Ponte Vedra Beach, FL—Two minority players with divergent career paths—one on the climb as a relative newcomer and the other a legend trying to make the long climb back to the top of the tour—found themselves in a similar starting block as they attempted to chase down frontrunner Webb Simpson in the final round of the Players Championship at the TPC Sawgrass on Sunday, April 13, 2018.
Tiger Woods and Harold Varner III (HVIII), both at eight-under par, weren’t paired together, but they were within shouting distance for four hours in the heat of battle. In fact, HVIII was just two groups ahead of Tiger and certainly aware of the latter’s steady climb up the leaderboard from the resounding roars that accompanied every rung.
Tiger coming off the par 5 16th hole in route to number 17 tee box. (Photo by John Perry)
When Tiger poured in a short birdie putt on the driveable par-4 12th hole to go to -14, the massive gallery following him let everyone within a country mile know that the two-time Players champ was making a move, including Varner less than a long iron away on No. 14.
Unfortunately for Tiger, his momentum stalled with a lob wedge approach shot that spun off the green at 14 and led to his first bogey of the final round. His rally suffered another blow when he failed to birdie the par-5 16th and totally evaporated with a rinsed tee shot at the island green 17th that led to a double bogey.
“It was blowing downwind, and then, unfortunately, it switched in my face,’’ Tiger said.
If the cheers for Tiger shook the earth, they didn’t register on Varner’s seismometer. The third-year PGA Tour member quietly put together a charge of his own. A short birdie putt at 17 lifted him to -13. A bogey at the 72nd hole left him in a tie for seventh place, his best finish of the year—one shot better than Tiger and six short of Webb’s winning score.
Ready To Get Back To Work
“Gosh, it felt good just to be up there,’’ said a pumped Varner. “I haven’t been up there in a while, since Greensboro or the Australian PGA. I’m just ready to play again, honestly. I’m ready to get back to work.’’
Earlier in the week Tiger and HVIII played a practice round together during which the legend displayed several veteran moves of which the young man took note.
“It helped me out just not being so aggressive off the tee, and I think it paid off,’’ said Varner, who often eschewed the driver and long ball approach for the accuracy of a long iron on the TPC Stadium Course which can severely penalize wayward drives.
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The practice round also gave Varner a personal view of Tiger’s progress in his much-publicized comeback from back surgery.
“Man, he’s hitting it far, really, really far,’’ Varner said. “But even though he’s hitting it far, I feel as if he’s just so tactical. I thought that was unique, like if I hit it as far as he did, I would hit driver everywhere. But you can tell that’s like not the recipe sometimes for success.’’
Meanwhile, Tiger’s T11 was somewhat bittersweet.
“I played so well this weekend,’’ he said. “Unfortunately, I just didn’t cash in.’’
The takeaway is one of promise nearly fulfilled with expectations of future success sooner than later.
“I felt good in basically every facet of my game,’’ Tiger said.
That bodes well for Tiger’s fans, perhaps new among them his most recent practice partner and fellow competitor.
“I just always wanted to compete against him,’’ Varner said. “I never thought I would play a practice round with him to be honest with you. It would have been cool to have been paired with him today. That would have been awesome.’’
Awesome indeed.
ABOUT PETE McDANIEL
Pete McDaniel is a veteran golf writer and best-selling author. His blogs and books are available at petemcdaniel.com Comments on this topic may be emailed directly to Pete at: gdmcd@aol.com or visit his Facebook page.
