Tiger Woods and his rebuilt leg held up for another day at the Masters, overcoming a disastrous front nine to make the cut and enter the weekend nine shots off the lead. The course, the wind, himself, was what made him watch someone battle. A retired golf pro thought of his old friend Earl Woods when he saw this show of resilience across the country.
Earl would be so proud, because Tiger has come through, and all the other nonsense.
Earl Woods is the Green Beret and combat veteran who raised the best golfer in the world. Even though Earl has been dead for almost 16 years, the people who knew him couldn't help but think of him as they watched Tiger play. Earl would have loved the struggle, understanding in his bones that a wounded middle-aged man completing two rounds of golf shows more greatness than running away from a field in those vanished days of youth and wonder.
Earl and Grohman met at the Seal Beach Navy Golf Course near the Woods home in Cypress, California. Earl turned to the head pro while hitting balls.
He asked if Joe had ever met his son.
Tiger stood far down the range, all by himself, and refused to look up, as Earl explained to his friend.
Joe asked Earl if he really did that every shot after they met Tiger.
Tiger said he didn't know and hadn't heard anything in two years.
That was when Joe knew. They were dealing with a player.
Earl and Tiger spent a lot of time together at the Navy course, playing rounds and hitting balls, and Grohman was their companion for a long time.
They add one of Earl's old military buddies as the fourth and just burn up daylight. The group would meet in the bar and the men would order drinks and Tiger would sit with his Coke. Military base closings in the area made it difficult for Joe and Tiger to get to the club. They would play cross country from one corner of the property to the other, or just camp out on No. 8 for hours and hit wedges. He remembers Tiger going from landing his drive 20 yards behind Grohman to 20 yards ahead in two weeks.
"Pissed me off", Grohman said, laughing.
The future of golf stood by his side, but one day it was gone. Tiger left a lot of people behind.
He didn't tell me he was moving to Florida and it broke my heart. I did not get to say goodbye. It was over. I miss that kid. The fun days were there.
A lot of the time, Grohman had a fellow mourner. Earl struggled a lot when his son went out into the world to become Tiger Woods. There was a feeling of loss. There was sadness. We fed off his energy, but we missed the kid.
He thought about Earl again.
He said he wished he had lived longer.
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Grohman came to Augusta to do his annual golf event for veterans. He followed Tiger around on his practice round on Monday. Grohman was worried when Tiger couldn't really get around on his driver, causing him to spray the ball, as he saw a short game that looked like the old days. He loved seeing the support from the galleries.
He said that the excitement level is back to where it was in the day.
Tiger was working on his short game and hitting putts at the practice range on Tuesday. Woods didn't know Joe was there. They haven't spoken in a while. The last place Earl was remembered was at his wake. I asked Joe if he tried to get Tiger's attention.
He says he is not ready yet.
He chuckled at himself. Many people helped Tiger a little along the way, and their interaction with him remains the most important part of their lives. Tiger's resurrection, overcoming scandal and back injuries, and a potentially fatal car wreck, has made them all remember.
I spoke to Phuoc Vuong on the phone on Friday. Earl Woods was saved from death in Vietnam by his father. Everyone knew that his father was Tiger Woods. A long time ago, he got a media credentials to a golf tournament in the Pacific Northwest and went to see a Tiger press conference. He sat in the second row and never introduced himself. He wanted to be close to the man who carried his father's name into the world.
Tiger didn't know that one of the faces in the Augusta gallery on Monday and Tuesday was his old teacher and friend.
Grohman is moving to Florida just a mile from the home course of Tiger. He is packing boxes while watching the Masters. He thinks it's time for him to reach out, just to laugh, to raise a glass to Earl, and to let the old hurts go. They are different people than when they were at the Navy Course.
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For the past two days, Grohman watched the man he first met as a 13-year-old become a man again. Tiger made four bogeys in the first five holes. He shot 39 on the front nine and was looking at no chance of playing on the weekend. He finished two over par for the round and one over for the tournament after a long day. He went inside after leaving the course. Someone asked him how he felt.
He stretched out the word.
He chuckled and fumbled for a moment.
He said that he didn't feel as good as he wanted to.
Since he was out driving Grohman back in Cypress, Tiger has been able to find a lightbulb moment. Grohman understands that Tiger's strange odyssey began at the beginning, because he saw it at the beginning. A damaged but determined vessel fills him with joy. Woods and everyone who has ever cared about him will be in pain on two more brutal days. Even though Tiger believes he can win it for the sixth time, it is not a sure thing.
His voice rose as he looked ahead to the weekend.
He said they didn't know if he would be able to keep his foot. It will be the biggest story in golf if he wins.
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