While I wait for Tiger, I notice that after every group is done teeing off on #12, a guy dressed as a caddy cleans up the teeing ground. He picks up little tufts and other stuff and places them in a cup.
Then Tiger arrives. This is my first live view of him ever. He has missed the green on #11 right. He gets up and down with a chip that almost goes in and a par putt. The crowd goes crazy when his chip just misses the hole. I can feel...
his focus from far away.
1:33 P.M. Tiger has driven his ball into the creek on #13. We noticed and commented that Tiger was the only one who hit the green on #12 on the right side. Did he miss? Or was that his plan?
On #13, I watch him figure out his balancing point in the creek, and then when he’s ready he pops his ball back out onto the fairway. Many of the other viewers around me are concerned that he has missed like this. One says he has never done that before on this hole. Everyone is bummed he is not playing better. And so am I.
1:53 P.M. We are in the stands on #16 now, and we have a clear view of #15 straight ahead of us. On the way over here, we stopped to watch Tiger one last time as he teed off on #14. That was the closest I got to him. He was less than fifteen feet away, and I had a clear view of his face. He’s just a man, I think. That reminds me of Dr. Bob Rotella who says that great golfers are ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
Tiger certainly has done some extraordinary things! He makes a sweet, powerful swing, and it’s with his 3-wood or his 5-wood. Whoooooossh! Crraaacck! The crowd hollers to give him more encouragement, but it’s a moot point. Tiger will post his worst score ever at The Masters. Say it ain’t so, Tiger. Say it ain’t so.
I am so focused on Tiger, I barely notice his partner. Oh, it’s Charles Schwartzel, just last year’s champ and title defender. Of course, I was just as near to him as I was to Tiger. He just birdied the last four holes on Sunday last year to win, another extraordinary thing that an ordinary person did.
Then I’m back to Tiger. Time is running out, and I don’t really want to follow him much longer. I notice how strong he looks. He is sinewy strong. What’s his body fat percentage? I know it’s leaner than mine. I also notice how his movements are so precise. Wasted motions are nonexistent. Everything is done with a purpose, and it shows in how he walks, how he pulls clubs, and how his eyes gather all the relevant information.
Guy mentions how the pros‘ ball flights are always straight compared to us “hackers.” Yes, that is true. It’s ironic, though, because Bubba ended up winning the next day with a hooked ball from out of the woods that turned more than 90 degrees, and it landed on the green! Maybe it’s better to say pros can make their golf balls do whatever they want with more skill and consistency than us “hackers.”
Five minutes after we find our seats, our gallery guy says to some fans looking for a spot in the stands, “These are all full. Please exit out.”
I sigh with relief.
The comments that come from behind me, all from the same young guy, make me grin.
“You gotta jar that putt, Tiger.”
“Don’t start cryin’ Tiger.”
The last one comes as he walks from the green on #15 to the teeing ground on #16, “He looks like a video game. He doesn’t look real.”
As weird as that last comment sounds, it may be the most profound one I hear at The Masters. Is Tiger for real? I know he is because I saw him myself. He is flesh and blood, no doubt, a real living, breathing, golf "machine." But, he is just like the rest of us, too.
That feeling I got at the beginning of the day, though, the one that made me write that The Masters is “all that,” I don’t get that same feeling with Tiger. I think it’s because he messed up in his private life, the private life that was made so public. The infidelity of a superstar could not be covered up with all of his money and power. Tiger is tainted.
After seeing Tiger “live,” I feel bad for him, and I also feel empathy. We all make mistakes. It’s something I say to my students often, especially when they’ve gotten in trouble. Learning from those mistakes is the key. Making a change for the better is the best next step. I realized that Tiger is just like the rest of us; he’s human. Definitely not a video game.
Then Tiger arrives. This is my first live view of him ever. He has missed the green on #11 right. He gets up and down with a chip that almost goes in and a par putt. The crowd goes crazy when his chip just misses the hole. I can feel...
his focus from far away.
1:33 P.M. Tiger has driven his ball into the creek on #13. We noticed and commented that Tiger was the only one who hit the green on #12 on the right side. Did he miss? Or was that his plan?
On #13, I watch him figure out his balancing point in the creek, and then when he’s ready he pops his ball back out onto the fairway. Many of the other viewers around me are concerned that he has missed like this. One says he has never done that before on this hole. Everyone is bummed he is not playing better. And so am I.
1:53 P.M. We are in the stands on #16 now, and we have a clear view of #15 straight ahead of us. On the way over here, we stopped to watch Tiger one last time as he teed off on #14. That was the closest I got to him. He was less than fifteen feet away, and I had a clear view of his face. He’s just a man, I think. That reminds me of Dr. Bob Rotella who says that great golfers are ordinary people who do extraordinary things.
Tiger certainly has done some extraordinary things! He makes a sweet, powerful swing, and it’s with his 3-wood or his 5-wood. Whoooooossh! Crraaacck! The crowd hollers to give him more encouragement, but it’s a moot point. Tiger will post his worst score ever at The Masters. Say it ain’t so, Tiger. Say it ain’t so.
I am so focused on Tiger, I barely notice his partner. Oh, it’s Charles Schwartzel, just last year’s champ and title defender. Of course, I was just as near to him as I was to Tiger. He just birdied the last four holes on Sunday last year to win, another extraordinary thing that an ordinary person did.
Then I’m back to Tiger. Time is running out, and I don’t really want to follow him much longer. I notice how strong he looks. He is sinewy strong. What’s his body fat percentage? I know it’s leaner than mine. I also notice how his movements are so precise. Wasted motions are nonexistent. Everything is done with a purpose, and it shows in how he walks, how he pulls clubs, and how his eyes gather all the relevant information.
Guy mentions how the pros‘ ball flights are always straight compared to us “hackers.” Yes, that is true. It’s ironic, though, because Bubba ended up winning the next day with a hooked ball from out of the woods that turned more than 90 degrees, and it landed on the green! Maybe it’s better to say pros can make their golf balls do whatever they want with more skill and consistency than us “hackers.”
Five minutes after we find our seats, our gallery guy says to some fans looking for a spot in the stands, “These are all full. Please exit out.”
I sigh with relief.
The comments that come from behind me, all from the same young guy, make me grin.
“You gotta jar that putt, Tiger.”
“Don’t start cryin’ Tiger.”
The last one comes as he walks from the green on #15 to the teeing ground on #16, “He looks like a video game. He doesn’t look real.”
As weird as that last comment sounds, it may be the most profound one I hear at The Masters. Is Tiger for real? I know he is because I saw him myself. He is flesh and blood, no doubt, a real living, breathing, golf "machine." But, he is just like the rest of us, too.
That feeling I got at the beginning of the day, though, the one that made me write that The Masters is “all that,” I don’t get that same feeling with Tiger. I think it’s because he messed up in his private life, the private life that was made so public. The infidelity of a superstar could not be covered up with all of his money and power. Tiger is tainted.
After seeing Tiger “live,” I feel bad for him, and I also feel empathy. We all make mistakes. It’s something I say to my students often, especially when they’ve gotten in trouble. Learning from those mistakes is the key. Making a change for the better is the best next step. I realized that Tiger is just like the rest of us; he’s human. Definitely not a video game.
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