Woods' game and health both in major shape

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Tiger Woods' wins are piling up this year, and they are impressive.(Getty Images)


 PGA.COM April 9, 2013 7:44 PM

By Doug Ferguson, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Around every corner at Augusta National is another reminder that Tiger Woods isn't getting any younger.

He played a practice round with a teenager from China who wasn't even born when Woods won his first Masters. He was introduced at his news conference Tuesday as playing the Masters for the 19th time, which caused Woods to bow his head and cover his eyes.

Among dozens of photographs on the walls of the club is one of defending champion Phil Mickelson helping Woods -- with a much fuller head of hair -- into the green jacket after Woods won the Masters in a playoff.

That was from 2005. And that was the last time Woods won the Masters.

Woods says at least he's contending, so he's not about to panic.

He conceded that it feels a lot longer than eight years ago, though he is not the least bit discouraged that the Masters is the major he has gone the longest without winning.

Since that Sunday evening, Woods has won the British Open twice, the PGA Championship twice and another U.S. Open.

Could he have imagined in 2005 that seven Masters would come and go without him winning?

"I wouldn't have been happy with that," Woods said. "I put myself in the mix every year but last year, and that's the misleading part. It's not like I've been out there with no chance of winning this championship. I've been there, and unfortunately just haven't got it done.

"Obviously, I'm not real happy with the fact that I haven't won more," he said. "But the whole idea is to give myself opportunities. And as of right now, I'm tied for second on the all-time win list here. So that's not too bad, either."

Woods has changed his practice routine at this major. For years known as a dew sweeper for playing his practice rounds at the crack of dawn, Woods hasn't shown up at the course until after lunch this week.

He played Monday afternoon with 14-year-old Guan Tianlang and Dustin Johnson. After his news conference, he headed to the practice range before going out for nine holes with Fred Couples.

Asked about the change, he was coy, telling a reporter with whom he's familiar, "Just wanted to mess with you." He smiled, never giving an explanation, so that much hasn't changed about Woods.

The biggest difference is his health and his game, which are connected.

There has been so much activity off the golf course -- the scandalous revelations of extramarital affairs that ended his marriage, changing swing coaches to rebuild his swing for the fourth time, a move to South Florida to a mansion so large he has his own practice range in the backyard -- that it was easy to overlook the injuries.

It all started to turn the corner last year when Woods began winning again -- three times on the PGA Tour -- and getting back into contention at the majors.

It was early last summer when he could finish a round and spend an hour on the range, and when his fitness plan was more about building strength then rehabilitating his left leg.

"The No. 1 concern was first of all, get health, get strong enough where I can practice," he said. "And once I started to be able to practice, things turned. And they turned quickly. I feel comfortable with every aspect of my game. I feel that I've improved, and I've gotten more consistent, and I think the wins show that. That's something that I'm proud of so far this year. And hopefully, I can continue it this week and the rest of the year."

The wins are piling up, and they are impressive.

He led by as many as eight shots on the back nine at Torrey Pines. He was never seriously challenged over the final hour at Doral and Bay Hill, two more wins that marked the first time in 10 years he had three wins before going to the Masters. And he's back to No. 1 in the world.

To no one's surprise, he is the overwhelming favorite when the Masters gets under way on Thursday.

Mickelson came within a fraction of an inch from shooting 59 this year when he won the Phoenix Open, and while he's a bit nervous about not playing the week before the Masters as he usually does, he can contend at Augusta even when he's not on form. A win this year would give him as many green jackets as Woods.

Rory McIlroy is getting his game together at the right time, finishing second last week in the Texas Open. There are challengers all around, and yet most players would agree that Woods is the man to beat this week.

"Even at times where has not played his best, you know what he's capable of, and so you're always looking at his score," Mickelson said.

"You're always worried about him making that big run the way he's always done throughout his career. And now that he's doing it and winning tournaments in such dominating fashion, it does have the feel of what we expect to see from Tiger."

The previous time Woods won back-to-back tournaments going into the Masters was in 2001 (Bay Hill, The Players Championship), and he made it three in a row that year by beating Mickelson and David Duval on the back nine to give him a sweep of the four professional majors.

So that's a good omen for Woods. Then again, he was at No. 1 in the world by miles in 2000 -- he won or finished second in 10 out of 11 tournaments -- and when he got to the Masters, Woods made a double bogey and a triple bogey in a span of three holes, opened with a 75 and never recovered.

"I think he's always a threat at any golf tournament," Adam Scott said. "But he's far from just running away with it at the moment. He's just returned to No. 1, and that's just a number at the end of the day. There are so many players playing well, I think it's just not a foregone conclusion."

Scott also wonders about the growing number of young players, who never knew the Woods that Mickelson, Ernie Els and others had to face. They don't have the scars from running into a guy who already had 12 majors after just eight full years on the PGA Tour.

"They don't know of him really doing that, or they haven't seen him at that level where he has played before," Scott said. "I think that's the difference. I think he'd have to put the runs on the board again to get back to that."

The Masters would be a good place for Woods to start. More than just the Masters, he hasn't won any major since the U.S. Open in 2008. He is stuck on 14 majors and has been for five years, putting him further behind the pace he once set to break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 professional majors.

Nicklaus has long believed that Woods will break his record. But even the Golden Bear says Tiger better get moving.

"The older he gets and if he doesn't win, it makes my record move out further," Nicklaus said. "But I've said it -- and I continue to say it -- that I still expect him to break my record. I think he's just too talented, too driven and too focused on that.

"He's played very, very well this spring," Nicklaus added. "I think if he figures it out here, it will be a great boost for him. If he doesn't figure it out here, after the spring he's had, I think it will be lot tougher for him."

British players seek to reestablish dominance

 PGA.COM April 9, 2013 11:11 PM
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Ian Poulter, a Ryder Cup hero at Medinah last September, owns two top-10 finishes at the Masters.(Getty …

By Pete Iacobelli, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- There was a time not long ago when Britain's golfers ruled Augusta National like no other country. Now, the latest group of talented Brits is determined to end the empire's 17-year drought at the Masters.

England's Justin Rose ranks third in the world and countryman Luke Donald is No. 4. Ian Poulter and Lee Westwood give Britain four of the world's top 13 players, second only to the United States' six. And none of the British stars have broken through at the majors -- something they hope to change when the Masters starts Thursday.

All four have excelled in Europe's recent Ryder Cup triumphs and all four have contended on Augusta National. So doesn't it seem surprising none have yet to slip on the green jacket?

"Yes, simple answer," Poulter said Tuesday.

British golfers were unstoppable for a stretch, winning five Masters between 1988 and 1996. Scotland's Sandy Lyle got the ball rolling in 1988 before Nick Faldo won consecutive tournaments in 1989 and 1990. Ian Woosnam of Wales made it four in a row in 1991. Faldo won his third and final Masters in 1996, the recipient of Greg Norman's historic six-shot collapse in the final round.

That's when the winning stopped for British competitors.

"Nothing surprises me in golf anymore," said Donald, the former No. 1.

Donald has come close here twice before, tying for third behind Tiger Woods -- remember the hole out from the bunker on No. 16? -- in 2005 and then finishing fourth six years later when champion Charl Schwartzel ended his round with four straight birdies.

Donald believes fields have become stronger over time, meaning more golfers have the chance to rise up on a given week.

Poulter, a Ryder Cup hero at Medinah last September, has had two top 10 finishes here, including a seventh behind champion Bubba Watson last April. Poulter believes they simply haven't been good enough on this given week.

"I think the guys are disappointed, to be honest, that one of the guys would have expected to have come through by now " he said. "What's the reason for that? Don't know."

There are a couple of major theories, though.

Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson have won half of the 16 Masters played since Faldo's final victory. Two South Africans have broken through in Trevor Immelman (2008) and Schwartzel two years ago. A European's last Masters win was in 1999 when Jose Maria Olazabal took his second championship.

Faldo slipped the green jacket on the shoulders of a young Woods in 1997 and Britain hasn't gotten it back since.

Rose, the world's highest-ranked Brit, has three top 11 finishes in seven previous Masters, including the past two years. He rose to eighth a year ago with a final-round 68 and he likes the way he's playing this year.

"So I feel like it is a course that I can win on," Rose said.

But Rose knows he's not alone in that belief. With its wide-open fairways and less punitive areas when you don't land in the short grass, big hitters can wind up and let it fly. Look throughout Thursday's pairings and there are any number of people like Watson, Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley and Phil Mickelson, Rose says, capable of moving on top.

"So I don't feel like I have any particular advantage over those guys," he said. "But yes, I do feel like it's a course that I can do well on."

Westwood, the oldest of the four top world-ranked Brits who turns 40 later this month, has had the most near misses at the Masters of all his countrymen. He held the second and third round leads in 2010 when Mickelson won and led after the opening round a year ago.

Westwood finished tied for third in 2012. He has struggled at times this year, but made the top 10 in his last event, the Houston Open, two weeks ago.

Donald thinks there's no rhyme or reason why one group or another has success or falters at an event. Golf is such a singlular mental game, he says, that it's often the least fragile player that week who have the best chances -- no matter what country they're from.

"Obviously there's a bunch of great and good European players right now," Donald said. "We certainly have as good a chance this year as any other" to win the Masters.

Notebook: Guan impresses veterans with poise

 PGA.COM April 9, 2013 11:19 PM
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Gian Tianlang, an eighth-grader, is handling himself in impressive fashion.(Getty Images)

By Nancy Armour, Associated Press


AUGUSTA, Ga. -- At 14, Tiger Woods was running cross-country and trying to stay on top of his homework. Adam Scott was psyched to finish second against a field of 17-year-olds. Rory McIlroy had thoughts of playing in the Masters, but it was the European Young Masters.

The world's best players are marveling at Guan Tianling, the 14-year-old from China who will be the youngest to ever play in the Masters this week, and the youngest player at any major in 148 years.

"I mean, this kid can't play high school golf. He's not in high school yet," Woods said Tuesday.

Guan's presence isn't an expansion of Augusta National's Junior Pass program, which allows kids 8 to 16 to tag along to the Masters for free with an adult. He earned his spot here by winning the Asia Pacific Amateur Championship last fall, a tournament he led wire to wire.

He also shot a 70 in the second round of the Australian Open last December, and he impressed Woods with his poise when they played a practice round Monday.

"He's so consistent," Woods said. "He was hitting a lot of hybrids into the holes yesterday, hitting them spot-on, right on the numbers. He knew what he was doing, he knew the spots he had to land the ball and to be able to pull it off. Good scouting, good prep, but also even better execution.

"For a 14-year-old to be able to come out here and handle himself the way he's done is just unbelievable."

Augusta is notoriously rough on first-timers; no rookie has won since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, and the best finish for an amateur is runner-up. So just imagine arriving here as a teen-ager, rubbing shoulders with players you've looked up to for years at one of the most famous courses in all of golf.

"I don't know how I would have been able to handle the enormity of the situation as a 14-year-old mentally," Scott said. "Obviously he can play very, very good golf at 14 -- better than most. But I just don't know how you handle the pressure and the nerves at that age. I can't think back to how I would have done that."

At that age, Scott was simply thrilled with his second-place finish at the Queensland Juniors.

"That ... was a big deal, because I was playing against 17-year-olds," Scott said. "So that was a big step for me."

McIlroy and Woods were golf prodigies. But even they couldn't fathom playing Augusta National at Guan's age.

"I was having breakfast with my dad and coach this morning and I was just like, `14 years old and playing in the Masters,'" McIlroy said. "I think I played my first Masters when I was 19."

But, having spent some time with Guan, Woods said he thinks the teen-ager has the right approach.

"He's just taking it all in," Woods said. "He's going to learn and become so much better because of this experience, and he's certainly going to grow as a player and as a person."

Good thing, because has a lot of golf left.

"You're playing in the Masters at 14. He could potentially play, I don't know, 60 Masters," McIlroy said. "What's this, the 77th? So he could actually double it nearly."

LEFTY'S RUST: Phil Mickelson is worried about rust.

A quirk in the PGA Tour schedule left Lefty idle last week, and he's feeling some angst about playing the Masters after a layoff.

"I love this tournament so much, and I'm nervous because I haven't been in competition ... it will be 10, 11 days, I guess, as opposed to three," the three-time Masters champion said. "That's what I'm nervous about, just those first opening five or six holes, being mentally tuned in. That's what I care about.

"Because I'm aware of it, I'm going to work hard on it to make sure that I am," he added. "But it's always a challenge those first five or six holes when you haven't been in competition to be really mentally focused and sharp."

Mickelson traditionally plays the Shell Houston Open the week before the Masters so he arrives at Augusta National in prime competition form. But Houston swapped dates with the Valero Texas Open because the San Antonio tournament can't end on Easter Sunday. Conditions at the Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio have been tight and windy in recent years -- the exact opposite of the set-up Mickelson likes when he's preparing for the Masters.

So he came to Augusta National on Friday instead, and spent the weekend around the green and working on shots he knows he'll need.

"I had some great days here," he said. "The course is very close to tournament setup, so I'm hopeful that I'll get off to a good start and take that preparation and shoot a low score. But I am a little bit nervous."

ON THE BAG: This will be a working vacation for Caroline Wozniacki.

The tennis star accompanied boyfriend Rory McIlroy to this year's Masters -- "Road trip to Augusta started!" she said Sunday on Twitter -- and McIlroy said Wozniacki will caddie for him in Wednesday's Par 3 Tournament.

"Yes, Caroline will be on the bag tomorrow," he said Tuesday.

The Par 3 is one of the Masters' most endearing traditions, a light-hearted event for fans and players alike. Many players have their kids -- or grandkids, in some cases -- caddie for them, and there are few things more adorable than watching youngsters roam the greens in Augusta National's traditional white coveralls or proudly tote carry-bags.

Bubba Watson's son, Caleb, isn't even old enough to walk yet, let alone carry a golf bag. But the defending Masters champion said the 1-year-old will still be his caddie for the Par 3.

Or maybe it will be the other way around.

"We'll be carrying him," Watson said. "So I guess we'll be caddying him."

ROOKIE MISTAKE: Cheyenne Woods knew from a young age she wanted to be a golfer. Good thing she didn't want to be an arborist.

Tiger Woods' niece mistakenly referred to the stately trees that grace the entrance to Augusta National as oaks in a post on the Back9Network.

"Magnolia Lane was just how I had imagined it from pictures and television," wrote Woods, who is chronicling her first trip to Augusta National. "The large oak trees lining and hanging over the road as it leads to the clubhouse is an image so unique to Augusta National."

The trees, of course, are magnolias. Hence the name, "Magnolia Lane."