Woods’ opening Masters round was ‘Tiger-esque’

By Art Spander

Tiger-esque. Justin Leonard used the word, a neologism, about a round of golf Thursday by, yes, Tiger Woods — who else?

He used it on the Golf Channel. Used it to describe the way that Woods shot a 4-under-par 68 in the opening round of the Masters. Used it to emphasize that, in this era of power, this age of Bryson DeChambeau and 400-yard tee shots, there’s still a place for accuracy and consistency.

There's still room for someone like Leonard himself, the 1997 British Open champion, who when he wasn’t splitting fairways was saving pars out of bunkers.

Day One of the 84th Masters, and there was Woods — near the end of a golfing year full of disappointment and questions — high on a leader board of nostalgia.  

Tiger was three shots behind Paul Casey — a lead that, because the round would not be completed until Friday after a 2-hour, 47-minute rain delay, was not definite. But Woods was there, definitely. And unexpectedly, perhaps.

The Masters is the old guys’ major, where experience counts. Those greens are killers, loaded with subtle breaks and drops, even when the tournament is shifted to the fall for the first time from its traditional spring dates because of the pandemic.

Jack Nicklaus won it at age 46 in 1986. Familiarity brings contentment when you no longer can bring the long ball. Check Thursday’s scores: Bernhard Langer, 70 (he’s age 63); Larry Mize, also a 70 (he’s age 62).

Tiger isn’t quite in that age group, but he will be 45 in December, and he hadn’t done much since the Tour restarted in the summer after the Covid suspension.

But he is Tiger. We’ve seen it in Nicklaus, in Gary Player, in athletes from other sports. Greatness may diminish, but it doesn’t disappear. As Woods reminded us.

He stunned us in the last Masters, winning when supposedly he had no chance. He couldn’t do it again, could he?

“In the beginning of his career, (Woods) was Nolan Ryan,” said Leonard, invoking a fellow Texan for comparison. “He could do things nobody else could do with a golf ball. Now he’s more of a Greg Maddux. He’s got to mix his pitches. He’s got to paint the corners of the plate. He’s got to fool the hitters.”

A baseball analogy. In golf, the only people Tiger has to fool are those who figure his career has reached the end.

“I saw Tiger (on Thursday) hit a lot of little knockdown shots,” said Leonard, about lower-trajectory or punch shots. “He has to do things differently. (Fellow analyst) Brandel Chamblee spoke of softer conditions bringing the medium-length hitters back into the fold. It certainly was soft, and Woods certainly is a medium-length hitter.”

Still, your score is based on how many strokes you take, not how long or short you hit the ball.

On Thursday, Woods took almost a minimum. He had nothing higher on any hole than a par, his first bogey-free round of his last 106 rounds in the majors and his first at the Masters since 2008. He hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 greens.

“Yeah, I did everything well,” said Woods. “I drove it well, hit my irons well, putted well. The only bad shot I hit today was, I think, eight. (That’s the uphill par-5). I had a perfect number (yards) with a 60-degree sand wedge, and I hit it on the wrong shelf.”

Woods said he is upbeat any time he’s at Augusta National Golf Club, the Masters' home, and why not? He’s won the tournament five times, one fewer than Nicklaus and one more than Arnold Palmer.

“Understanding how to play this golf course is so important,” said Woods. “I’ve been saying that I’ve been lucky enough to have so many practice rounds throughout my career with so many past champions. And I was able to win the event early in my career and build myself up for understanding you’re going to come (here) every year.

“I saw Raymond (Floyd), Bernhard (Langer) and Freddie (Couples) always contend late in their careers (each was a Masters champion). Just understanding how to play this golf course was a big part of it.”

Tiger Woods, who has been a big part of the Masters, obviously understands.

Pretension and competition — that’s the Masters

By Art Spander

The Masters always has been a tournament of equal parts pretension and competition.

The insistence to call spectators “patrons” can be discomforting.

The intent to put on an event CBS’s Jim Nantz calls “a tradition unlike any other” — is that pretentious enough for you? — can be satisfying.

A month from his 45th birthday, Tiger Woods will appear in this Masters, which starts on Thursday. As both defending champion and symbol.

He has become not only the face of the event but, because of his ethnic background and singular recognition, the voice as well, interesting especially for those who remember the bad old days of racism in the game and at the club.

A sport once as white as the balls used for play, golf crept slowly into the present. The Masters began in 1934. No African-American appeared until 1975, when Lee Elder was in the field.

The current Masters chairman, Fred Ridley, a former U.S. Amateur champion, announced Monday that Elder, now 86, next April would join Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player to hit a ceremonial first tee shot.

Woods tweeted his delight, and on Tuesday, interview day for so many of the big guns, Tiger said in affirmation, “Lee was a pioneer. He was the one that broke the color barrier here and paved the way for players of color like myself to be able to play in this event.”

Woods also was aware of a chronological connection.

“It’s ironic he did it in ’75.” Woods said of Elder. “I was born in ’75, and when I won in ’97 (Elder) was on the back of the green. So to have him here Monday, and to be able to see him and have him as our honorary starter next April — it’s awfully special and important in the history of the event. But for me personally, it’s probably even more important.”

When it comes to importance, no one at the moment compares to Tiger. As ESPN is all too well aware.

The network may not care that much for golf — the NFL is the hot item, of course — but it cares for personalities and ratings. Since ESPN has the Thursday and Friday rounds (CBS has Saturday and Sunday), it has overwhelmed us with Tiger.

Look, Woods’ come-from-behind victory 19 months ago was stunning, but it wasn’t a world changing, “where were you when?” sort of occurrence like the moon landing. Big in sports? Absolutely. But let’s not get carried away.

Tiger’s first Masters was in 1995, when he was 19 and a freshman at Stanford. A quarter century later, he recalls a Wednesday practice round with a couple of tournament champions named Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer.

“I was a little punk college student,” a chuckling Woods said, “and we’re playing for skins (dollars) and I didn’t have any cash in my pocket.”

Through the years, even after he earned millions, Woods was notorious for not paying off golf debts.

“Arnold makes a putt on 18,” said Tiger. “Takes all the skins away from us. And Jack and Arnold asked me, ‘Hey, do you want to go play the par-3 contest?’ Well, I’m scheduled to go later. ‘Well, just follow us.’ And we played together, and that was awesome.”

The word is overused in sports, but it very much applies to Woods. He won the ’97 Masters, and as the TV folks tell us, he “made the dial move.” Anytime he’s out there, it still moves.

Woods has won five Masters and 82 pro tournaments. He’s won the love of golf fans — well, patrons — and manufacturers of golf products, not a small percentage of which have shirts and hats with his logo on the front.

A fixture in April, the Masters in 2020 has been shifted to late autumn because of the coronavirus pandemic.

”We’ve never played it in the fall,” said Woods. “The grass is different. The conditions are different. The run-up to the event is different.”

But it still is the Masters, pretension and competition. Wonderful.

Niners learn difference between starters and subs

By Art Spander

What could Kyle Shanahan say? What could anyone say, except that what happened to the 49ers on Thursday night was, given the circumstances, inevitable.

Although as a head coach, Shanahan never would make that sort of a concession.

He called the game a challenge, which is a sanitized way of pointing out that his team — many of whom were injured, three of whom were on the reserve/Covid-19 list — was loaded with substitutes. And overmatched.

Especially against the Green Bay Packers.

The Pack beat the Niners, 34-17, at Levi’s Stadium. Unlike the election, it was decided quickly.

Maybe the game shouldn’t have been played after the Niners facility in Santa Clara was closed Wednesday morning, when it was disclosed that receiver Kendrick Bourne had tested positive.

After all, Cal‘s Saturday night game against Washington was cancelled because a Golden Bears player tested positive. But supposedly the city of Berkeley made the call, not the school. 

And there are two differences. Call off a pro Thursday nighter, and the NFL network is losing money, which we have come to understand is what drives sports. Also, NFL coaches seem obsessed by Tennyson’s Light Brigade, a sense of do or die, figuratively riding onward.

Asked about pushing the Niners-Packers game back a few days, Shanahan said, “I don’t think about that stuff. It was never brought up. I don’t think about it. We were going to play Thursday at 5.”

And so with a backup quarterback, a backup tight end, and numerous other backups, the Niners did play. It was estimated that San Francisco had $80 million of cap space on injured reserve, including of course QB Jimmy Garoppolo, tight end George Kittle, running back Raheem Mostert and defensive end Nick Bosa.

To steal a line from another sport, there’s no crying in football. There’s just playing. And in the Niners’ case, waiting. They face New Orleans a week from Sunday, and for a third straight game a Super Bowl-winning QB — Drew Brees. On Thursday, it was the Pack’s Aaron Rodgers; four days previously, Seattle’s Russell Wilson.

The Niners used Nick Mullens at the position Thursday night. He wasn’t very good, throwing an interception and losing a fumble. But most of the 49ers weren’t very good. As is Mullens, they’re subs.

The Niners were in a hole quickly enough, 21-3, in the second quarter, and Mullens was under a heavy rush. On the other side, Rodgers, the Cal grad who should have been taken by the Niners in the first round of the 2005 draft, was passing for 305 yards and four touchdowns.

Some media considered this the Packers’ chance for retribution, since the Niners last season stomped Green Bay twice, including in the NFC Championship game. But as Shanahan reminded, different years, different personnel. (And it might it be pointed out, a different result.)

“I’m looking forward for the next three days off for our players,” said Shanahan. “Something that’s needed pretty bad.”

After consecutive defeats, the Niners are 4-5. The playoffs seem unlikely, except to the coach.

“We’ve got one game in the next 24 days. After New Orleans, we can enjoy our bye week. Then we can get back on track and try to turn this thing around, come back and play some better football.”

Not if they don’t get some better players.

There’s a reason some people are starters. That next-man-up mantra sounds great, but invariably the next man up isn’t as good as the man he replaced — otherwise he would be the starter, not the replacement.

Nobody’s really to blame for the Niners situation. “Sometimes you bite the bear,” former Niners owner Eddie DeBartolo used to say, “and sometimes the bear bites you.”

There have been too many bear bites this season for the 49ers. Also, too many defeats.

Mediocre may be proper description for Niners

By Art Spander

Nick Mullens was better. The 49ers were not. You take the triumphs where you can. Especially in a season full of defeats. One of those — another of those — coming on Sunday.

That the Niners couldn’t beat the Seahawks, especially at Seattle, especially turning the ball over twice — two interceptions by the star-crossed guy Mullens replaced, Jimmy Garoppolo — was not exactly headline stuff.

The Seahawks have one of the best quarterbacks in the game — yes, Patrick Mahomes is included — and a great quarterback makes a difference. Some would add, “Along with a strong defense,” although until Sunday, when they beat the 49ers, 37-27, the Seahawks had a mediocre defense, ranking 24th of the 32 teams.

Mediocre also may be the proper listing for the Niners. They are 4-4 halfway through a season that, because of injuries and errors both in judgment and commission, appears destined to end up in a manner that fans fear.

We’ll find out more in four days. On Thursday night at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, San Francisco gets another considerable test, the Green Bay Packers.

The Pack lost Sunday to Minnesota, another franchise in America’s cold country. But in Aaron Rodgers, he of the State Farm commercials, and no less a Cal alumnus, Green Bay has what the 49ers lack, stability at QB.

No, you can’t do much about injuries, particularly in the salary cap era. Is anyone old enough to remember when the Niners of Eddie D, Bill Walsh and Carmen Policy signed everyone and anyone? These days, you just have to hope the next men up are talented.

San Francisco has used three different quarterbacks this short stretch, QB roulette, if you will, because Garoppolo incurred a high ankle sprain the second game of the season.

On came Mullens, who did so well some observers thought he should be the permanent starter — until two weeks later when Mullens was, well, ineffective is the the gentle way of phrasing it, and was replaced by C.J. Beathard.

Asked what happened that day against the Philadelphia Eagles, Mullens said, “I wish I knew.” Since then we do know, Garoppolo, gutting it out but restricted by his ailing ankle, returned until Sunday Mullens returned.

Mullens directed the 49ers to a mini-comeback in the second half. He completed 18 of 25 for 238 yards and led touchdown drives of 80, 79 and 61 yards.

Presumably he’ll be the starter Thursday, and presumably he’ll be better than the last start. He certainly knows the proper things to say.

“I think what I learned,” he said, “is how tough the NFL is. The thing that creates energy is making plays. And I feel on the both sides of the ball (Sunday) we obviously didn’t do that well enough.”

The Niners were missing wideout Deebo Samuel, who is as much a part of the running game — which is the Niners’ offense — as the passing game. San Francisco must play from ahead, get the ball and grinding away yards and time off the clock. When they fall behind, as they did on Sunday, well, they stay behind.

All this affects the tactics of Niners fourth-year coach Kyle Shanahan, whose philosophy is built on powerful backs and ball control.

Drawing x’s and o’s on paper can be fascinating, but as what has befallen the supposedly unconquerable Bill Belichick this month — the Patriots lost their fourth in a row on Sunday — you must have the players.

Misery may love company, but football takes no relief if others are stumbling along with themselves.

“I was frustrated with the whole offense,” Shanahan said about the way his team played, “starting with myself. We were trying to hit some big plays. We didn’t get much from the run game (52 yards).

“We tried to get it going. Eventually, we had to get away from it and start throwing.”

Giving Nick Mullens another chance.

Niners looking for their identity — and some touchdowns

By Art Spander
For Maven Sports

This is the season that every team in pro football has, other than the Patriots for that long period. The season that coaches fear and fans dread. The season when you stop asking what’s wrong and instead ask what’s right — if anything.

Read the full story here.

Copyright 2020, The Maven