christianiooss (2)FAMILY TIME
jim nantz: Here’s what I
remember about Tiger when
he was talking to Joe and
strategizing about how he was
gonna play his second shot at
- Steve Milton, our director,
found the family shot—from
one of his cameras behind the
18th green—and he cut to it.
And the instant I saw that,
I thought of ’97 [Woods’ first
Masters win, with a hug from
his father, Earl, behind the
18th green]. We’re now going
to have something that will
bring some symmetry to what
happened with his father
a generation ago. It was at
about that point where I talked
about the emotion that came
pouring out of Tiger when he
won in 2006 at Hoylake, his
first major win since his father
passed in May of ’06. And I
drew a comparison to the raw
emotion that was there that
day and what I anticipate could
be coming up in a matter of
minutes. I saw the shot of the
family, and I saw the kids, and
my instincts told me that this
win had so much to do with
a father connecting with his
children and trying to show his
kids the man that their father
really is: This is what I looked
like back in my heyday.
joe lacava: Nothing’s routine
at that point, but he hit a chip,
exactly where he wanted to.
People always ask me, “When
do you think he won it?” And
I say, believe it or not, when
he had that par putt of eight
or nine feet above the hole...
and then it has a little too
much speed. I see him give—
he never does this—the knee
kick to try to coax it in. I’m
thinking, Why of all the times
is he trying to make a putt
when he doesn’t have to? Then
I thought, Well, he realized
he’s hit it too hard, and he
doesn’t want a two-footer
coming back. But I’m so far
up on the hill, I think it’s a
little longer than it is. So I’m
thinking, Let’s make this thing
and get the hell out of here.
You still had to wait for it.
tiger woods: That green
is different—they redid the
green, and [the putt] hung.
Had a little 18-inch tap-in....
And there it was.THE CELEBRATIONjoe lacava: Of course I’m
happy that he said, “We did it!”
and he considers me a big part
of the team. How can you not
like that? But he deserves all
the credit.
tiger woods: One of most
loyal human beings you’ll
ever meet.bubba watson: Name the
greats of any sport, and you
wish you were there to see
them do something amazing.
This was Tiger, and we were
there, and it’s our sport. I
was really grateful to see it
in person.
rich beem: He truly wanted
to share that moment with
his kids as he walked off 18.
It wasn’t what you see almost
every week when the kids run
onto the green. He was doing
the running.
graeme mcdowell:
It would have brought a tear
to a glass eye.
rob mcnamara: I was trying
to kind of tell Charlie and
Sam, like, “You can’t run at
Augusta and, you know, go
on the green.” And they were
really good and hanging
close, and then as soon as
Tiger got a little bit in eye
shot, Charlie just took off.
And that to me was the best
part, just to see him take off,
without me saying anything,
it was like, bang, and that was
awesome.
tiger woods: I think they
gained an appreciation for
the moment because they
were there when I failed.
I had a chance to win the last
time they came out—I had
a chance to win the Open
Championship, and they felt
the buzz of Dad’s on top of theboard. And I lost, and that
sucked. But now they saw
me on top of the board, and
I accomplished it.... I hope
that’s something they will
never forget.
mark steinberg: Coming
down the stretch, I felt like
he was feeling this would be
equally, if not more, important
for his kids to witness this in
person, than it was for him.
That’s when I broke down.
I was pathetic, I was awful.... You know, being there
when he hugged Earl and then
Tida [in 1997], and then seeing
this.... more emotional than
I ever thought I would ever be.
tiger woods: Very similar to
what it was like in 1997, and that
took me years to understand
what I accomplished.... My
mom is a rock.
trevor immelman: People
were lined 15 deep on the
walkway from the 18th green
to the scoring area. I’ve never
seen such a look on his face.
The relief. And disbelief. It had
started kicking in that he had
won and had disproved the
98 percent who said he would
never win another major
again. The greatest athletes all
compete with chips on their
shoulders. Sometimes they’re
real; sometimes they make it
up. But they find a way to be
pissed off about something. It
creates a fire in them and gives
them extra power, extra energy
and extra mental toughness.
Tiger is one of those guys.
curtis strange: The most
special moment was when
he left his family and walked
through the gallery from the
18th green to the clubhouse.
He was so excited. He was
pumping his fists. He was
screaming. He was high-fiving
everybody. That was the first
time I had ever seen him do
that. Which showed me how
much winning meant to him.
And that was all I needed
to see. This meant more to
him than we could ever know.
He clearly had the same
doubts we all had.
tiger woods: There was a
pretty good period there where
I never thought I’d play golf
again. And I was just hoping to
not quite▶ Woods misses a par putt at 18
(above) but dropped the next one to
celebrate with Joe LaCava (below).