Will Tiger Be Tamed by Augusta? : Phenom Woods, 19, Tries to Keep Cool Perspective as First Masters Nears

They were all out there. Somewhere among all the dogwood and azaleas and creeks and pine trees, Team Tiger was busy stalking Augusta National.

It was only a practice round Tuesday, a couple of days before the Masters begins on some of golf’s most precious and precarious real estate, but Team Tiger left no swing unturned in its mission.

Pretty soon now, the Masters is going to have Tiger’s tracks all over it. That’s because Tiger Woods, the most heralded amateur since Jack Nicklaus, is playing the Masters. You must know what that means.

“What’s a good tournament for him?” Greg Norman said. “Winning it. He’s good enough.”

There’s only one problem. Tiger might not be old enough.

Woods is 19 and a freshman at Stanford. The youngest player who won the Masters was Seve Ballesteros in 1980 at 23. Why, even Nicklaus was 23 years, two months when he won it in 1963.

Team Tiger can’t help that. Earl Woods, Tiger’s father and de facto team leader, said his son has got the right idea about playing the Masters, which he got into only by making the greatest comeback in the U.S. Amateur’s 99-year history.

Down by six holes at one time and trailing by four holes with 10 to play, Woods smote a pitching wedge three feet from the water on an island green, then rolled in a 24-foot putt to win.

Anyway, the elder Woods said Tiger has put the Masters in its proper place.

“A major is a major is a major,” said Earl Woods, who was a lieutenant colonel in the Army, a former Green Beret who did two tours of duty in Vietnam.

“As far as his preparations, Team Tiger has been preparing him for this event the same way it prepared him for the U.S. Juniors, the U.S. Amateurs or anything else.”

In other words, Team Tiger is geared toward winning. Other members of the team are swing doctor Butch Harmon, the son of noted former pro Claude Harmon, and head doctor Jay Brunza, a Woods family friend and sports psychologist.

Then there is Tiger himself. Barely 19, Woods is an economics major at Stanford, which should come in handy once he decides to turn pro and start cashing paychecks bigger than those trees behind the clubhouse at Augusta National.

Nick Price hasn’t played with Woods, but he has seem him swing, and that’s enough.

“He’s got everything,” Price said. “He’s not a great player yet because he hasn’t won any major championships, but it’s a matter of time.

“His future is very, very bright. But at the same time, things can happen. There are a lot of traps out there. If golf becomes a real burden on him, then you don’t know. But he’s got so much.”

Consider his practice rounds. He played Monday with Nick Faldo and eagled the 15th in Tiger-like fashion--driver and nine-iron to four feet.

He impressed playing partner Norman on Tuesday on the fifth hole, where he used a pitching wedge to reach the green. Norman needed an eight-iron, Paul Azinger a six-iron.

“His length off the tee is extremely long,” Norman said.

Meanwhile, Tiger’s tale continues to grow. Tom Watson called him the most important young golfer in the last 50 years. Price said Tiger’s future is burning bright. Norman said he could win the Masters.

Tiger himself isn’t so sure. In any event, he got ready for the greens that are usually as hard and as fast as a pool table by practicing putting on the basketball court at Stanford’s Maples Pavilion.

It would be a huge upset for Woods to do well here, mainly because the numbers are against him. No amateur has finished higher than 15th in the Masters since 1962.

But Woods has a game that seems to go with Augusta National like a pine cone goes with a tree. He hits the ball high, a bonus on the hard, fast greens because he has a better chance of getting the ball to stop.

Besides that, Woods isn’t in awe of Augusta. He has an understated appreciation of the place instead, like when he rode up in front of the clubhouse on Magnolia Drive.

“From what everyone says, it is majestic and a long drive and you can’t believe it,” he said. “I thought it was a very short drive. The clubhouse is a lot smaller than what appears on TV and the golf course is jammed together, like the holes run right next to each other.”

Add it up and, yes, the leader of Team Tiger does like this place.

“You don’t have to walk very far from tee to green,” he said.

One Team Tiger member isn’t going to be walking with Tiger at all once the tournament begins. That would be Earl, who has relinquished his job as Team Tiger caddy.

“Tiger can’t afford my price,” he said. “You got to understand, he’s a college student. He has no money. Naw, I’m too old to be climbing those hills.”

Tiger isn’t. In fact, there are a lot more hills he is prepared to climb, starting the moment he hits that first ball on the first hole of his first day at the Masters.

Yeah, that’s going to be something special. Tiger in the pines. Tiger crossing the Hogan Bridge. Tiger retracing Sarazen footprints. Think of the possibilities.

You do it because Tiger won’t. All the pressure at this place isn’t for him.

“My main focus is on my game, not the atmosphere,” he said.

After all, said Woods, the Masters is just another tournament that happens to be a major. Isn’t that right?

“Anybody who says that is just kidding himself,” Arnold Palmer said.

Maybe so. And maybe it’s not his year at the Masters, but it’s just possible that sometime soon, you may have to set your watch to Tiger time.