By John Hawkins April 18, 1997
Augusta, G.A.--There was no defining moment. There was no miracle comeback, no incident at Amen Corner, no particular golf shot of historical resonance. There weren't even any azaleas. Spring arrived too early this year at Augusta National, tiptoeing around the 61st Masters as if to force this sacred tournament to produce its own colorful backdrop.
Mother Nature's ultimatum. Father Time's ultimate accomplishment.
That's what made it so unforgettable. Color. The dark complexion of a young man's skin against his sport's lily-white landscape, a major champion blossoming before our very eyes. If Ben Crenshaw's triumph here two years ago was inspired by death, if Nick Faldo's victory last year was the result of another man's self-destruction, this Masters was a celebration. A celebration of mankind. The reverberation of human spirit.
"I think it's very appropriate that it happens here," Crenshaw said. "At a fabulous place where a lot of magical things happen."
Fifty years to the week after Jackie Robinson broke major league baseball's racial barricade, Tiger Woods performed the competitive equivalent on a sport scarred by past facelifts. His 12-stroke victory over Tom Kite was literally the largest at any major championship in this century. To many others, the final margin will be at least twice as big: "The last barrier fell here today," said Lee Elder, who in 1975--the year Woods was born--became the first African-American to play in a Masters.
Tiger's melting-pot ancestry provided the festivities with a certain social transcendence, but it would be an understatement to call this strictly a black-Thai affair. Not only does Woods become golf's first minority major champion, he becomes the youngest (21 years, three months, two weeks) and most dominant (18 under). Jack Nicklaus won here in 1965 by nine strokes at 17-under 271. Raymond Floyd won here by eight strokes at 17 under in 1976.
Both did it on Augusta National's old Bermuda greens, hitting fairway woods into the par 5s, then cleaning up on putting surfaces that weren't nearly as hostile as today's bent-grass bullies. Woods made history on one of the toughest Masters setups ever. He did it by overpowering not just the course, but an entire field. His 323.1-yard average off the tee was 23 yards longer then anybody else, 39 yards longer than Kite. One scribe calculated that in order to even out the tremendous distance advantage Woods held over his opponents, the layout would have to be stretched to 8,750 yards.
"He's out there playing another game on a golf course he's going to own for a long time," Nicklaus said.
Woods played Amen Corner (Nos. 11-12-13) at seven under for the week. He was 13 under on the par 5s and reached the 500-yard 15th with a driver and a pitching wedge Thursday and Friday. He played just three bunker shots in four rounds. He went 38 straight holes without a bogey and, after opening the tournament with a front-nine 40, played the next 36 holes in 16 under.
So there was no defining moment. For as drama-free as this rout was--a fact belied by the 15.8 overnight rating garnered by CBS' Sunday telecast, which the network claimed as a record for a golf major--the final two days played out like a slow-motion victory lap, crowning a performance that was, both statistically and sociologically, the greatest of the modern era.
Woods led by three strokes at the midway point, stretched the lead to eight after 44 holes, then had only the record book to chase when Colin Montgomerie, his third-round playing partner, issued a rest-of-the-field surrender Saturday evening.
"There's no chance humanly possible that Tiger is going to lose this tournament. No way," Monty announced. Then, asked about Faldo's rally from six strokes down to beat Greg Norman a year earlier, the bulky Scot fired his best shot of the day: "This is very different. Nick Faldo's not lying second. And Greg Norman's not Tiger Woods."
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