Masters Recap: A Victory for the Ages

You looked at Tiger Woods and his face didn't move. His arms, legs and body were just fine. But his face? All day long on Sunday at the Masters, he didn't smile, he didn't grimace, he showed zero emotion, be it good shot or bad. He chewed gum but with clenched teeth. Even as others all around him hit bad shot after bad shot to clear a path to victory for Woods, he didn't let us know what he was thinking. It was only after his final putt dropped into the cup, completing a golf day for the ages, a sports story for eternity, did we see what was hiding behind his stoic face.

Woods pumped his fist as he plucked the ball out of the cup, thrust both arms in the air and let out a roar. Only we couldn't hear it. Everyone at Augusta National Golf Club was screaming and cheering. The end of the 83rd Masters set off a public celebration not often seen, certainly not from the guarded Woods. He rejoiced with the other golfers in his group, then his caddie, the ever loyal Joe LaCava. He interacted with fans and was greeted by a wall of the world's top players, his opponents, lined up to congratulate him. The most poignant moments were the overt jubilation with his family. Woods lifted and hugged his son, 10-year-old Charlie — rekindling memories of when he hugged his late father, Earl, after his first Masters win 22 years earlier — then embraced his mom, Tida, and his 11-year-old daughter, Sam. His children are too young to have ever seen this before.

Tiger Woods had just won the Masters for the fifth time and for the first time in 14 years. He had won a major golf tournament for the first time in 11 years. Yes, it was more than a decade in the making, Woods' reaction, but it could've been 50 or even 100 for all that he had endured, so much of it self-inflicted, though much of it not.

As Jim Nantz so eloquently put it: "The return to glory." 
 

It's really hard to put into words what we all saw on Sunday at Augusta, something that many of us wondered whether we'd ever see again. Woods won 14 majors in 12 years and then just stopped. Now we all have to wonder: When will he stop again? With 15 majors, will he catch Jack Nicklaus at 18? That's still an extraordinary challenge, especially at age 43. What about a return to No. 1? He's now up to No. 6. And the all-time PGA Tour record for wins? That's only a matter of time before he gets two more to tie and then surpass Sam Snead with 83. 

But really, it's all about the majors, and we saw on Sunday, and even on Friday and Saturday, what Woods' plan of attack was: get from Point A to Point B as efficiently as possible, taking as little risk as possible and instead let others make the critical mistakes. Sure enough, they did. Even Francesco Molinari, largely mistake-free all week, succumbed, finally losing his lead at the spot where so many golf dreams die: Rae's Creek. Molinari was one of four golfers in the final two groupings to send his tee ball into the water at No. 12 for double bogey, finally allowing Woods to catch him atop the tightly packed leaderboard. 

Woods will never return to the domination of his youth. For one, he's no longer young. For another, golf is too deep. Remarkably, 13 of the top-20 golfers in the world finished in the top-16. So many great players had a chance to win, and a number of them had a share of the lead at some point on the wildest Sunday ever at Augusta. 

How did Woods do it? Getting from Point A to Point B is not as easy as it sounds. It all begins on the tee, and Woods said during his victory news conference that this was the "best that I've felt with the driver in years." Yes, the club that has held him back more than any other, more than even the putter. If he has figured things out there, well, watch out. 

We'll probably see Woods next in three weeks at Quail Hollow, if for no other reason that to get in some reps before the moved-up PGA Championship in five weeks. That takes place at Bethpage Black, where Woods has won a major. Then it's the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where Woods has won a major.  

In the end, Woods kept calm while all hell was breaking out all around him. He had some bogeys but no double bogeys. "I just felt so prepared coming into this event," he said.

Maybe Woods can be more prepared at Augusta than any other course in the world. But he was prepared once before at Bethpage, where we will see him in just a little more than a month going for major No. 16.

Major No. 16? Just a couple days ago, we all wondered whether Tiger Woods would ever get to 15.

Now, he has. 

MONDAY BACKSPIN 

Francesco Molinari
Molinari appeared headed to his second career major, unflappable and with a three-stroke lead midway through the front nine. But he jaw-droppingly fell apart, first with a double bogey on No. 12 and then another three holes later on the par-5 15th. It's clear Molinari's career turnaround was not a one year happenstance. He's among the very best in the world and can challenge for more majors, as he's finished top six in the past three. Keep in him your minds, and lineups, in all formats. But good luck again finding him as cheaply as he was on DraftKings last week: $8,600. 

Tony Finau
Finau joined Woods and Molinari in the final grouping, and this was a surprise, as his play in 2018-19 was not to that level. But he elevated his game in a major yet again, with this tie for fifth becoming his fourth top-10 in his past five majors. Like Molinari, Finau found the water on No. 12, but he missed a short putt that could've saved bogey. He then missed a six-footer for eagle on 15, and once again we saw Finau's putting woes kill his chances. 

Brooks Koepka
If there was one guy in the field who you didn't think would crack at the most pressure-filled moment, it had to be either Molinari or Koepka. And then they both cracked, with Koepka also finding Rae's Creek and double-bogeying No. 12. Now, he did turn right around and eagle the par-5 13th, but he couldn't match Woods' run of birdies down the stretch. Clearly, Koepka remains in the mix for more majors; it's the regular Tour events at which it's so hard to handicap him. 

Dustin Johnson
Johnson wound up in a three-way tie for second but was barely on TV the whole day. That's because he wasn't in contention until ripping off four birdies in five holes from Nos. 13 to 17 to incredibly tie for the lead. With a fourth straight top-10 at Augusta, Johnson returns to the No. 1 ranking in the world. We sound like a broken record, but like a few of the others mentioned above, he's on the short list to win the remaining majors this season. 

Xander Schauffele
Schaufelle's brilliant play in majors continued. With his tie for second, he now has finished top-10 in four of his career eight majors. Schauffele briefly had a share of the lead on the back nine. Unlike just about every other challenger, he really did nothing to blow it, with no bogeys against three birdies coming home. Maybe not birdieing the par-5 15th was his downfall. 

Patrick Cantlay
As things were changing seemingly minute by minute on the back nine, Cantlay briefly held the lead by himself after eagling the 15th. But he immediately bogeyed the next two holes. He still had a share of the lead after bogeying 16, but with another on the 17th he wound up falling all the way to a tie for ninth. 

Jordan Spieth
Spieth opened with a 75, effectively ending his chances. But he chipped away the next three days, making the cut on Friday and eventually tying for 21st. On one hand, you could look at it as Spieth's best finish of the season by far, which it was. On the other, you can look at it as a tie for 21st for Spieth in the Masters is almost like a missed cut. That's how good his finishes had been there every year. Spieth's best two showings this season have now come in his past two events, so maybe he's starting to turn it around. We'll know more this week, when he tees it up at the RBC Heritage. For now, Spieth fell again in the OWGR, down to 34th. 

Rory McIlroy
A little similar to Spieth, McIlroy opened with a 73. That didn't end the Masters favorite's chances to complete the grand slam. Instead, he just meandered through three rounds in the 70s until shooting 68 on Sunday. McIlroy also tied for 21st but, unlike Spieth, this was his worst finish in six months. Still, it was an incredibly disappointing week for the hottest player in golf coming in.

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau offered hope to his backers with a 66 on Thursday to share the first-round lead. But he continued his recent trend of poor play over the next three days and wound up tied for 29th. After getting as high as fifth in the world, DeChambeau has slipped to eighth. He will be in the field this week at Harbour Town, where he has finished top-four two of the past three years. It's hard to envision a repeat this week. 

Satoshi Kodaira
Kodaira has had a miserable season, but making the cut (T61) gives him something to hang his hat on heading into his RBC Heritage title defense this week. 

Martin Kaymer
Kaymer tied for 51st in what could be his 12th and final Masters. The former world No. 1 has now exhausted his five-year exemption for winning the 2014 U.S. Open. Ranked No. 185 in the world, it would take quite a career turnaround to either win a PGA Tour event or get back into the top-50 in the OWGR. It's a little hard to believe that Kaymer is only 34 years old.