Drive by Bob Harig

Author:Bob Harig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Publishing Group

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Nicklaus more than anyone is aware of the old axiom at the Masters: Never aim for the Sunday pin. It is perched tantalizingly on the right side of the green, the farthest point from the tee. But because the shot is hit on an angle toward the flagstick, anything that comes up short of the pin—even on the front portion of the green—almost certainly rolls back into Rae’s Creek, the body of water that fronts the green.

Masters history is filled with Sunday contenders whose hopes drowned in that creek, and just as he tuned in from his yacht, Nicklaus saw Ian Poulter find the water in the group ahead of Woods, as well as Brooks Koepka—who would finish second by a shot.

There is no theater in golf quite like the one at the 12th. The tee box is roped off from the gallery, thousands of whom are perched in grandstands behind or standing on a hill, craning to see play on the eleventh green. The echoes of their cheers can be heard acres away, all the way up to the clubhouse or on other holes on the back nine. Certain applause or groans are discernible to the trained ear at Augusta National. And when Woods walked from the eleventh green to the 12th tee, he was greeted with teeth-chattering cheering.

Francesco Molinari, who had recovered from nearly every mistake he made to this point, stepped to the tee, leading Woods by two strokes—and promptly hit his ball in the water, too, eliciting some muffled cheers from spectators, who were heavily in Woods’ favor. As Nicklaus noted, it was a mind-numbing mistake at the most crucial time. Tony Finau, also in contention, deposited his ball in that same body of water.

“I can tell you, I didn’t leave my chair,” Nicklaus says. “Tiger hit the ball, and of course he had a little cut shot over the left side of the bunker into the middle of the green. And the tournament is over.”

Pressed on this, Nicklaus insisted he knew Woods would win at that point. And while it is undoubtedly where the momentum turned, there was still a tough par to make, and a six-hole stretch to the clubhouse with plenty of twists and turns.

But the 12th is where Woods found himself tied for the lead. Finally.

Inspired by a jazz song, author Herbert Warren Wind coined the phrase “Amen Corner” for the intersection of the eleventh green, 12th hole, and 13th tee at Augusta National following the 1958 Masters, won by Palmer, in Wind’s account of the tournament for Sports Illustrated.

The song—“Shoutin’ in at That Amen Corner” (which Wind years later recounted incorrectly for Golf Digest with the wrong name of the song)—only partially described the scene. It was full-on screaming and cheering, spectators aware something special was occurring, as Woods was now in position for the most unlikely of victories.

Through various missteps by his opponents and solid, measured play by the veteran Woods, the tournament had turned, and Nicklaus predicted how it would end.

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