Saturday night, the Masters was set up for a finish that seemed to be all too familiar and predictable.
With Tiger Woods only one shot back of leader Stuart Appleby and a history of slashing through the competition on Sundays in his traditional red attire, Tiger would roll out of bed before the final round, and by the fifth hole he would have the lead in what has become his tournament — and never look back.
Somewhere along the line, however, Hollywood stepped in and replaced that sure-thing script with a "Cinderella story" similar to that of Carl Spackler.
No way could a guy who wasn't even the best golfer on his high school team and who played golf at a small college in Iowa catch a Tiger from behind. (Although, looking back, with Jim Nantz making quips such as, "His first child is named Will, fitting because he has an iron will to win," we shouldn't have ruled it out so fast. Gag me, please.) After all, Woods holds the all-time tournament scoring and margin of victory records and wears a different green jacket to work every day for a week. (Save for casual Friday, when he would likely wear a Nike TW polo. All this assuming he wasn't worth an estimated $295 million.)
But some guy named Zach Johnson — a total unknown to anyone who doesn't follow golf closely — simply beat Tiger down the back nine of Augusta National. While Johnson birdied three holes in succession late on the backside, Woods simply made pars when he knew he needed better.
How did this happen? How did arguably the most dominant athlete ever, someone known for his ruthless dismemberment of opponents in the most crucial of situations, blink?
Well, there are several possible explanations.
It could be that Tiger had an off day. Maybe the breaks just didn't go his way as they did Johnson's. After all, Woods did play the end of his round without a full assortment of clubs after breaking his 4-iron around a tree. It had to be just fluky circumstances that led to Woods not assuming his place at the championship ceremony.
It also could have been his pink shirt. Salmon, coral, rose. I am personally not much of a fan of men wearing pink under any circumstances, and Tiger's shirt selection at the Masters simply continued a disturbing trend. Over the past couple of years, Woods' Sunday Red has gone from blood-dripping-off-a-fresh-kill red to "Oh hunny, this would look really good with the magnolias at Augusta" pastel, off-red.
Somewhat suspiciously, that time coincides almost perfectly with Woods' courtship with the smoking-hot Swede Elin Nordegren. Coincidence? I think not! Domestication at its worst.
Don't think there wasn't at least some symbolism and psychology behind the blood-red Sunday color. Tiger was on the hunt for a title, and now he's on a nice walk through the geraniums.
Those are both very plausible possibilities. But maybe, just maybe, it could also be that Tiger just isn't as good as many make him out to be. Before you turn the page and call me a "crazy [insert explicative]," this is no Tiger-bashing column. I am a Tiger fan. He's by far the best golfer I have ever had the privilege to watch, and any tournament he is in, I pull for him to win. But after two of the most impressive victories in the history of golf — the '97 Masters, which he won by 12 strokes, and the 2000 U.S. Open, in which he tamed the field by 15, kicking off his "Tiger Slam" — I think people's expectations and perceptions of Tiger, including my own, got out of control.
Those victories set an unreal benchmark. Looking back, there was no way anyone could steamroll all competition all the time like he seemed poised to.
Part of what fed into his dominance over that stretch was the lack of high-level competition on a weekly basis. Tiger looked that much better and that dominant at least partly because he was a freakish talent playing against a relatively weaker field than other greats before him. Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Reteif Goosen are all very good golfers in their own rights, but they don't measure up to the stiff competition Nicklaus and Palmer had with each other like Gary Player, Lee Trevino and even guys like Tom Kite and Ben Crenshaw shared.
Plus, outside of the "Big Five" of Woods, Singh, Lefty, Ernie and Reteif, the rest of the tour doesn't seem to have what it takes to stand up to any of them. As the leaders let Tiger back into the tournament this past Saturday, I finally realized why Tiger always wins: Everyone lets him.
Thing is, when he used to take that charity and run with it, he seems to be stumbling lately — maybe even giving some charity of his own.
At the 2005 U.S. Open, Tiger bogeyed two of his final three holes when leader Michael Campbell was well within reach. Then, earlier this year, with his foot on Nick O'Hern's throat and a three-footer to eliminate him from the WGC Match Play Championship, Woods took his foot off, missed the gimme and lost to O'Hern in extra holes. Now the Masters.
Is this just a blip on the radar, or is Tiger maybe now just entering a more sustainable level of play? Only time will tell. I know one thing for sure, though: Lose the pink, Tiger.
Ben is a sophomore majoring in political science. Also not the best player on his high school golf team, he has been inspired by Johnson to dust off the sticks and make a run at the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits. To talk him out of this potential embarrassment or just to talk golf, send him an e-mail at [email protected].
