Ever on account that Tiger announced ultimate Friday that he could be playing inside the Masters, there have been no give up of opinions about how he's going to do... Or if he even ought to be teeing it up. And by means of Wednesday night the debates had heated up even more.
Let me come up with a barely one-of-a-kind view of what has took place thus far in Masters Week than the TV announcers are giving, and let's see if we will make a guess about what may additionally occur today.
On Monday morning, Tiger followed his regular pre-major ordinary. He showed up inside the wee hours of the morning earlier than many purchasers have been out, were given his paintings in and vanished earlier than...
Oh, wait. That isn't always what passed off in any respect, is it? Not infrequently.
Tiger showed up inside the center of the day, after the path had crammed up with shoppers and TV cameras. He evenly walked thru the competition, stopping to hug and talk with lots of them, earlier than setting up right inside the middle of the exercise place in which the TV cameras had been aimed, cranked up some track and started out to boogey down and hit chips all around the region. Then he joined old pal Mark O'Meara and performed 9 holes, goofing it up with the gallery as he did.
But on Tuesday, Tiger went lower back to his old exercise ordinary...
Uh, no he failed to. Again he confirmed up when the galleries and cameras have been out, worked on his short game then played nine greater holes with O'Meara. This spherical become more extreme than the primary but that became to be expected with Thursday drawing near.
On Tuesday afternoon Tiger did his presser, which Brandel Chamblee called a tour de force, saying Woods was "almost charming" and that it was a home run. Tiger didn't shy away from questions and even talked at length about the frustrations of almost having it, only to have it slip away again.
Well, on Wednesday he have to have...
Apparently after Tuesday's Champions Dinner Tiger approached Ben Crenshaw -- who you recognize with the aid of now could be playing his final Masters -- asked who he was gambling with (Jordan Spieth), and asked if he should join them.
And so it become that Tiger Woods joined one of the most excessive-profile exercise rounds on Wednesday morning, played with them amidst the throngs of buyers and cameras, after which -- for the first time in a decade -- joined in with Fred Couples and Steve Stricker to play inside the Par-3 Tournament with his youngsters as caddies. You comprehend that everybody knew ESPN might be broadcasting live, don't you?
Tiger shot -3 (T6) for the day, simply two pictures off the winning rating on vegetables that most players agree are a bit more difficult than the everyday Augusta vegetables. That's why so many gamers play in the occasion! Tiger's sense of contact on his setting seems superb, primarily based on what I've seen.
So it sounds to me that Tiger did his best to put himself in every remotely pressurized situation that the first 3 days of Master Week provides -- and according to GC's Todd Lewis, who followed Tiger virtually all 3 days, Tiger never hit a bad chip shot.
So what do I assume from Tiger's first round lower back at Augusta?
Typically Tiger shoots 70 or worse inside the first spherical. (In his four wins he has three 70s and a 74.) He's most effective shot one or two rounds in the 60s, and I trust those have been 69s.
Augusta National is a par-seventy two course. If he can just play fairly consistent golf, all he desires are two birdies and then average par for the opposite 16 holes.
Do I suppose Tiger is -- pardon the pun -- out of the woods yet? No. He virtually hasn't had enough time to put off all of his swing problems. But I do believe he's reached the outskirts of the wooded area and can in the end see the clearing beforehand.
I think Tiger has a 70 in him today... and I wouldn't be surprised if he somehow manages a 69. Let's see if his preparation was sufficient to pull it off.
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