By Pete McDaniel
Freelance Writer
The old man shifted in his easy chair and took a long, deep drag off his cigarette, an inch or so of ashes defying gravity by refusing to fall to earth in Sinatra style. The soft, melodic notes from the jazz musician’s saxophone filtered through the surround sound speakers as the steamy dew reached for the sky outside the window overlooking nature’s morning majesty.
“They can question Tiger’s swing, his course management or any damn thing they want to,’’ he said with the frankness of an expert on the subject. “One thing they should never question is the size of his heart. They can’t fathom how much heart he has.’’
Earl Woods spoke not of what he believed but of what he knew better than anyone else, except perhaps Tiger’s mom Kultida. After all, both parents were architects of Tiger’s will power and self-confidence.
Throughout his illustrious career, Tiger has proved his dad’s opinion about his son’s resolve was right on target. Just like the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, Earl’s assessment that Tiger was born with the heart of a champion was just as reliable.
When you combine Tiger’s heart with an unsurpassed mental toughness, you have the essence of the masterpiece he painted Sunday in winning the Masters for the fifth time and ending an 11-year winless stretch in major championships.
More importantly, you’re afforded a rare peep into the fiber of a man who made the unthinkable climb from the pits of golfing and personal hell to the mountaintop of personal and professional glory. What you witnessed was the purest view of the heart of a champion.
To the naysayers, of which there were many now waxing poetic about Tiger’s resurrection, former NBA player and coach Rudy Tomjanovich warned of the folly in writing off a true champion.
“In the world there are believers and then there are non-believers. For all of you non-believers out there, I have something to say to you,’’ he said. “Don’t ever underestimate the heart of a champion.’’
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On Sunday, in the cauldron that is the back nine of the Masters at Augusta National GC, Tiger Woods once again personified his father’s image of a champion with a one-stroke victory that brought tears to the eyes of anyone who understood the enormity of his major accomplishment.
“Just unreal,’’ said Tiger, his crimson eyes dancing before the cameras. “Just the whole tournament has meant so much to me over the years. Just the way it transpired today…You couldn’t have had more drama…Now you know why I’m balding (laughing). It’s hard.
“It hasn’t sunk in at all. I hit some of the best shots on the back nine today. I just flushed it coming home.’’
It had been 14 years (the longest drought for any past Masters champion) since Tiger slipped on the green jacket and flashed that familiar 1,000-watt smile in victory. For those of us who live and die with every shot of his, it seemed much longer.
This win was forged on overcoming. Overcoming the uncertainty of a career fraught with physical, emotional and mental setbacks of debilitating consequence. Overcoming the negative rhetoric from social media critics, most of whom wouldn’t know a 5-iron from a curling iron. Overcoming his own history, including the fact that Tiger had never won a major when he was behind after 54 holes.
How did Tiger overcome trailing leader Francesco Molinari by two strokes after 54 holes of the Masters? Not in thoroughbred racehorse fashion as one would expect, but by the slow and determined gait of a plow horse.
Paired with Molinari and Tony Finau, Tiger told himself to “keep playing the game, keep plodding along,”
His patience was surely tested on the front nine as Molinari’s short game bailed him out time and again enabling him to maintain the slim lead.
There are many truisms about the Masters, most notably that the Masters is won or lost on the back nine on Sunday. That certainly was the case as the leaders made their way through Amen Corner (holes 10-12). It was the short par-3 12th hole, with a history of dashing the hopes of those chasing history, that flipped the script for Tiger.
Still up by two strokes when he stepped onto the 12th tee, Molinari committed the unpardonable sin. With the traditional placement of the flagstick (right front of green) enticing the inexperienced to go for that sucker pin, Molinari, batting first, sent his shot skyward toward the flagstick only to have the wind knock it back to earth and into Rae’s Creek.
A stone-faced Tiger followed by taking the less risky route of left center of the green from which he two-putted. Molinari’s double-bogey gave Tiger a share of the lead at 11-under.
A two-putt birdie at the par-5 15th hole and a laser iron shot that looked into the cup as it slowly rolled by and set up another birdie at 16 catapulted Tiger into a two-stroke lead with two holes to play.
When he two-putted for bogey at18 and secured the one-stroke victory, Tiger punched the air with both hands and let out a shout drowned out only by those of the thousands of patrons lining the hole.
“I just felt so prepared coming into this event,” Tiger said. “I was beginning to shape the ball the way I wanted. I kept doing the little things.’’
Some call it the greatest comeback ever. That belief will be debated for as long as humans take club to ball with expectations of a perfect strike. For Tiger, it was a matter of belief in self and control of a pair of limbs that his adopted grandfather, the late Dr. Charlie Sifford, swore are the key to successfully playing the game.
“The hands are the only part of the body connected to the golf club,’’ Dr. Sifford would say. “You have to have good hands or you can’t play this game.’’
“The body might not be the same as it was years ago,’’ Tiger said several times in the afterglow of his historic win, “but I still have good hands.’’
He also is blessed with the heart of a champion. And, for the first time, his children (daughter Sam and son Charlie) saw what that means.
Then & Now: (Left) Tiger and his father Earl Woods embrace following his very first Masters win in 1997. (right) Tiger embraces his son Charlie after winning his 5th Masters.
“My dad’s no longer here, but my mom’s here. Sam and Charlie were here,’’ said Tiger of family members who waited in the wings for the bear hugs similar to the one he gave Earl in 1997 after his first Masters win. “For them (Sam and Charlie) to see what it’s like to see their Dad win a major championship, is something I always hoped for.’’
The doubters will never be convinced that a man who fell so hard and far could land on grace finding redemption and evolving as a different dude with a different perspective on life and living.
Nothing Tiger does will be good enough to change their minds about him.
For those of us who have believed even through his darkest days, we celebrate the man, the myth, the legend, the heart of our champion.
That he is back better than ever, with a renewed purpose, is plenty good enough for us.
For as Charles A. Cerami said. “Most great men and women are not perfectly rounded in their personalities, but are instead people whose one driving enthusiasm is so great it makes their faults seem insignificant.’’
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.
