When Tiger’s done, so are the fans

By Art Spander

AUGUSTA, Ga. — The mad rush of humanity, for hours waiting, working to get on the hallowed ground of Augusta National and then, with Tiger Woods coming off the course and a “Weather Warning” sign going up on the scoreboards, the desperate and successful attempt for most of those people — the Patrons, they’re called — to get off.
   
Fleeing, departing, as if warned of some onrushing tide. But this was not time to get to high ground, but rather a reality check on what and who counts at the Masters — and if it’s not Mr. Woods, it’s the fans’ own survival.
  
It wasn’t raining yet, but the threat of lightning and with Tiger finished, let’s get to one of those taverns on Washington Road.
  
Woods is the story even when Thursday, for the first round of this 77th Masters, he wasn’t the story. That is if you go by the leader board, on which he failed to earn a place, because there’s room only for the low 10 and ties. At 2-under 70, Tiger was among the group sharing 13th.
   
Marc Leishman, trying to become the first Australian to win the Masters, and Sergio Garcia, the Spaniard who had insisted he was not good enough to win a major — hey, we all make mistakes — were tied for the lead at 6-under-par 66. Dustin Johnson was at 65.
   
Golf tournaments, however, are like mile runs, four rounds instead of four laps. The guy in front after 18 holes may not be the one who’s in the lead after 72. Everyone knows that, especially Tiger Woods. The idea is not to lose touch, to stay close enough.
   
Tiger would be fine with two rounds to play, even with one round to play. With three to go, he’s in great shape, if not in first place, where those thousands of spectators, the Patrons, were hoping he would be before they hastily took their leave.
   
It’s been Tiger’s year so far in golf, three victories on Tour, a return to the top of the world standings. Yet, Tiger, as Jack Nicklaus, is all about major championships, because in his sphere — as in Jack’s — there’s little else. The rest of the tournaments, Torrey Pines (unless it’s a U.S. Open there), Doral, are merely obstacles to get past.
  
Nicklaus brought this about, although he contends it was unintentionally, after his win in the 1972 Masters.
  
Jack reached a point in his career, as now at age 37 Tiger has in his career, where nothing matters except one of the big four. Nicklaus seemingly didn’t care about and rarely entered any of the rest, which aggravated the late, great sportswriter Jim Murray to produce a column headlined, “Majoring in Golf.”
  
“I never counted my majors,” Nicklaus said a couple of days ago, “until (the late Associated Press golf writer) Bob Green told me at St. Andrews in the ‘70s, ‘Hey Jack, that’s 10. Only three more to tie Bobby Jones.’
    
“I said, ’Really?’ I never counted them. All I did was try to be the best I could be.”
   
Some of the facts are incorrect, if perhaps because of the passing of time. Jack’s win in the 1970 British Open at St. Andrews was his eighth, not his 10th. His win in the 1978 Open at St. Andrews was his 15th.
  
Irrelevant? Possibly. The ultimate total became 18, while Tiger, who has 14 but none since the 2008 U.S. Open, remains second.
  
“He’s got to win five majors,” Nicklaus said of Tiger’s quest, “which is a pretty good career for most people to start at 37. I still think . . . still he’s got to do it. If he wins here, it would be a very large step towards regaining that confidence that he has not won a major in three and a half years.
  
“He’s going to have to figure it out. But I think if he figures it out here, it will be a great boost for him. If he doesn’t figure it out after the spring he’s had, I think will be a lot tougher for him.”
  
When Tiger after his round Thursday stood relaxed behind a protective rope that separated him from the recorders and notepads of the press, he seemed contented if not elated.
   
“It’s a good start,” said Woods, who as others surely is concentrating on the finish. “Some years, some guys shoot 65 starting out here. But right now I’m only four back and right there.”
   
Tiger has played the Masters, Augusta National, since the mid-1990s when he was still an amateur. He won in 1997 as a rookie pro and then three more times, but not since 2005.
  
“I feel comfortable with every aspect of my game,” Woods said on Tuesday. “I feel I’ve improved, and I’ve gotten more consistent, and I think the wins (before the Masters) show that.”
  
What the first round in 2013 showed was Tiger can break par and draw a huge crowd that isn’t interested in much else other than Woods and not getting caught in a storm.