At the Masters, Tiger Woods is in the chase, but there are other big cats on the board
By Barry Svrluga Barry Svrluga Sports columnist with beat writing experience on baseball, golf, the NFL, college basketball and college football Email Bio Follow April 13 at 9:07 PM AUGUSTA, Ga. — All the players around Tiger Woods on the leader board — so accomplished, so ready to take this Masters — need to know a few things about their legendary adversary.
Woods’s third-round 67 was the definitive development during a hot and heavy Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club, because it brings eyeballs to the event that would otherwise glance elsewhere. But it also introduces an odd dynamic to the final round of the Masters, one in which the players in contention are simultaneously bowing to Woods’s unarguable legend — while understanding quite well they can beat him.
Since his last major title at the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods has undergone four back surgeries, not to mention life-altering personal turmoil. He is in a better place now, both physically and mentally, and he is of the belief that his appearances in contention at last year’s final two majors — the British Open and the PGA Championship — means he’s ready to take that final stride further.
The previous generation of players, Woods’s contemporaries — guys such as Ernie Els and Vijay Singh and, to an extent, Phil Mickelson — can, in low moments, feel deprived. During their primes, Woods inarguably took titles they might have won instead. The current generation doesn’t carry the same scars.“It’s not like I can only worry about him,” Molinari said. “There’s a lot of guys with a chance.”
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