Tiger erases deficit, wins on 18th

A five stroke deficit entering the final round? No problem for golf's best, Tiger Woods, to overcome.

Knowing Tiger Woods and his dominance, this performance was going to happen sooner or later. Sean O’Hair was hoping it would come either next week or during the Masters. Holding a five-stroke lead entering the final round, this was supposed to be the 24-year old Texan’s time to shine.

Tiger, playing in his third event after undergoing reconstructive knee surgery, wore his traditional Sunday red collared shirt, which meant business. For anyone else, the margin would have been insurmountable. Yet, Tiger wasn’t phased. To begin the final eighteen holes, O’Hair boasted a score of 7-under, while Tiger worked his way into the final pairing at 2-under despite bogeying two of the last three holes of the third round. Just his presence made golf exciting. Crowds swarmed, while ludicrous shouts of “Get in the Hole!” erupted after every shot, no matter if the club was his driver. The face of golf had returned, which meant it was the Tiger I came to expect: healthy, focused, and ready to dominate.

Tiger birdied two of his first three holes, and witnessed a two-shot swing once O’Hair bogeyed the par-4 3rd. Just like that, the margin was just three. Tiger gave a shot back with a bogey on four, but proceeded to post a one-under score over the next 12 holes. Over this span, O’Hair birdied one hole and bogeyed three, thereby losing the lead. Tiger, with two holes remaining, held a one shot lead.

At this point, I figured that the match was over. O’Hair wasn’t necessarily rattled, but Tiger was in a zone. Yet, Tiger showed that he was in fact human on the 17th hole. With water in between him and the green on the par-3, 213 yard hole, he laced an iron that appeared on line with the flag. It was, but fell yards shy and deeply impounded in the lip of the green-side bunker. Tiger’s second shot would be uncomfortable, given the slope from bunker to green. If he under-hit his sand-wedge the ball would roll back into the bunker, so Tiger bent his rebuilt knee, awkwardly placed his spiked left shoe into the up-slope, then muscled the ball cleanly onto the green within seventeen feet for a chance to save par. Even though this tournament was his for the taking, and even though this is Tiger Woods, arguably the greatest ever to play the game, nothing, not even the upcoming putt, was certain. He missed the putt for a bogey to set up a 4-under tie entering the eighteenth and final hole.

Darkness fell as the sun set. Flashbulbs sparkled as O’Hair and Tiger prepared for battle. Though their mindsets may have been similar–a birdie wins–their thought processes appeared to be mere opposites. O’Hair wanted to win, but the five-shot lead he once grasped and the “don’t choke!” mentality had to surface with every step to reach his second shot in the middle of the fairway. Tiger, on the other hand, was out to show he’s recovered and back to his dominant self. This was not a tune-up for the Masters, the first major of the season, but a hallowed event hosted by golf-great Arnold Palmer.

Tiger’s second shot landed 15-feet, 11-inches away from victory, while O’Hair’s was 38-feet away. O’Hair’s putt was well struck, but fell short of the hole. Tiger could win and, because he whittled the deficit and was given this chance, he did. His driving, and his irons weren’t Tiger-esque throughout, but his short game was. On Sunday alone, Tiger made 15 of 15 putts inside 10 feet, and one from just under sixteen. He knew it was in, backpedalling with a determined look in his eyes, reading to uncork his trademark fist pump and celebrate with his caddie, Steve Williams, another win for the ages. The putt had no choice but to fall, and obeyed Tiger’s order. As Palmer said afterwards, “There wasn’t any question about it, was there?” No, there was not.

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