Time flies. It was some five years ago that Tiger Woods took home his fifth green jacket at the 2019 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia. It was a totally unexpected moment for the great striped one as he hadn’t won a major championship of any sort in the previous 11 years. It would be the fifth time that Woods had won the Masters and the 15th time that he had captured a major championship. Both marks are second only to Jack Nicklaus who had won the Masters a record setting six times and has accumulated the greatest number of grand slam triumphs with 18.
Tiger was 43 years old at the time of the 2019 Masters. Later that year he had served as the playing captain for the winning Presidents Cup team matches in Australia. The future looked bright for Tiger. However a February 2021 morning car crash in Southern California in which his speeding vehicle rolled over several times, resulted in major injuries and surgeries to his leg.
Jack Nicklaus was 46 years old when he won the 1986 Masters. At that stage of his career, Nicklaus was playing less than 10 tournaments per year, focusing on the majors, his Memorial Tournament, and putting in lots of time and effort into his golf course design and architecture business. Like Tiger, his win at the Masters was totally unexpected. He had won the U.S. Open and the PGA Championship in 1980 and he hadn’t won the Masters since 1976. Yet in the case of both Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, their come from behind, out of nowhere victories in what would most probably be the last big wins of their illustrious careers were eerily similar.
After three rounds at the 1986 Masters, Jack Nicklaus was back in the pack. Way back. The 54 hole lead was in the hands of Greg Norman with Seve Ballesteros, and Bernhard Langer just one stroke back. Norman was a power player who was an outstanding striker of the ball. He had some close calls in the majors and yet his career was just beginning. Ballesteros was a short game genius who had already come through with major wins in the Masters and the British Open. Langer was an iron master with a twitchy putting touch. He was the defending champ at the Masters that year. Yet that Hall of Fame threesome was not the only golfers in Jack’s way. The leader board was filled with names such as Donnie Hammond, Nick Price, Tommy Nakajima, Tom Kite, Tom Watson, Danny Edwards, Gary Koch, Sandy Lyle, Mark McCumber, Corey Pavin, and Bob Tway.
Nicklaus would have to go super-low on final round Sunday, but he would have to have some help. He was four strokes behind Norman and Sunday’s traditional course set-up would be typically difficult. It’s not like Nicklaus could pull a 62 out of his hat.
He didn’t need to. Jack would shoot a -1 under 35 on the front nine and then catch fire on the back nine. Birdies on 10 and 11 were offset by a bogey on 12. He would then dramatically eagle the par five 15th and add birdies on 16 and 17 to shoot a final round -7 under par 65 to finish the Masters at -9 under. Ballesteros would hit his second shot into Rae’s Creek on 15 and make bogey, losing three shots to Nicklaus on that one hole. Norman would blast up the leader board with birdies on 14, 15, 16, and 17 but would give it all back with a fanned four iron from the 18th fairway that he hit 25 yards right of target. He made bogey. Amazingly 46 year old Jack Nicklaus would win his final PGA Tour event with a win in the 1986 Masters.
After three rounds of the 2019 Masters, Tiger Woods was holding his own. He was tied for second place with Tony Finau, two strokes behind recent British Open champion Francesco Molinari of Italy. Molinari had stormed to the lead with a 67 on Friday and a 66 on Saturday. Lurking nearby were four time major winner Brooks Koepka as well as Ian Poulter, Webb Simpson, Justin Harding, Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar, Louis Oosthuizen, and Xander Schauffele.
Koepka would claim the lead going into the back nine on Sunday, but he’d hit his tee shot into the water on the par three 12th hole and make double bogey. Molinari would do the same exact thing on 12. Finau would find water on 12, make double, and again find water on the 15th hole. Dustin Johnson and Xander Schauffele would make too late a charge over the final nine. Heading into the 18th hole, Tiger had a two stroke lead following birdies on 13, 15, and 16. He played for a super-safe bogey on 18, shot70, finished at -13 under par, and won by one shot.
Lots of drama will unfurl over the next two days at the 2024 Masters. While I’m pretty sure that an iconic legend of the game will not provide final nine drama on Sunday afternoon, there is a very good chance that this year’s first major will provide us with loads of great golf and excitement. After all, we’re talking about the Masters.
