Tiger Woods to Be Tested at Augusta

Tiger Woods to Be Tested at Augusta











Rick Woelfel April 4, 2013 11:25 AM




COMMENTARY | A major championship is always a rigorous examination. Over the course of four days the field is required to answer a series of challenging questions.


Tiger Woods is in a unique position, however. When the Masters gets under way, he will find himself dealing with a series of questions that only he himself can answer.

Among them:

Is His Driver Still Reliable?

Time was when accuracy didn't matter very much at Augusta National Golf Club because there was no rough. Since rough was added in 1999, it's become more important to keep the tee ball in the fairway.

For all he has accomplished over the last year, the driver has been the most problematic club in Tiger's bag. As of this writing, he stands 145th on the PGA Tour in driving accuracy. If he's going win his fifth Masters, he'll have to do better than that.

Does His Putter Still Make Magic?

If Woods is to be a serious contender, he'll have to do well on the greens. That means taking advantage of birdie opportunities on the par-5s but, more important, sinking putts in the 4-6 foot range. Woods will be a much more aggressive putter from long range if he's confident in his ability to sink a par putt, whatever the distance.

Does He Still Wear a 'Cloak of Invincibility'?



A decade ago, Woods could beat over half the field at any tournament merely by showing up. There was an aura about him that his foes found all but impossible to penetrate, and his physical skills took care of the rest.

Much of that aura is gone in the wake of Woods' off-course difficulties and the injuries he's suffered in recent years. When he's at his best, he's the best player in the world. But his peers/opponents aren't in awe of him as much as they once were. They're more apt to take on the challenge of confronting him as opposed to shying away from the challenge.

Can He Still Meet the Challenge of the Moment?

This may the most difficult question to answer. Woods has always done his best work from the front of the pack. How will he fare if he has a one- or two-shot lead Sunday with nine holes to play? For much of his career, it was assumed his challengers would fold and Woods would go on to victory.

That's no longer the case.

Is He The Best Who Ever Was?

Is Tiger Woods the best who has ever played the game? Jack Nicklaus has an 18-14 edge in major championships, but a case could be made that Woods has a more well-rounded short game and is competing against deeper fields than Nicklaus did in his prime.

Let me make my position clear: I still regard Jack Nicklaus as the greatest player in history, and in any case, comparing athletes from different eras is risky business. A win at Augusta would not indicate Woods has surpassed Nicklaus in a listing of the greatest players of all time. It would, however, add legitimacy to the discussion.

But that's a subject for another day.

Rick Woelfel is based near Philadelphia. He's a member of the Golf Writers Association of America and has covered the sport for more than 25 years.

Why Tiger Woods Will Win the Masters

Why Tiger Woods Will Win the Masters
World's No. 1 Golfer Peaking at Right Time to Recapture Magic at Augusta











Mark McLaughlin April 4, 2013 12:11 PM







COMMENTARY | There's nothing like a comeback to vault a star athlete back into the good graces of sports fans.

With his ascent back to the top of the Official World Golf Ranking, powered by six wins in the last 13 months, Tiger Woods has just about turned the corner on his fall from grace.



Winning the Masters will complete the makeover. And quell the roar of pundits claiming Woods can no longer win the big one.

Don't get me wrong, the doubters have a case. Woods has spit the bit in several major championships over the last two years, most notably coughing up the halfway lead at last year's U.S. Open and falling back over the weekend at the Open Championship.

I'm giving Tiger the benefit of the doubt for those close calls for two reasons: He was still in the midst of swing change No. 3 with instructor Sean Foley, and he was playing courses in national championship rotations that he only sees every decade or so.

Woods is as familiar with Augusta National as you can get, and the trend of his recent resurgence has been winning on his favorite courses: Torrey Pines, Doral, Bay Hill and Muirfield Village. He tends to get well whenever he drives down Magnolia Lane and into the surreal world of green jackets, patron's badges, hand-operated leaderboards and pimento cheese sandwiches.

For all the harping about not having won at Augusta in eight years, keep in mind that Tiger has contended in all but one Masters since he last won in 2005. Back out his T40 last April, and Woods has finished no worse than sixth in the first major of the year. His record includes back-to-back runner-up finishes in 2007 and 2008.

Even in his first tournament back from his scandal-driven exile in 2010, he pulled off a T4. That's like a heart surgeon coming out of retirement to perform a quadruple bypass. And he managed a similar feat in 2011 with another T4, his only top 10 finish in a season riddled by injuries.

Over his 70 rounds at Augusta National, Tiger has the all-time lowest scoring average of 70.87. That just edges three-time winner Phil Mickelson and is more than a stroke better than six-time champion Jack Nicklaus.

Suffice it to say, Tiger will be in the mix come the back nine Sunday. And while the vision of the red shirt and black cap doesn't inspire the same fear among his competitors that they once did, you've got to believe that there will be some choking up in the final group should Tiger be chasing the lead.

More likely, however, Woods will win from ahead. He's held the lead after three rounds in each of his four Masters victories and that's been his preferred winning style throughout his career. But this trend also suggests that Tiger has to be leading heading into Sunday to have a chance. For all his accomplishments over a storied career, he has never come back to win a major.

I don't think Tiger has the firepower to change that statistic, but his swing is now back in rhythm and his putting has never been better. Just think about that for a second: Tiger's 100 putts in winning at Doral last month were his fewest ever as a professional. That includes the glory years of the Tiger Slam and nine-win seasons.

It's obvious that Woods, now 37, has grown nerves over the years. But unless Steve Stricker undoes the magic he placed on Tiger's putting stroke in Miami, we're looking at the world's best golfer peaking at just the right time to finally cash in again.

Another depressing fact for his competition: Tiger is back to being comfortable in his own skin. He's no longer seeking forgiveness from ex-wife Elin Nordegren or the golfing public. And he made a pretty confident statement by coming out about his relationship with Lindsey Vonn. Quite simply, he's as happy a camper as the world's most obsessive golfer can be.Armed with a repeatable full swing that he can now fix on the fly, a smooth putting stroke and a ton of confidence, I don't see anyone getting in the way of Tiger winning his fifth Masters.



Mark McLaughlin has reported on the PGA Tour for FoxSports.com, the Greensboro News & Record, Burlington (N.C.) Times-News and New York Post. He is a past member of the Metropolitan Golf Writers Association. Follow him on Twitter @markmacduke.

Henrik Stenson cracks top 50 to earn Masters invite

Henrik Stenson cracks top 50 to earn Masters invite











PGA.COM April 4, 2013 5:31 PM

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Sweden's Henrik Stenson regained his form at the Shell Houston Open and played his way into the 2013 …


By DOUG FERGUSON, AP Golf Writer


HUMBLE, Texas (AP) -- Henrik Stenson didn't get the trophy at the Houston Open. He gladly settled for an invitation to the Masters.

Stenson, who eight months ago was No. 133 in the world, closed with a 6-under 66 on Sunday in the Houston Open and was the leader in the clubhouse when the final round was delayed because of thunderstorms. D.A. Points closed with four pars and wound up with a one-shot victory.

Both were among four players added to the field at Augusta National -- Points as a PGA Tour winner, Stenson for getting into the top 50 in the world.

Stenson needed to finish at least in 13th place alone to break into the top 50, although he didn't know the math. Stenson figured a top 10 would do the trick, and he didn't feel comfortable until he blistered his tee shot on the 18th hole and hit his approach into about 10 feet for birdie.

"I said to my caddie walking up 18, `No matter what, we're playing for a green jacket in a couple of weeks,'" Stenson said. "That will be nice. That was the main goal coming here. And when I played as well as I did, put myself in a good position."

On the other side of the Atlantic, Marcel Siem of Germany won the Hassan Trophy in Morocco. That moved him to the cusp of the top 50, but Siem fell short when Russell Henley closed with a 68 at the Houston Open to tie for 45th, just enough to earn points and stay a fraction of a point ahead of Siem, who went from No. 72 to No. 51.

Henley already is in the Masters from winning the Sony Open in January.

Fredrik Jacobson of Sweden and Richard Sterne of South Africa got into the Masters by being in the top 50. Neither played this week.

Charles Howell III, the Augusta native who started the year outside the top 100, needed to finish no worse than fourth place alone at the Houston Open. He hurt himself with middle rounds of 72-70 at Redstone, but put together a late charge. Howell closed with a 66, but likely fell at least three shots short of having a chance.

"It was a nice finish," Howell said. "Probably not quite good enough for what I need to go to Augusta, but I played well. I gave myself a chance. It was a good effort, but good efforts don't get that invitation to Augusta."

Geoff Ogilvy, who played 10 out of 11 weeks trying to get into the Masters, started the week at No. 50 and missed the cut for the second straight week. Ogilvy withdrew Sunday from next week's Texas Open, ending his hopes of returning to the Masters. The winner of the Houston Open and Texas Open earn a trip to the Masters.

Ogilvy last year fell one shot short of ending the year in the top 50 and assuring his spot at Augusta.

Howell is not playing the Texas Open, either.

"I thought my best chance of getting in was the top 50," Howell said. "I played a ton of golf. I'm a little tired, to be honest."

Howell finished third at the Sony Open, and he lost in a playoff the next week at the Humana Challenge. What hurt even more was closing with a 78 in the Honda Classic and a 73-75 weekend at Bay Hill, costing him valuable ranking points. Howell said there was no point in looking back.

"I'm not going down the road of disappointment," he said. "I played good. I would love to be in the golf tournament. So would 300 million other golfers. I played well this year and I'm going to watch the tournament on TV. It's just horrible to watch on TV, to be honest."

The addition of Stenson, Points, Sterne and Jacobson brings the Masters field to 92 players expected to compete. There are no more than two spots available for the winners of the Houston Open and Texas Open if they are not already eligible, meaning this will be the smallest field at the Masters since 90 players competed in 2006.

Stenson began his turnaround last September when he tied for fifth in the Dutch Open. He took a big leap with his win at the South African Open, and then a tie for seventh in the season-ending event in Dubai on the European Tour. Last week, he tied for eighth at Bay Hill, which moved him up five spots to No. 53 and gave him a good chance at cracking the top 50 in Houston.

And that he did. With so many players in contention in Houston -- 20 players separated by four shots going into the final round -- he needed to pile up birdies. Stenson was worried when he failed to birdie the reachable par-4 12th, and then hit a tee shot against the lip of a fairway bunker and wound up making bogey on the par-5 13th. But he birdied three of his last four holes to sew up his spot at the Masters.

"Just been a great turnaround these last two weeks," he said.

©2013 by STATS LLC and Associated Press.

Aussies in top five want to end Augusta oh-fer

Aussies in top five want to end Augusta oh-fer











PGA.COM April 14, 2013 12:40 AM

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(Getty Images)


By Nancy Armour, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The Aussies have had enough of their oh-fer at Augusta National.

Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Jason Day are in the top five heading into Sunday's final round at the Masters, giving the Australians perhaps their best chance at ending their excruciating drought at the club. The Masters remains the only major an Australian has never won.

"It's hard to say exactly what it means. I'd rather not sit here and wonder so much, I'd rather do that if I win" Sunday, said Scott, a stroke behind leaders Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera. "But, look, Aussies are proud sporting people, and we'd love to put another notch in our belt, just like any great sporting country.

"This is one thing that one of us would like to do tomorrow, for sure."

It's not as if the Australians haven't had their chances.

Scott and Day were in the hunt two years ago, finishing second to Charl Schwartzel. And who can forget Greg Norman's heartbreaks? Jack Nicklaus shot a 30 on the back nine in 1986 to take the green jacket from him. The next year, Larry Mize chipped in from 140 feet during a playoff.

And no one will ever forget 1996. The Shark had a six-shot lead over Nick Faldo, only to gag it all away with a final-round 78.

"It's a great opportunity for all of us to be the first," Day said. "There's been some great Aussies in the past that have had an opportunity to win the Masters and fell short a little bit. So if it happens tomorrow, that's great.

"If it doesn't, then we're going to keep plugging away."

Notes: Watson to enjoy last round as champ

Notes: Watson to enjoy last round as champ











PGA.COM April 14, 2013 12:54 AM

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Bubba Watson, at the Masters, knows he'd "have to shoot a real low one" on Sunday to have a chance to …


By Nancy Armour, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Bubba Watson is about to be replaced.

The defending Masters champion made up some ground with a 2-under 70 on Saturday. But at nine strokes back, and with some big names in front of him, he knows his chances of winning a second straight green jacket are pretty slim.

"I'd have to shoot a real low one tomorrow to have a chance," Watson acknowledged. "But I'll come out tomorrow and just enjoy the walk as my last day as defending champ."

An odd number of players made the cut and Watson was the first one out, so he played with a marker. They made their way around Augusta National in a blistering 3 hours and 20 minutes, a nice change from the almost six-hour rounds from the first two days.

Better yet? Jeff Knox, who holds the non-tournament course record from the members' tees, is a Georgia alum like Watson.

"I met him about 10, 12 years ago," Watson said. "So it was fun hanging out with him and just enjoying the day."

Watson will have another reunion Sunday. He's paired with Charl Schwartzel, who, as the 2011 Masters champion, had the honor of putting the green jacket on Watson after he won.

TALKING ABOUT PRACTICE: Tim Clark had his best round ever at the Masters on Saturday, a 5-under 67 that also was the low round of the day.

Quite a surprise considering his struggles on the greens just a day earlier.

"Not a bit," Clark said when asked if he'd spent time on the putting green between Friday and Saturday's rounds to work out the kinks. "I just kind of went home and tried to forget about it and just come out with a good attitude again. I mean, that's all you can do. The worst thing I could have done yesterday was probably go and practice and grind over it.

"I just had to kind of let it go."

Beginning Saturday at 2-over, Clark birdied five of his first seven holes. He would get to 4 under with a birdie on the par-3 16th, but bogeyed the 18th. That put him at 3-under 213 for the tournament, which was good enough to keep him in contention when the course firmed up later Saturday.

Clark is four strokes behind co-leaders Brandt Snedeker and Angel Cabrera.

"It was gettable for me today, being firmer, the fairways being firmer anyway. And going off early, the front nine, the greens are somewhat receptive," Clark said. "So I was able to get some birdies early and sort of try and hang on."

BAD MOVES: Phil Mickelson made a big move at the Masters.

In the wrong direction.

He made back-to-back double bogeys on 11 and 12 on Saturday on his way to a 5-over 77. He's now 8 over for the tournament, no threat to add a fourth green jacket to his collection.

"I just played terrible. There's no way around it," Mickelson said. "I'm just not hitting very good golf shots, missing it in bad spots and not really knowing which side I'm going to miss it on. So my play has been beyond terrible, and that's certainly disappointing."

At least Mickelson didn't back up as far as his Ryder Cup buddy, Keegan Bradley. The 2011 PGA Champion posted the worst score of the day Saturday, a 10-over 82, and is in last place heading into the final round.

Mickelson took last week off, a rarity for him before the Masters, and he was nervous about being rusty when he took on Augusta National. With good reason, apparently.

Except for a stretch early on the back nine Thursday, he's been struggling. With a 76 on Friday, he's shot back-to-back rounds over par for the first time since 2007.

"I don't know what's going on, but I've been struggling with my ball-striking," Mickelson said. "The putter actually feels good even though I missed a bunch. The ball-striking, I just don't know where it's going to go."

While his scores may not reflect it, Mickelson is still having a blast. His wife Amy and their three kids are here this week, and Mickelson got to see them after his second double-bogey Saturday. Rather than wallowing in his poor round, he was going to have lunch his family.

"Where else would you rather be than Augusta National with this kind of weather on a weekend? It's just spectacular," he said. "Certainly I wish I played better, but it sure is fun being here."

Snedeker and Cabrera lead after three rounds

Snedeker and Cabrera lead after three rounds











PGA.COM April 14, 2013 4:14 PM

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Angel Cabrera (l) and Brandt Snedeker came out of the pack, and the woods, to grab the 54-hole lead.(Getty …


By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The longest, strangest day at the Masters for Tiger Woods began with a text message from his agent Saturday morning to meet with Augusta National officials nearly six hours before his tee time. It ended some 10 hours later with a relieved fist pump for a key par that kept him in the mix for another green jacket.

It was far different for the two guys atop the leaderboard.

Brandt Snedeker, an emotional wreck when he last contended at the Masters five years ago, was the model of calm as he opened with 12 pars and fired off three late birdies for a 3-under 69.

"I'm not here to get a good finish," Snedeker said. "I'm not here to finish top 5. I'm here to win, and that's all I'm going to be focused on tomorrow. I realize what I have to do to do that, and I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that happens."

Angel Cabrera, who has virtually disappeared from the world scene since he won the Masters four years ago, felt comfortable on a difficult course as he birdied two of the last three holes for a 69 to join Snedeker in a share of the lead. It marks the third time in the last six years Cabrera has been in the last group at the Masters.

"That helps you to be more calm and have that experience," Cabrera said. "It all adds up and helps."

They were at 7-under 209 heading into a final group that figures to be as dynamic as ever, with 13 players separated by five shots, a list that includes major champions (Woods, Cabrera), aging champions (Bernhard Langer) and a half-dozen players who have been on the cusp of majors before.

Woods looms large, for more than just his star power.

For a few tense hours in the morning, it was not clear if Woods was going to get a chance to play.

Masters officials discovered late Friday evening that Woods had taken a bad drop in the second round and should have added two shots to his score.

Under normal circumstances, he would have been disqualified for signing an incorrect card. Officials took the blame for not alerting Woods to a potential problem -- they found nothing wrong at first glance before he signed -- and kept him in the tournament with two shots added to his score. Woods was covered under a 2-year-old rule that prevents DQs when a violation is reported by television viewers.

"It certainly was a distraction early," Woods said after three birdies on his last seven holes for a 70. "It happens and you move on. I was ready to play come game time."

So was Snedeker.

He's been building toward a moment like this for the last year, and he seized his chance on a glorious afternoon by playing without a bogey. It was only two months ago when Snedeker was regarded the hottest player in golf when in three straight weeks he was runner-up to Woods, runner-up to Phil Mickelson and then won at Pebble Beach. His momentum was slowed by sore ribs that kept him out of golf for a month, though he appears to be hitting his stride.

"I've spent 32 years of my life getting ready for tomorrow," Snedeker said. "I'm going to be disappointed if I don't win. Period."

Cabrera, whose two major titles include a Masters win in 2009, has plunged to No. 269 in the world.

"I've been working very hard for this moment," Cabrera said through an interpreter. "And I've got to take the opportunity."

For Adam Scott, it's a chance at redemption.

He was runner-up at the Masters two years ago, though the fresher wounds are from last summer at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, where the Australian bogeyed his last four holes and finished one shot behind in the British Open. Scott rammed home a 25-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole for a 69 and was one shot behind.

Two more Aussies, Marc Leishman (72) and Jason Day (73) were another shot behind, giving the blokes from Down Under as good a chance as ever to give their country some happy memories from Augusta National. It's the only major an Australian has never won, a point driven home with every mention of Greg Norman losing a six-shot lead on the last day in 1996.

"Obviously, to win the Masters would be incredible," Scott said. "It would be great for Australia. We've never looked better odds-wise going into a Sunday, except that one year in 1996. It's going to be a hell of a round tomorrow."

Day was in the lead for most of the day, going 18 straight holes without a bogey until he missed short par putts on the last two holes.

Matt Kuchar (69) was three shots back, and Woods was right behind.

Woods, the No. 1 player in the world who already has won three times this year, was the heavy favorite going into the Masters to capture a green jacket for the first time since 2005 and end his five-year drought in the majors.

His big move came after a bogey on the 11th hole, leaving him six shots behind as he made his way through a back nine that has not treated him kindly of late. But he ran off three birdies on the next four holes, and made clutch par saves on the 16th and 18th to stay in the game.

"I'm right there in the ball game, "Woods said. "I'm four back with a great shot to win this championship."

History is not on his side. Woods has never won a major from behind, every Masters champion has been no worse than a tie for fourth going into Sunday dating to Faldo's comeback in 1989. But at least he's still in the game.

That was never in doubt to the officials running the Masters. Fred Ridley, chairman of the competition committees, said he looked at video as Woods was playing the 18th hole Friday and saw no need to ask him about the drop because he didn't detect a violation. It was only after Woods' post-round interview when he implicated himself by saying he went back a few yards by design that it became an issue.

Because he saw no problem at first with the drop and let Woods sign his card without talking to him, Ridley said it would have been "grossly unfair to Tiger to have disqualified him." He said the notion of a DQ was "not even on the table."

Woods couldn't have been too shaken up by the morning activities. He birdied the first hole. The key for everyone was simply to stay somewhere around contention, and that wasn't easy. Rory McIlroy was only three shots out of the lead when he took a bogey on the seventh hole. Little did Boy Wonder realize that it would start a nasty cycle. With a pair of 7s on his card on the back nine -- wind shifts led to a triple bogey on the 11th and a double bogey on the 15th -- he shot 42 on the back for a 79.

"I play 7 through 11 in 5-over par and basically my chances in the tournament are gone," McIlroy said. "So it's very disappointing. I feel like I have been playing well coming in here and it's just a frustrating day here."

Former PGA champion Keegan Bradley had an 82, while Mickelson shot 40 on the back nine for the second straight day and had a 77. Guan Tianlang, the 14-year-old from China, went his second straight round without a birdie and had a 77. He was still smiling, soaking in his weekend at Augusta as the youngest player to make a cut in a PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament.

Meanwhile, Snedeker takes an amazing streak into the final round. He has gone 27 consecutive holes without a bogey at Augusta National, and he has a clear plan of what he needs to do be fitted for a green jacket.

"If I drive the ball in the fairway and play the par 5s well tomorrow, I'm going to have a really good day."