Steve DiMeglio

Golfweek

AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was like olden times.

Tiger Woods, wearing a red mock golf shirt, was once again stalking a Masters title on the hallowed ground of Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday in the 83rd edition of the Masters. Seeking his fifth green jacket, he was the epicenter of a nuclear final round that saw with the manual operators of the famous white scoreboards working at a feverish pace and the delirious patrons shaking the grounds with rumbling ovations.

And then Woods delivered a sonic boom on the 16th hole when his 8-iron from 180 yards stopped three feet from the hole. The birdie putt disappeared to give Woods a two-shot cushion he nursed to the final hole, where he wrapped up his 15th triumph in a major championship – his first in over a decade – and fifth Masters title with a bogey to win by one shot.

The pinnacle of his return to the game – a comeback for the ages, if you will – comes 14 years after his fourth Masters title, when Woods, wearing a red mock golf shirt, made a ridiculous chip-in birdie on the 16th for a two-shot lead. While he lost the advantage and was forced to win the green jacket in a playoff, the shot was the signature moment of that title.

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“That 16th hole has been good to me,” Woods said.

He could say the same about the entire course. At one of his favorite places in the world, and two years after he was staring at the abyss when he was bedridden and thinking his career was over due to a painfully disorderly back, Woods shot a final-round 2-under-par 70 to finish at 13 under and one shot clear of Dustin Johnson, Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka.

On a day where six players had at least a share of the lead, Woods remained cool, collected and confident from the first tee onward. It was the same look he’s had here since he drove down Magnolia Lane last Sunday and started putting the finishing touched to his prep work that began six months ago.

“I had a pretty good feeling going into this week that I was going to be able to contend in this event,” said Woods, who rose to No. 6 in the world with his 81st PGA Tour title, just one shy of the record 82 won by Sam Snead.

Woods also moved to within three majors of the record 18 held by Jack Nicklaus. And the Golden Bear, with six, is the only one with more green jackets.

“I really felt that I was starting to shape the golf ball, and my putting was starting to come around,” Woods said. “My short game's been there. I know that I made a few mistakes the last couple tournaments, but it just felt like it was there.

“I was able to play some of my best golf over the last three days, and the first day was a little bit here and there, but the last three days, I really played well.”

He had to. Three birdies and two bogeys over the first 11 holes kept him in or near the lead and then Amen Corner made its presence felt again. Overnight leader Francesco Molinari made double bogey when his tee shot found Rae’s Creek while Woods played safely to make par. Another birdie at 13 kept him in the lead, a birdie on the 15th gave him the outright lead, the birdie at 16 a two-shot lead that was enough for him to get to Butler Cabin.

“It’s been a long time,” said Joe LaCava, Woods’ caddie. “A lot of question marks, all the injuries, this might be the hardest one he’s won. On the first tee, I told him to be intense but loose. Don’t carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. And he didn’t. I’m very excited inside, very happy for him. Very impressed with the quality of shots he hit late, starting with the drive on 13. He really didn’t miss a shot. From 13 to 18 it was phenomenal.”

As chants of “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” broke out, Woods picked up his 10-year-old son, Charlie, who was born one year after Woods won his 14th major on a broken leg at Torrey Pines. He hugged his daughter, 11-year-old Sam, and his mother. And then he took a victory lap to the scoring room.

“To have both Sam and Charlie here, they were there at the British Open last year when I had the lead on that back nine, and I made a few mistakes, cost myself a chance to win the Open title,” Woods said. “I wasn't going to let that happen to them twice, and so for them to see what it's like to have their dad win a major championship, I hope that's something they will never forget.”

They won’t. Neither will millions of others.

“We already knew he was back, but I think he put the exclamation point on it,” Koepka said. “Probably one of the greatest comebacks I think anybody's ever seen. You just look at the last five years and what he's had to go through.

“To get back playing and back to where he was, to get his body back in shape. It’s one thing to do it on the range; one thing to do it when you're practicing. And then to be able to come back out here and have the Tiger of old back?

“As a fan, I love it. I think it's awesome. I'm glad he's back.”