Barriers Are Buried and Legend Born

Born in Southern California with a silver golf club in his hand, Eldrick “Tiger” Woods, the only child of a Thai mother and a United States Army Green Beret colonel, became the Masters tournament champion here Sunday with a masterful demonstration of skill at age 21, setting precedents for race, youth and score.

Nearly 50 years to the day that Jackie Robinson of the Dodgers integrated baseball, Woods wrapped both arms around his African American father upon capturing the Masters with an all-time low total of 270 strokes. Earl Woods had raised his son with this day in mind, teaching him to grip a club before Tiger was a year old.

“Any golfer as a kid has dreamt of winning this tournament,” said the younger Woods after his 12-shot runaway victory, still a kid himself compared to the men he outplayed.

Jack Nicklaus, whose record victory margin of nine had stood for 32 years, observed the winner’s extraordinary performance over four days at Augusta National and concluded, “He is playing a golf course he’ll own for a long time. It’s not my time any more, it’s his.”

No one Woods’ age had ever won the Masters. By doing so, Woods not only earned $486,000 plus the traditional green jacket, but received an honorary membership in a country club at which no minority had been accepted as a member until the 1990s.

On his final walk down the 18th fairway, according to Woods, he said a little prayer for predecessors such as Lee Elder, Charlie Sifford and other golfers “who made all this possible for me.”

Woods was wished luck at a practice green before Sunday’s round by Elder, who in 1975 became the first black golfer to play in the Masters.

“I hope he becomes a member here,” said Elder, 62, who received hate mail during and after his Augusta experience 20 years ago, “so I can call him up and get a game with him.”

The significance of Woods’ victory was obvious to many Sunday.

From his home in Tampa, Fla., golfer Jim Dent, one of the few blacks on the tour for a number of years, said, “All black humans should be proud of this. If you’re not, I guess you must not play golf.”

Carl Jackson, a caddie for 35 years at Augusta National who carried Ben Crenshaw’s bag here Sunday, said before Woods’ triumph, “I just think it would set the minority world on fire. All the kids love him. There’s obviously going to be millions of kids running to be like Tiger. He’s out of this world, he really is.”

Woods did hope to have that kind of effect.

“I think that now, kids will think golf is cool,” he said.

Slipping his arms into a size 42 extra-long green sport coat held by defending champion Nick Faldo, Woods wrapped up a remarkable week. When he arrived here last Monday, he had never broken par at the Masters, where he played twice as an amateur.

Tiger felt ready, having rehearsed by shooting a 59 the previous week in Orlando, Fla., on a course near his home. Yet in his opening round Thursday, paired with Faldo, a four-over-par 40 on the front nine made even Woods’ admirers believe that his first Masters success would be a year or more away.

From that point on, though, Woods was unstoppable, playing one of the world’s most demanding golf courses in 22 under par.

He finished 18 under for the tournament, while pre-Masters favorites such as Faldo, Greg Norman and Phil Mickelson were failing even to survive the second day’s cut. By tournament’s end, the closest player to Woods was veteran Tom Kite, a dozen strokes back.

Watching him in amazement were golf fans ranging from Jack Nicklaus to Jack Nicholson, on the course and off. President Clinton, while leaving church Sunday, was asked if he was going home to watch Tiger Woods on television. Clinton replied with a thumbs-up.

Woods received a phone call after his victory from Clinton, who was injured March 14 in a fall at Norman’s home.

“He said that he watched the entire tournament laying up with a bum knee,” Woods said. “He also said, which meant a lot, that the best shot he saw all week was the shot of me hugging my dad.”

Six weeks ago, Earl Woods underwent bypass surgery following his second heart attack. A retired Vietnam combat veteran who later worked as a purchaser for McDonnell Douglas aircraft, Woods has devoted himself to his son’s golf career. He exposed him to the game at such an early age that at 3, Tiger made TV appearances and played at an Orange County country club.

The elder Woods was unable to walk the course as he normally does, but was waiting as soon as Tiger completed his final shot. So was the golfer’s mother, Kutilda “Tida” Woods, who exchanged the tiger-striped band on her Panama hat of the previous day for one with red flowers, the same color of Tiger’s shirt. She prefers that Tiger wear red on Sundays.

“Mom just believes that red’s my power color,” he explained, “and I always do what Mama says.”

Seeing him in the victor’s green jacket brought a smile to his father’s face.

“Green and black go together,” Earl Woods said.

The golfer’s nickname comes from a South Vietnamese soldier his father befriended named Nguyen Phong, whose nickname was “Tiger.” Earl Woods met his wife when she was working in Bangkok as a secretary in a U.S. Army office there.

Their only son was born Dec. 30, 1975, in the Orange County town of Cypress and attended high school in Anaheim. The fact that her son is actually part-Asian, part-African, part-Chinese, part-American Indian and part-European makes him “a universal child,” Tida Woods likes to say.

Tiger often downplays his racial mix.

“You guys sunburn more than I do, but that’s about it,” he joked to a roomful of predominantly white media here.

Yet he also acknowledged a bond he feels not only with other black golfers, but with Jackie Robinson and his contribution to pioneering opportunities for athletes like himself. That made this victory even more special, Woods said.

He is young, but was never nervous. On the contrary, after opening a huge lead in the tournament with a 65 in the third round, Woods passed time playing Ping-Pong and video games Saturday night at the house he shared with his parents, spoke to basketball star Michael Jordan on the telephone and “slept like a log.”

Ignoring most of the distractions, Woods played textbook golf, going 37 holes during one stretch--from the No. 3 hole Friday to the No. 5 hole Sunday--without anything worse than par. He carried a bag of Mizuno tour blades, a Cobra driver with a bore-through shaft and Cleveland Classic wedges, but was so strong off the tee that one British journalist had the temerity to ask, “Could you have won this tournament with only four clubs in your bag?”

No, replied Tiger, but not without a pause.

“I’m trying to be diplomatic,” he said.

Woods’ victory was sweet music to corporate sponsors who invested in his promise, like Nike, which pays him $8 million per year, and Titleist, which pays more than $4 million. On a more personal level, it meant a great deal to individuals such as Jim Thorpe, a black PGA player who said, “He is not out there playing for money. I had to go out there and try to earn a dollar to support my family, but Tiger’s hungry for victory. And that goal is fabulous.”

In the dining room at Augusta’s clubhouse, according to Isaac Lee, 25, of Holly Hill, S.C., who works there, “Everybody’s on cloud nine. It’s Tiger this, Tiger that. He’s just concerned about being a golfer. He doesn’t look at it as, ‘I’m African American, I’m this, I’m that.’ He just wants to win.”

When the winner tried on the green jacket, several employees had to wipe away tears.

Tiger’s father found it to be a perfect fit.

“He always did like loud colors,” Earl Woods said.