Golf's Holy War by Brett Cyrgalis

Author:Brett Cyrgalis
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Avid Reader Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2020-05-04T16:00:00+00:00

* * *

Leadbetter remembered the first time he met Tiger Woods, giving him a lesson in 1992 at Bay Hill outside Orlando. “I remember seeing this kid—he was like an elastic band, like Gumby,” Leadbetter said. “And he moved so well, so much speed.”

Then Leadbetter remembered how his prized pupil, Faldo, reacted after Woods’s victory at Augusta in 1997. Faldo seemed to know immediately when draping the green jacket over Woods’s wide shoulders that it was the last time he would be defending champion. “When [Woods] won the Masters in ’97, I think that was really the start of Nick’s decline,” Leadbetter said, “because he looked at this kid and said, ‘My God, he’s hitting it fifty yards by me.’ ”

Norman had his own early encounter with Woods when the latter was fifteen years old. At the behest of the marketing company IMG, the two played a casual nine holes together down at Norman’s club in Florida. “I was impressed, to say the least,” Norman said of Woods.

Woods was at Augusta as an amateur in 1996 when all of the Faldo-Norman drama was unfolding. He was supposed to play a practice round on Monday that year with Arnold Palmer, but Arnold canceled. Woods played with Norman instead, the two sharing a coach in Harmon. Norman, who was rightly known as the best driver of the ball in the modern era, marveled at Woods’s length.

“I think he’s longer than John Daly,” Norman said at the time. “He flights the ball so well.”

The two students of Harmon’s played another practice round together on Tuesday, joined by former Masters champions Raymond Floyd and Fred Couples, and Woods was taken aback at how free they were with their advice.

“Those guys know the course like the back of their hand,” Woods said.

Palmer had canceled his original practice round with Woods because he had something special planned for Wednesday. He invited Woods to play a round with him and Jack Nicklaus, ten green jackets between them. The three went around and had a joyous time, and the praise could not have been more effusive for the twenty-year-old Woods.

“This kid is the most fundamentally sound golfer that I’ve ever seen at any age,” Nicklaus said. “Hits the ball nine million miles without a swing that looks like he’s trying to do that. And he’s a nice kid.… Arnold and I both agree that you could take his Masters and my Masters and add them together, and this kid should win more than that.”

Woods played the first two rounds with the defending champion, Crenshaw. It was the last time over the next twenty years that he would play in the Masters and miss the cut.

Woods turned pro in late 1996 and showed up to Augusta in 1997 ready to play in his first Masters as a professional. Faldo played with him in the opening two rounds—Woods was still the defending U.S. Amateur champion—and watched as Woods started the tournament with a front-nine 40. He then came home in 30

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.