AUGUSTA NATIONAL — 24 consecutive cuts. Not the record Tiger Woods came for, necessarily, but a badge of honour nonetheless. Even in his reduced physical state, Woods grinds through a round of golf like few in the history of the game.
Having battled brutal gusts for more than eight hours, none would have reproached Woods had he doffed his cap and headed back to Florida for the weekend, especially during the front nine of his second round when he dropped three shots in four holes. Adversity is a call to arms for this fella. He simply doubled down and fought his way back to respectability at one over par.
The second morning of the Masters dawned awfully chilly as well as windy. Just about the worst conditions for a 48-year-old with a fused spine and mobility issues. At his best, Woods ambles along with an adjusted gait, manifesting in a slight limp on his left side. When the mercury drops, his shoulders lower in sympathy, and everything appears a struggle.
Woods was on the range at 7am and on the 14th tee 50 minutes later to complete the final five holes of his opening round. It did not start well. He missed the green with a wedge, resulting in a bogey.
Another dropped shot at the last took him to one over par. It was beginning to look like the longest day. Yet after a 45-minute hiatus it was back to the first tee to do it all again.
By now the sun was warming his back but the wind was still blowing hard. Leaning on 28 years of course experience he played the opening hole in regulation. Peak Tiger might have nailed the 20-footer for birdie.
That cat is long gone, of course. Another birdie chance went begging at the second before landing a first strike against par at the third. The gallery, as suffuse in Tiger love as ever it was and 10-deep beside the green, briefly turned back the wind with their exaltations.
He walked to the fourth having already played nine holes in conditions as testing as they had been on Thursday afternoon. With a leg held together by metal plates, the physical challenge is, by definition, stiff. That is not his only problem in the context of a season so thinly contested.
Having withdrawn from his only prior tournament in February, the required application is harder to summon.
Two sloppy tee shots at the fourth and fifth, and a poor approach at the seventh cost him a stroke at each. Woods built his reputation on a ferocious competitive will. This turns in on itself in moments of disappointment to such a degree the inner admonishment brings his face to the point of combustion.
It was to the relief of all that he chipped in from the fringe at the sixth for a second birdie of the morning and left himself a lovely four-footer for a third at the par-5 eighth.
It was carnage out there for some. Open champion Brian Harman went to the turn at two under par and signed for an 81 after taking 47 strokes to complete the back nine of his opening round. Former Masters champion Jordan Spieth posted a quadruple bogey nine at the par-5 15th. Adrian Meronk bogeyed the first four holes on the back nine of his second round en route to an 80.
Woods at least reached the turn in level par for the round. Subtle changes in wind direction can be a feature around Amen Corner when it doesn’t blow. When it does, it is the golfing equivalent of rounding Cape Horn.
“You start the back nine, 10, 11, 12, it’s tough holes,” said debutant Nicolai Hojgaard after completing his delayed opening round at five under par.
“That’s the part of the round where you really want to hang in there. It wasn’t that easy getting out there that early, and the conditions completely changed with different wind direction.”
Hojgaard, who made his Ryder Cup debut in Rome, eventually signed for a 73 to claim the clubhouse lead on four under par. Anyone posting a score of level par or better for the round deserved to bathe in Crystal champagne on such a day as this.
Woods made it with a 72. Though he would bogey the 14th for the second time more than six and a half hours after his first visit, a bounce-back birdie at the next returned him to level par for his round. Pop those corks.