Golf Ranking, right between household names Soren Broholt Lind and Ruan Korb. In the past couple of years, he has spent considerably more working time in PGA Tour meetings than in PGA Tour events. Given that context, perhaps small wins like making the cut do count for something, especially when six guys who won on the PGA Tour this season failed to do so. But enough to think there’s still a chance? That in the right circumstances — body…
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