One Hug He Won’t Forget

We’ve seen this all before, just not for a while ... an exotic shot at the back of a green from out of the shadows ... the red shirt on a Sunday with a major on the line ... the stylistic fist pump when the ball drops in the hole ... a championship at the Masters for Tiger Woods.

Cheers and hugs were the order of the moment in the gathering dusk at the back of the 18th green at Augusta National Golf Club, where Woods wrapped his arms around caddie Steve Williams. Then it was the turn for his mother Kultida, then his wife, Elin.

Woods’ father, Earl, was in town but too ill to come to the golf course, so he got his hug from a distance. Tiger dedicated the victory to his 73-year-old father, who was the first person he hugged after he won his first major, here at the Masters, in 1997.

“This is for Dad,” said Woods, blinking as his eyes filled with tears.

It was after his first Masters triumph when everyone assumed there would be many more to come for Woods, that Masters trophies would fill up his mantel and green jackets would spill out of his closet.

The problem was that until late Sunday afternoon, Woods had been stuck on the number three for the last three years. That’s why he knew something was wrong when he looked around his family circle after winning his fourth Masters and for the first time his father wasn’t there to hug.

“I can’t wait to get back to the house and give him a big bearhug,” Tiger said.

As it turned out, it was that kind of day at the Masters, where birdies and a Tiger and a Bear all came into play.

The birdies came in bunches, and Woods had 21 of them the last three rounds, the most by a Masters winner in all of its 69 years. He tied a Masters record with seven in a row in the rain-delayed third round that ended Sunday morning.

What’s more, Woods’ ninth major title means he’s halfway to Nicklaus, the Golden Bear, who said Saturday that he didn’t plan to come back and play a 46th Masters, leaving in his tracks only comparisons to Woods.

So here is one: Woods won his fourth Masters at 29, Nicklaus won his fourth at 32.

And with four Masters titles, Woods has the same number as Arnold Palmer, with only Nicklaus in front of them with his six.

There’s also one more number to consider: 1. Woods assumed the top ranking again with his victory.

It nearly didn’t happen, of course, not until playing a total of 28 holes, with Chris DiMarco working the greens with his unorthodox claw grip and his steely nerves. It’s true that Woods probably made the eternal highlight reel with his 25-foot chip-in from the fringe on the back of the 16th green as the ball broke about as far as from here to Atlanta, but it’s also true that he bogeyed the last two holes in regulation.

And not until Woods sent a putt, from 15 feet above the hole, diving straight into the middle of the cup was it finally over, a conclusion many had already reached when Woods took a four-shot lead after the first hole of the last round.

But that’s not the way it worked out, which is probably good for golf. Clearly, it was good for the Masters, rewarded again with a Hollywood ending, a charismatic winner and a popular champion.

As for the loser, DiMarco has much going for him. Since he has now reached playoffs in the last two majors -- at last year’s PGA Championship and now the Masters -- DiMarco has dialed himself in as a force. But that’s a level where Woods has been operating for eight years, since his first Masters triumph.

Now that he has won another one, it’s not exactly a stretch to say that the golf world is rotating on its axis again.

After all, the inevitable question for Woods since his most recent victory in a major at the 2002 U.S. Open was this: What was wrong with him? The implication was that something had to be wrong if Woods wasn’t winning majors.

In that case, at least we’re back to the good old days, when Tiger ruled and his green jackets were all the rage. That’s the Tiger that Earl Woods raised so well, and it was just too bad Earl wasn’t on hand to see his son in person at the back of the 18th green Sunday because of his lingering heart problems.

Chances are good, though, that it wasn’t long before Tiger was telling him all about it, right after they hugged each other.