Tiger Woods is on the 18th hole. His chances of winning had long expired even though he was 13-over par. It didn't matter that Tiger wasn't expected to win. He was playing in The Masters at Augusta National with a full crowd on hand and it was amazing. He had a 17 on the scorecard. The hole started ugly with a shot into the wood chips, and finished after he recovered to set himself up for a reasonable putt for a single bogey, but he overshot it, and the miss was accompanied by a quick groan from the crowd. After the beautiful final drive, it was forgotten. The ball landed softly as if Wood underhanded it, Rick Barry-style, up the fairway with just a couple of bounces. The second shot gave him a chance to finish the tournament on a high note, and gave sports fans a warm feeling for a few minutes. The crowd wanted Woods to feel the love as he walked up to the green for the final time this weekend, so they didn't let it all hang out after that approach shot. They gave him everything they had. There was a standing applause for the entire walk. The closer he got to the ball, the more it grew, and just when you thought the Master's crowd would have finished their work, they would be done.
It was time for the putt. It wasn't a simple shot, but it was in the realm of possibility at that moment. The shot would have taken him to 12-over, but did Kobe Bryant's 60 points change the outcome of the Los Angeles Lakers season? Absolutely not. They were lottery bound, but it was a wonderful moment to see one of the greatest take viewers in a time machine one final time.
Everyone wanted to see that putt go in the cup. He lined it up and it looked good, but the ball went left. I was watching the match on tv and trying to hit a foul ball back to the other side of the pole while leaning on it. The audience was trying to order the ball into the cup.
The putt didn't make it back to the hole, but Tiger regained his place as one of the most compelling active sports figures. He took us through this week with him limping, but still putting out a warriors effort, that Jim Nantz put perfectly as Woods was lining up his 18th hole putt on Sunday.
He made it to the finish line.
It was all he wanted and we needed. He almost gave his performance an exclamation point when he dragged himself to the end of the competition. Now that we've seen him, the record feels realistic again. It wouldn't be a Tiger major without the question of can he catch Jack.
We will worry about that later. Let's just be happy with what we have. We were given an 18th hole with the same suspense as one that could decide the tournament.
I think it's enough for one weekend.
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