Master of Them All

The Masters crowned its youngest champion Sunday, a 21-year-old named named Tiger who tamed storied Augusta National in a performance that set records and made history.

Tiger Woods didn’t just win the Masters, he grabbed it by its fairway and shook it down to its roots. Woods, the first minority golfer to win the Masters, is part African American and part Thai, but that is only part of the story.

“It was amazing,” he said. “It was an amazing week for me.”

There isn’t anyone arguing that fact, not after witnessing the most dominating performance in 61 years of the Masters.

Not only did he finish with a 69 and win by 12 shots, there were almost as many Woods’ records as azalea bushes scattered around the place.

At 21, he is the youngest Masters winner, two years younger than 1980 champion Seve Ballesteros.

His 72-hole score of 270 is the lowest ever, one shot better than Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and Raymond Floyd in 1976.

His 12-shot margin of victory over Tom Kite is a record.

His final 54-hole total of 66-65-69 200 is a record.

Woods even played 72 holes without a single three-putt green, even though the greens were eating everybody else up.

It was the kind of performance that many said heralded the emergence of the game’s first megastar since Nicklaus.

Even Nicklaus thought so.

“Tiger is out there playing another game,” he said. “He’s playing a golf course he’ll own for a long time. This young man will win many more.

“It’s not my time anymore,” Nicklaus said. “It’s his.”

Woods is the second golfer to win a major championship the first time he played it as a professional. The first was Jerry Pate, who won the 1976 U.S. Open.

Woods was untouchable. It became clear very early in Sunday’s round that everyone else was playing for second.

That’s where Kite finished for the third time at the Masters. Kite, a runner-up in 1983 and 1986, finished with a two-under 70 and a six-under total of 282.

Masters rookie Tommy Tolles produced the day’s best round with a 67 and finished third at 283, one shot better than two-time Masters champion Tom Watson, who bogeyed the last hole and finished with a 72.

Costantino Rocca bogeyed two of the last three holes on his way to a 74 and tied for fifth with Paul Stankowski.

Kite’s problems were that he started with a 77 and that Woods had entered the tournament.

“It was nice to be in the hunt even though nobody was really in the hunt,” Kite said. “We were after the silver medal.”

Yes, it’s early in the Tiger Era, but the first returns are spectacular.

Woods has played 15 events and won four. In all, he has four wins, one tie for second, two thirds and nine top 10s since he tuned pro Aug. 26.

Adding his $486,000 check from Sunday, Woods has won $966,350 in only seven tournaments this year and $1.76 million in his career That breaks down to an average of $117,130 per tournament and $30,292 per round.

At least one bit of Masters jargon proved false, the one that says the Masters doesn’t start until the back nine on Sunday. Heck, it was over on the front nine on Saturday.

Woods looked as cool as the iced tea they served on the veranda of the clubhouse as he strolled out to the first tee, flanked by security guards and smiling at the fans who closed in on every side.

Woods began the day with an nine-shot lead and nobody got any closer than eight. By the time Woods birdied the 11th hole, his lead was up to 10 shots and the best view that anyone had of him was the back of his red shirt.

“My goal was not to make any bogeys,” Woods said. “If I did that, I thought they would have to play a great round to beat me.”

As it turned out, Woods didn’t play bogey-free, but then none of those closest to him did either. He birdied the second when he chipped to four feet and made the putt, but he missed the green long on No. 5 with his second shot and didn’t get it up and down from 12 feet.

He drove into the trees on the left on No. 7 and bogeyed again, but got it back when he birdied the par five 8th after knocking an eight-iron to two feet.

As Woods made the turn, he remembered what his father had told him the night before.

“He said it would probably the be toughest round I would ever play, but to be myself and it would be the most rewarding round I ever played,” Woods said.

With a nine-shot lead at the turn, Woods said his strategy was to play the three holes of Amen Corner in no worse than par. He did better than that--two under par.

On the par four 11th, Woods hit driver and then a pitching wedge into the green. He made a 20-foot putt for birdie. On the par-five 13th, Woods hit a six-iron to 15 feet and two-putted for birdie.

Overpowering the par-four holes as usual, Woods had only a sand wedge to No. 14. Once his eight-foot putt rolled into the hole for a birdie, Woods knew it was all but over.

The only distraction Woods had was when a photographer snapped a picture in his backswing and Woods knocked his drive far left. But he recovered nicely, sending the ball 12 feet above the hole.

When Woods walked up the 18th fairway, he was not alone. He was thinking about such golfers such as Lee Elder, the first African American to play in the Masters in 1975, and other trailblazers like Charlie Sifford and Ted Rhoads.

“I said a little prayer of thanks to those guys,” he said.

Woods sent his first putt four feet past the hole, then gently rolled it in. The history and the records fell all around Woods as he hugged his parents and wept in the embrace of his father, Earl.

Afterward, he slipped on a green jacket, size 42-long, helped by Nick Faldo who remarked that the red shirt Woods wore clashed with the green. It looked like it fit quite well, actually.

Woods fielded a phone call from President Clinton, then talked about his dreams of long ago, the dreams of a child who played golf and won the Masters.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing the Masters and winning it,” he said. “Everyone who is a little kid dreams of playing in the Masters and winning it.

“And I was able to do that. It means a lot to myself and my family and anyone who knows how much I always wanted to win this tournament.”

It wasn’t exactly the way he dreamed it, though.

“I never thought I would have the lead like I did,” Woods said. “It’s not what you envision. You envision dueling it out with, I guess, Faldo or Nicklaus or Watson, someone who’s awfully tough to beat down the stretch.

“You dream of that, or getting into a playoff, you know, weird things like that, but never to do it in the fashion I did. That’s just something you never really dream of. It’s just kind of nice that it actually became a reality.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Master of Them All

1. The first player of African American or Asian American descent to win a golf major.

2. Second golfer to win a major in first attempt. Jerry Pate was other in 1976 U.S. Open.

4. Number of pro victories he has in 15 tournaments since joining the PGA tour in 1996.

12. Record number of strokes he won by, largest margin in Masters history by three shots.

18. Number of strokes he was under par for four rounds, a Masters record by one shot.

21. Youngest winner of the Masters by two years. (Ballesteros 23,4).