THE TAMING OF AUGUSTA

At picture-perfect Augusta National Golf Club, it’s still life under a magnifying glass.

Yes, everything looks bigger. Check it out. There are pine trees on golf courses and then there are Masters Pine Trees, just as there are flowers and then there are Masters Azaleas.

You get the idea. There are streams and there is Rae’s Creek . . . putting surfaces and Augusta National Greens . . . sport coats and the Masters Green Jacket. In the grand scheme of things, there are golf tournaments . . . and there is the Masters.

At least that’s the way it seems. Maybe because it’s the first major of the year or because it’s played at Bobby Jones’ playground or because it’s seen as our yearly introduction to spring, but whatever happens at the Masters appears to be a little more grand than other places.

For instance, consider last year’s champion. There are winners of major titles and there is Tiger Woods.

Actually, come to think of it, there’s no way you could embellish what Woods did last year on the rolling fairways and the rock-hard greens of the most compelling stage in professional golf.

How could Woods’ 18-under par, 12-shot victory have been any bigger? Did he use a bunker rake for a putter or something?

Woods was 21 and the youngest champion in Masters history. His rounds of 70-66-65-69 were 18-under 270, one shot better than Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and Raymond Floyd in 1976.

His 12-shot victory was three strokes more than Nicklaus’ nine-shot victory over Arnold Palmer and Gary Player in 1965.

He made seven bogeys in 72 holes, only three in the last 63 holes. He was in the lead from the ninth hole on Friday. He played the par-five holes in 13 under, averaged 323.13 yards on his drives and needed only 117 putts--an average of 1.63 a hole.

Add it up and Woods set 20 Masters records and tied six others. Other than that, he didn’t do too much. What else was there?

Three-time winner Sam Snead was as impressed as anybody, especially about the way Woods handled himself on the greens, where Woods did not three-putt.

“Those greens have so many contours and so much speed, they’re so very tricky,” Snead said. “And he plays 72 holes without a single three-putt green? I think that was the whole thing. He just never missed. He’s a credit to the game. He’s quite something.”

He certainly was on the Tiger-friendly Augusta National track, where Woods’ great length off the tee takes most of the fairway bunkers out of play and allows him to play short irons to most of the greens. Plus, while everybody makes a big deal of the fact that there’s no rough at Augusta and that favors big hitters, Woods hit 84% of the fairways last year.

Experts such as Snead may point to putting as the reason Woods added a green jacket to his wardrobe, but the champion himself believes there’s more to the story.

“If you look at where I was putting from, the majority of the birdie putts I made were uphill,” he said. “So if you track back, you look at my iron game. My iron game was great. I left myself a lot of makable putts.

“And you track back on that. I drilled the ball down there far enough where I could control my spin to leave myself these uphill putts. So you’ve got to look at the whole picture in order to see just my putting.”

It’s probably comforting for Woods to believe that he’s able to control the distances on his irons as well as ever, which is what he said a couple of weeks ago at Bay Hill before he finished with rounds of 73-77 and fell from a share of the lead to a tie for 12th.

The trend police quickly sprang into action. After winning six times in 10 months to begin his pro career, Woods is now winless in the United States since July. Of course, he has had six top-10 finishes in 14 PGA Tour events since then, including two thirds and three seconds.

“It’s actually not a bad thing if people say I haven’t won in eight months because that means they expect me to win that much, so that’s not too bad a deal,” Woods said.

And since we’re talking Augusta National here, and no less an authority than six-time Masters champion Nicklaus said Woods is destined to win as many as 10 green jackets, it probably wouldn’t be too wise to believe Woods can’t defend successfully.

Even Nicklaus says so.

“I wouldn’t be one bit surprised to see him do this year exactly what he did last year,” Nicklaus said. “In fact, I expect him to.”

It is Nicklaus with a record 18 major titles, or 17 more than Woods. For all his talent, perhaps the greatest trait Nicklaus enjoyed was to play his best golf at the major events, which is what Woods is trying to accomplish in only his second full year as a pro.

“Peaking for four tournaments is pretty hard,” Woods said. “It’s an art form. Nicklaus has been the best at that, it’s pretty obvious. And Hogan in his day was awesome at that too.”

Now it’s the one-year anniversary of Woods’ day at Augusta National, where he didn’t need to slip underneath a magnifying glass to make what he did look any larger than life.

Maybe Nicklaus is right and Woods will blow the place away again. Or maybe not. One thing is certain, Woods won’t be ignored when he tries.

“The big spotlight will be on me,” he said.

It’s big, all right. It’s the Masters.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Masters Facts

* When: Thursday through April 12.

* Where: Augusta National Golf Course, Augusta, Ga.

* Defending champion: Tiger Woods.

* TV: Thursday--1 p.m., USA (repeated at 9 p.m.); highlights, 11:30 p.m., Channel 2. Friday--1 p.m., USA (repeated at 9 p.m.); highlights, 11:30 p.m., Channel 2. Saturday--12:30-3 p.m., Channel 2. April 12--1-4 p.m., Channel 2.