In his press conference prior to the Masters this week, Tiger Woods raised an eyebrow when asked about the “tournament tradition” of veteran champions sharing Augusta secrets with the young bucks.
“We share tidbits as past champions,” he said, if not quite scornfully, in the same postcode. “But we also keep a few things, too.”
The defending champion maybe shared some things in his practice round the previous day with Bryson DeChambeau, but it’s not clear that the forthright US Open champion is in the habit of listening to anyone when he’s arrived at his own strategy.
So it was in the delayed opening round of the delayed 2020 Masters, where Woods used every ounce of his Augusta knowledge to plot his way around in the ideal, softer post-storm conditions to a four-under 68, while DeChambeau blazed his own particular trail, in and out of the pines and the flowering bushes, sixth gear engaged the whole time.
Looking as if he’s gained ever more weight since his US Open victory at Winged Foot – he now has the diameter of an Augusta oak tree – DeChambeau was already a little wayward after starting at the 10th before he got thoroughly hamstrung at the hole he’d vowed to demolish, the famous par five 13th.
There was a visit to the bushes, a provisional into the creek, a duffed chip, and he walked off with a double-bogey seven. In the silence with no spectators, you could almost hear the ghosts of Bobby Jones and Dr Alister MacKenzie sniggering.
It was another example of something we’ve seen before from Bryson this year – a refusal to compromise on his strategy and dial back, and the result is often compounding errors. To his credit he stuck at it, and was four-under the rest of the way to finish with a 70. On his “personal” par of 67 for Augusta that’s three-over, but in the real world it’s a manageable two-under.
To be fair, his “advantage” did manifest itself often. He walloped his ball yards past the not-remotely-short Jon Rahm again and again, but the Spaniard, even after two early bogeys, walked off the ninth at the end one shot better off.
Woods looked to be moving much more freely than he has done in his infrequent outings in 2020, and when he fist-pumped home a birdie putt on the 1st – his 10th – he was only a shot off the lead, at that time held by Webb Simpson and Lee Westwood.
Paul Casey eagled the second soon after to secure the lead probably for the day, and Woods had to grind the rest of the way, noticeably reining back and taking what the course gave him.
This of course is a lesson maybe DeChambeau will learn when – or if – he plays for 23 years. Tiger himself refused to compromise on trying to maintain power and speed for so long, but his ailing back means he’s had to forget about the modern trend for extreme clubhead speed, and use all his vast experience to play on his considerable wits.
It actually makes him just as entertaining and engaging to watch as he was in his pomp, except instead of what used to be gasps and gaped mouths, those of us who have grown old watching him merely smile and nod our heads in acknowledgement.
He used that cut shot that helped him win last year again and again – and why not, as it keeps him in play. As Bryson was discovering, playing from the trees amid the pine needles is not an advisable strategy.
Even one rank poor shot – a pitch that was almost a shank at the eighth and cost him the probable birdie there – didn’t detract from Tiger’s day.
Does he have enough “reps” to go four round like this? Probably not, and the course will quicken and toughen over the next three days. Perhaps DeChambeau will still overwhelm it.
But if it comes down to thinking the right way around Augusta, then Woods has more than anyone.
