Tiger at 80%: Can he win?

Tiger Woods is returning to golf to compete at the Masters tournament at Augusta National, the most prestigious golf venue in America, after many months of a self imposed lay-off. Industrialist Siddharth Shriram, also an avid golfer, files the third part in his series of exclusive reports from the golf course

The day of the Par 3 contest, always a Wednesday of the tournament week at the Masters, is a joyous day. The star trio at the Par 3 contest were Arnold Palmer, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, who have virtually 200 years of top golfing experience between them.

Remarkably spry, they fit the 73-year old tradition of courtesy and grace of Augusta National very well indeed. They signed autographs for every person who asked, particularly the children.

Furyk, Duval, Mickelson, Poulter, Stenson, Choi and others had their children and/or wives as caddies, bringing great bonhomie and joy to all the spectators. Often, the children completed the hole for the players and when they sunk a putt, the roars resounded far and wide. Furyk got a hole in one, thereby denying his seven-year old daughter, Cali, a chance of putting the hole out. The contest was won by Oosthuizen at 7 under for 9 holes.

Unseasonably hot at 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and sunny, basically only the green-jacketed senior Augusta officials were formally dressed in coats and ties. The 20 KPH winds flushed out vast quantities of golden-yellow pollen from the hundreds of acres of lob lolly pines (Pinus Taeda) that abound and floated them for miles around covering homes, cars, pavements and roads, clothes, hair and everyone’s lungs in a fine film, not unlike the sand that is carried on the loo into Delhi from the deserts of Rajasthan in the summer. The pollen also landed on the Azaleas, Dogwoods and other flowering plants which opened their receptors for botanical procreation and, incidentally, in the process, delivered them their eventual colour. This is nature doing its thing, untrammeled by human intervention, as it has done for billions of years.

This year, there are no Indians (unlike over 200 years ago, when this territory was being defended against the Indians). Sadly, Jeev could not make to the top 50 and Daniel’s exemption from having won twice on the PGA tour had long expired. The Koreans, led by Yang and Choi, are present in great force as are the Japanese, with Ryo Ishikawa being the still bashful, great hope. The lone Thai, Jaidee, shows promise to finish high in the rankings and the only other Asian, Vijay Singh from Fiji, has suffered injuries but can always be contending, even at the age of 46.

Augusta National has created a new, 400-yards long driving and practice facility which accommodates the longest of drives, allowing players to see how they finish. Until last year, long drives were basically caught in a net at the far end of the range. The players love this new range. It is exciting to see them practice their different shots to mimic the actual conditions they might encounter during the tortuous four days (or two !) ahead of them. They are also seen very active on the practice Greens, imagining that competition pressure will still allow them to be without tension, as in practice.

The pairings for Thursday and Friday (always the same for the first two days) has Tiger, Kuchar and Choi playing at 1.42 pm, on Thursday as the second last pairing, presumably to enhance worldwide viewership. Matt Kuchar first played with Tiger in the Masters in 1998, when, according to tradition, the defending Masters champion plays with the US Amateur Champion. The amiable and competent Korean, K J Choi has often played with Tiger and relishes the prospect of increased pressure.

On the practice days when Tiger played, the galleries were 5-10 deep from Tee to Green; the crowds are expected to be even deeper for Tiger’s drive off the first hole. Players have to learn to handle this kind of pressure as, if they are contending, they are likely to be playing with Tiger. Out of 1,300 playing partners that Tiger has had in his PGA career, only 18 have won the event in which he was playing. These kinds of statistics give Tiger an air of invincibility and outright supremacy and thus spook even the best opposition. Mind you, some chinks have been seen in this armour lately, particularly at his losing the US PGA Championship in 2009 from a leading position on Day Four.

Tiger Woods is still the story. Some people are ambivalent about how they should react to the recent revelation of his activities. Tiger himself is wishing to change from being aloof to being spectator and crowd friendly. These are testing times for Tiger. Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National has chided Tiger Woods for having slipped from the pedestal of hero and role model for the young, while strongly urging Tiger to win back that honoured position. Because of Tiger’s particular and unique attraction to the young, his responsibility to this and future generations goes beyond his own needs.

That is where Tiger also wishes to be.