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Who is the first to arrive at the practice field? The one who has won the most. It’s barely dawn in Augusta and Tiger Woods warms up before seven in the morning. The champion of 15 majors has a tough day of 23 holes ahead of him, the five remaining to complete a first round suspended due to lack of light and the 18 of the second stage. For a 48-year-old man who has accumulated a dozen visits to the operating room and a body full of scars, the exercise requires a very fine set-up. The cold seeps into the bones, especially in that right leg that was shattered in a traffic accident in 2021. Even then he was dragging a very damaged body. And since that new creak he has never been the same. Only an infinite passion for the game and an incomparable thirst for victory keep him going. Even when?
The Tiger can barely roar, he is not capable of the claws of yesteryear. He moves slowly across the field, like an old predator who knows he only gets one chance to eat. He walks with some difficulty, suffering is drawn on his face. A bogey on the 14th and another on the 18th they anticipate the sweat on a wind-swept day at their beloved Augusta National. It doesn’t matter, he won’t give up. Between the end of one round and the start of the next, Woods only has 50 minutes. He can’t stay cold, so no lying down to rest. Tiger devours a sandwich and hydrates while rehearsing in the practice area. And back to the ring.
What comes next is a roller coaster: birdie in 3, bogey in the 4, bogey in the 5, birdie in the 6, bogey in the 7, birdie on the 8th and par on the 9th after saving two swerves, to the left between the starting trees and to the right among the public with the second shot. The sequence portrays a golfer with magic in his hands but who does not fully control his game. Tiger clings to the field with nails and delivers a final score of +1, enough to make the cut at Augusta for the 24th consecutive time in his career. He is the record holder in the Masters, ahead of the 23 of Gary Player and Fred Couples. Every time he has enlisted as a professional, since his breakthrough debut in 1997, he has made the weekend (he failed in 1996 as an amateur). Half of his life.
The feelings are better this year than last year, when he retired on the third day as the last classified among those who made the cut. He was a completely lame man who headed to the operating room to repair a battered right ankle. From then until this Masters, Tigre had only competed in the Hero World Challenge last December (18th place) and the Genesis Invitational in February (withdrew due to illness). Not even that modest goal of playing one tournament a month has been able to become a reality.
An ovation greets him at each hole, people standing up to embrace the legend. As in the 16th hole, the scene of that wonderful chip in 2005 and the Nike ball falling in the last thousandth. Today, for the first time in his career, Woods does not wear the iconic logo of the sports brand, breaking their relationship after 27 years and 500 million in contracts. On the champion’s chest he now sports a Tiger with 15 stripes (for his 15 big ones), the image of his own clothing line. He would give anything to add at least one more, since it is almost impossible to reach Jack Nicklaus’ 18 crowns. “If everything goes well, I think I can win another Masters,” Tiger said before the tournament. His last bingo was the resurrection at Augusta 2019, one of the greatest returns to the top in the history of the sport. The place you dream of returning to.
Augusta Masters classification.
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