82 golf digest | issue 4. 2020
christian ioossstiger woods: I hit one of
the hottest cuts I hit all week.
I mean, I hammered this
thing, and it was right up the
middle of the fairway. Then a
simple 8-iron up on the green,
and I took one last look at
the board. And at that time
it was basically only Brooks.
He really has a legit chance
to make things a little more
interesting. So I try to make
my putt there at 17. But the
wind’s coming off my left,
and it starts to howl a little
bit. So I adjusted my line
a little bit by another ball
because I thought the wind’s
going to blow down the hill.
It never blew, and went past
the hole. I was like, OK, I
should have just backed off
the putt, but I didn’t.
jim nantz: As he stood on the
tee at 18, I assumed he was
going to win. I didn’t see a 6
coming.
tiger woods: Going up 18,
there are a couple of different
scenarios that could happen
here. Brooks could make
birdie—that puts me with a
one-shot lead—or I can make
a mistake. Well, if I make par,
he’s got to hole out. So let’s
focus on putting this ball in
the fairway. What can I get in
a fairway here? Well, driver I
hit in the left bunker there one
day, and it’s like 298, but I’m
amped up, the wind’s down
off the right, and so if I hit
driver, which I wanted to do,
it brings the bunker into play,
where now I have to cut it. Now
3-wood, I don’t have to cut it—I
can hit a straight ball, I can hit
a draw ball, I can get a cut—I
can hit whatever I want; it’s not
going to get to the bunker. Fine,
I hit it down there, and then I
didn’t hear any roars up ahead
of me. Then when I got past the
corner, I was able to see up on
the 18th green. Brooks had a
tap-in putt, so that must have
been for par. I knew that bogey
wins the tournament.
brooks koepka (on missing
an eight-foot birdie putt at 18):
Poults’ putt kind of fooled me.
... It’s a new green. I watched
it and tried to play it straight
and firm, and mine decided
to break.
jim nantz: After Dustin
and Brooks missed their
opportunities on the 72nd
hole, at that point it was all
setting up for that historic
celebration.PREPARING FOR
A CORONATION
trevor immelman ( 2008
Masters champion): I felt like
it was history being made.
My 13-year old son followed
me around that day. We went
up to the Champions Locker
Room when I was done, and
I’ve never seen the place that
full. Everyone was huddled
around the televisions. There
were no seats free. I was at
the back of the room when
my son said, “Let’s go down
there.” It was a bit like your
favorite team wins something
after years of failure. It’s like
you live part of their life, all
the ups and downs.
bubba watson: I was pretty
disappointed coming off the
golf course because I bogeyed
the last two holes. I’d been
only one off the lead. I finished
pretty early, but sitting
upstairs with some of the
other guys, we weren’t going
anywhere. He’s finishing up,
and I said, “We’re going down
there.” And they’re like, “What
do you mean?” I’m like, “Guys,it’s Tiger Woods. It’s history
in the making.” He wasn’t
even supposed to be playing
anymore a couple of years ago,
and here he is about to win the
Masters.
nick faldo: If Brooks had
holed that putt at 18, then
it would have been a whole
different thing for Tiger.
That fairway on 18 slopes
right to left, but there’s a
gully down the right, I
noticed, where if you hit
it a bit too far down the right,
it kicks to the right. He hit
it right into that gully, so
he was then blocked, and
seriously blocked. When
you don’t have great options,
you don’t really want it in
the front-left bunker for that
front pin.
tiger woods: And I had a
little bit of mud on my golf ball
playing that shot.
joe lacava: That was a pin
that I had never seen before.
I think what happened was,
nobody guessed to practice
to that hole location. He knew
he always had to be right,
preferably short, or worst-
case scenario, pin-high in
the bunker, and it was
blowing right to left down.
It was one of those things
where if he just hit a straight
ball that would have missed
left, it would have been upin the crowd where it was
muddy, and from there you
can make 6, 7, 8. You can
chuck it down the valley,
you can skull it. I mean, a
million things could happen.
Or if you happen to pull it,
it’s going to go over that
crowd because that was the
kind of number that we had.
So for him to hit 8-iron, he
really had to hit a slice, and
I think as he’s coming down,
he hit this thing so high.
That’s why as the crow flies
it only went a hundred
whatever, 25, 30 yards. It was
basically done on purpose.
Yeah, would he have liked to
get a little more on the ball
and get closer? Of course. ►“HE WASN’T EVEN
SUPPOSED TO BE
PLAYING ANYMORE A
COUPLE OF YEARS AGO,
AND HERE HE IS ABOUT
TO WIN THE MASTERS.”
still some work to do▶ Needing only a bogey at the 18th
to win, Woods had to contend with
some tree trouble and mud on his ball.