Will the Tiger (and others) be tamed by the longer course for the United States Masters?
The aroma of an investment banker?s Dominican cigar cuts through the gentler scents of pine and new-mown grass behind the 18th tee at Augusta National.
‘Those weren?t here last year,? he said, turning to his companions and waving his cigar in the direction of the huge trees arching gracefully over the fairway.
?Naw,? one of his friends said. ?They couldna planted them in a year. Not that big.?
?I?m tellin? ya. Take a look in Golf Digest, boy. It?s right there.?
No, it isn?t. Those trees were there last year, and for many years before that. The myths are already growing around this year?s modifications to one of the sacred sites of American sport. And the greatest tribute to the changes may be that it is so hard to be sure that you?ve spotted them.
Usually, people spoil stuff. They lower the fences at Aintree or they stick a couple of chicanes in the middle of the Mulsanne Straight. They spoil these things because that?s the way the world is. But this week Augusta National will provide the proof that it ain?t necessarily so.
This week Tiger Woods stood on the 18th tee and saw something very different from the sight that greeted him on his final rounds in the United States Masters of 1997 and 2001, when he was on his way to making two kinds of history. And what he saw made him think.
To be truthful, the 18th at Augusta was not a setting worthy of the occasion. An uphill 405-yard par four with a gentle right-handed dogleg, it presented no great challenge to a man who, like Woods, could fly the two bunkers on the left-hand side of the fairway in order to place his ball in the safe landing area just below the green, with a birdie in prospect.
By moving the tee back 60 yards, and by planting half a dozen saplings just beyond the sand traps, the course committee and their architect have transformed the hole into a magnificent setting for the finale of one of the great tournaments.
It has been said, many times, that the point of extending Augusta National was to ?Tiger-proof? a course that had been in effect miniaturised by the strength of modern golfers and the superiority of their equipment. There are those who feel that it will make no difference, and that the long hitters will still claim an advantage. At practice this week Woods did his best to prove them right.
?I hit the same clubs off every tee that I always did,? he said. ?That hasn?t changed a little bit.? What has changed is that his second shot on a par four is more likely to be with a mid-iron than a wedge. ?There?s a premium on driving,? he said, ?but whoever wins it, their short game is going to be tested.?
The theory that he would need to unsheath his driver at the 18th was undermined when he stood on the tee holding his three wood. The wind was at his back and the hole was playing short, but he hit two balls to such underwhelming effect that he might very well find himself needing to raise the calibre of his ammunition.
If he is standing on that raised final tee on Sunday night with a title in the balance, what he will face is the kind of view that confronts a skier preparing to plunge out of the starting hut on the Hahnenkamm. Setting off in pursuit of his ball, he will notice that it has suddenly turned into a Tour de France rider?s ascent of l?Alpe d?Huez, with an undulating green of icy slipperiness at the summit.
The balance has shifted, as subtly as the scenery has changed. It would be unwise, however, to bet against the possibility that, whatever their intentions, all the Augusta National committee has done is provide an even more majestic arena for the expression of genius.