I HAD a strange realization about two holes into watching Tiger Woods in the last round of the Masters. My memory of watching his first major triumph live in the 1997 Masters was wrong. He was still two strokes behind Molinari but I kept thinking about how I was lucky enough to see his first major victory live, a memory that I’ve told and retold so often times here.
Then it hit me. It wasn’t live. It was about past 10 p.m. when I tuned in to the 2019 Masters and I distinctly remember it was daytime when I watched what I thought was a live coverage of Tiger in April 1997. It can’t be live if it’s daytime in the Philippines. Funny how time plays with your memory.
But there was no mistake last Sunday night, though I nearly missed it. I checked the schedule for Fox Sports that day and its online sched had its Masters coverage starting at 3 a.m. and a Bundesliga match was supposed to be on at 10 p.m. I was ready to sleep but after reading Bob Guerrero’s post about Tiger, I hurriedly turned on the TV.
And boy was I--and the millions of others who tuned in--in for a treat.
It was the first time I watched a live golf telecast in over a decade; most of the golf news I see has been limited to highlights. But boy last Sunday, Tiger had me jumping and screaming silently, fist pump and all. In the wee hours of the morning, with the rest of the neighbors asleep, you can’t afford to scream, lest Tommy O’s favorite cops come knocking.
I caught the telecast just as Tiger narrowed the lead to one, but a couple of holes later, Francesco Molinari got it back to two. But I never doubted that Tiger would win. Never.
No, it wasn’t intuition and nor was it backed by golf knowledge (I have none.) And when Molinari hit that tee shot to the water, I was fist pumping like crazy, just like the times an Azkal foe would miss a penalty.
Amen corner they call that hole, when Tiger caught up with Molinari. Some dude got the lead temporarily and of course the telecast had to show how that guy was faring. But Sunday night was all Tiger’s.
How important was that win for golf? Well, the golfers, Tiger fans and the knowledgeable golf fans can answer for themselves. But this I say, last Sunday night, it wasn’t only me--the casual fan--who tuned in. Heck, some friends in football who are used to staying up late for Champions League or World Cup matches stayed up late to catch Tiger’s comeback.
It’s the comeback of all comebacks. The story of 2019 and we’re only four months into the year.
I’m not sure if golf is like tennis—another gentleman’s game—where you don’t cheer when the guy you’re rooting for makes a mistake—but I was whooping it up when Molinari hit the water again.
And the walk to the 18th made me recall all the articles—both by our writers and by AP—about how Tiger can never win again, about how he can win again. About how he should retire and stay retired. About how we should stop talking about the chase. About how it’s only a matter of time before he wins again and starts the chase.
All I can say is that I’m lucky to have witnessed this. And to witness the chase.