News
Catch him while you can
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- If there was ever a concern about the health of the international camera industry, I recommend a trip to the practice rounds at Augusta National Golf Club. Or more to the point, I recommend a trip to the practice rounds at Augusta National Golf Club when the game's No. 1 player and most recognizable figure is returning from a five-month hiatus.
High-powered zoom lenses, state-of-the-art hand-held digital contraptions, $5 disposable point-and-clicks you buy as a throw-in with a pack of gum at Walgreen's -- they were all fixed en masse on Tiger Woods through every step of his tour of the golf course Tuesday morning.
![/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2015/07/20/55ad728badd713143b423ff3_golf-tours-news-blogs-local-knowledge-assets_c-2010-04-tiger-cameras-thumb-470x313-12861.jpg](http://golfdigest.sports.sndimg.com/content/dam/images/golfdigest/fullset/2015/07/20/55ad728badd713143b423ff3_golf-tours-news-blogs-local-knowledge-assets_c-2010-04-tiger-cameras-thumb-470x313-12861.jpg.rend.hgtvcom.966.725.suffix/1588633871880.jpeg)
There's Tiger walking to the tee! There's Tiger at the top of his backswing. There's Tiger walking off after another mammoth drive, engrossed in a conversation with playing partner Mark O'Meara.
"Get ready," I heard one man say as Woods was approaching along the eighth fairway. "I'm going to say hello to him and he's going to smile at us."
A lofty ambition, for sure -- and one that actually went unrealized -- but the fact that it was even a thought is proof Woods has already made an impression in his interactions with galleries this week.
It is, as we've already discovered, a most peculiar historic event we are all witnessing, and one that apparently everyone is hoping to capture for posterity -- perhaps to share with their grandchildren one day. Just imagine that conversation.
"Look, here's Tiger Woods when he made his comeback at the Masters."
"Why did he make a comeback, Grandpa?"
"Well, because he took a break from the game."
"But why?"
"Because...well, you see....um... Let's see.....Hey, check out how small the drivers were back then!"
-- *Sam Weinman
(Photo by Getty Images)