Tiger Woods has a Masters hole to forget, then rallies with strong finish

Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters in large part thanks to his challengers’ collectively falling part on the par-3 12th hole.

“Then No. 12 happened,” he said in recalling the sequence of events. “And you know, a few guys hit the ball in the water there. I didn’t.”

No. 12 happened again Sunday — to Woods.

The five-time Masters champion took an astonishing 10 on the 155-yard hole, the first time he has taken a double-digit score on a hole in his professional career.

Here’s how it happened:

1. Tee shot into water. 2. Penalty drop. 3. Wedge into water. 4. Penalty drop. 5. Wedge into back bunker. 6. Thin shot out of bunker across green and into water. 7. Penalty drop (in bunker). 8. Blast from bunker. 9. Putt. 10. Putt.

“I committed to the wrong wind (on the tee),” he said. “The wind was off the right for the first two guys, then when I stepped up there, it switched to howling off the left. ... I didn’t commit to the wind and I also got ahead of it and pushed it, too. ... That just started the problem. From there, I hit a lot more shots and had a lot of more experience there in Rae’s Creek.”

Tiger being Tiger, he birdied five of his six remaining holes, including his last four. He shot 287 — including 4 over on Sunday — and finished 1-under par.

Ageless wonder

At 63, Bernhard Langer became the oldest players to make the cut in a Masters, and the pairings made for some interesting contrasts over the final two days.

In the third round playing with Rory McIlroy, 31, and amateur John Augenstein, 23, Langer was older than the combined ages of his playing partners. In fact, he played his first Masters (1982) and won the first of his two green jackets (1985) before McIlroy was born (1989).

Obviously, McIlroy, one of the longest drives in golf, hits his tee ball far beyond Langer.

“I try to think about what scores I would shoot if I were hitting it where he hits it,” McIlroy said. “Honestly, it’s like me playing an 8,500-yard course. ... It’s so impressive, just the way he methodically plots his way around and gets it up and down when he needs to. It’s really cool to watch.”

Then on Sunday, Langer found himself in the group with the poster guy of distance, Bryson DeChambeau.

Langer posted a 1-under 71 Sunday and finished in the middle of the pack at 3-under 285, only three strokes higher than his winning total in 1985 on a much shorter course.

Heavyweight pairing

Scores after three rounds put three of the game’s biggest names — McIlroy, Brooks Koepka and Tommy Fleetwood — in the same group Sunday.

Normally, that’s one worthy of the final pairing in the final round of a major. This time, though, they went off a half-hour before the final group and made up no ground on the champion Dustin Johnson.

Distance isn’t everything

DeChambeau put truth in the adage that it isn’t how you drive, it’s how you arrive.

The U.S. Open champion, who has a never-ending quest for more distance, led the Masters’ field with an average of 324.6 yards off the tee. But accuracy proved his downfall and, among the 60 players who made the cut, he finished tied for 55th in greens in regulation.

This story was originally published November 15, 2020 at 3:02 PM.