Tiger Woods finished dead last at the Masters but gave a Pittsburgh kid a thrill of a lifetime

AUGUSTA, Ga. — He’s 48. He’s had 13 surgeries. He went through rehab for painkillers before he nearly died in a car wreck that shattered his right leg. Lingering effects of the accident forced him to withdraw from the 2023 Masters and undergo that 13th surgery, on his ankle. Now it doesn’t flex, so the hills at Augusta National amplify the challenge of its perpetual uneven lies and brutal terrain.

Tiger Woods made his record 24th Masters cut by grinding out 23 holes Friday, the result of a rain delay Thursday, but it cost him any chance at contention. He looked fried when he shot 10-over Saturday and depleted by Sunday, when his 5-over left him at 16-over, not only his worst 72-hole Masters result but the worst 72-hole result in his nearly 400 professional events.

He finished dead last among the 60 golfers who made the cut.

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Still, it was the first time he finished a full-field, 72-hole event in 14 months, and it was just the third time he’d done so since the accident, in February of 2021.

“It was a good week all around,” he said. “I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time — it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, [Saturday] didn’t quite turn out the way I wanted it to.”

He hoped that Saturday was an aberration, but despite mild winds and conditions that saw six golfers who teed off early like Tiger shoot 3-under or better — Tom Kim shot a 6-under 66 — Woods couldn’t score Sunday, either.

“The way Tom is playing, I thought I had [that] in my system,” Woods said.

He’s the only one.

Perhaps Woods’ best play of the day happened behind the 16th hole, where he shook the hand of retiring CBS broadcaster Verne Lundquist. It was a rare moment of genius.

He said at the beginning of the year he hoped to play at least once every month from February through July, and when he withdrew from the Genesis Invitational in February, he planned to play in The Players Championship in March. He couldn’t recover. Will he show up at the PGA Championship at Valhalla next month? He’ll try.

“Just keep lifting, keep the motor going, keep the body moving, keep getting stronger, keep progressing,” Woods said. “Hopefully the practice sessions will keep getting longer.”

Hopefully, his relevance in tournaments soon will last past the second round.

Woods completed the Tiger Slam the year Ohio State graduate student Neal Shipley was born in Pittsburgh, winning his second Masters in the spring of 2001 to hold all four major titles at the same time. He became the youngest Masters champion in 1997 at the age of 21, two years younger than Shipley is now. The Masters torch that Arnold Palmer passed to Jack Nicklaus came to Woods for golfers of Shipley’s generation, so imagine how Shipley felt playing his first Sunday round of the Masters with the master.

“Tiger Woods? Sunday, at the Masters?” Shipley said, running his hand through his long, brown hair. “The whole week … I think I have to win one of these things to kind of top this week. Definitely been a dream week.”

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Shipley was the only amateur golfer to make the 6-over cut, and, on the strength of a 1-under first round, he did it by three shots. That automatically earned him low-amateur honors and the chance to be at the trophy presentation. However, an 8-over 80 on Saturday ruined his score, and the affable giant — he’s 6-foot-3 with the build of a football player — wasn’t feeling affable at sundown Saturday as he scratched out a few shots at the practice range.

Then his caddie, a childhood friend named Carter Pitcarin, got the tee sheet for Sunday, and approached his brooding buddy.

“Hey, guess who we are going to be paired with tomorrow?” Pitcairn asked.

“No way it’s Tiger,” Shipley said. Pitcairn replied, “Yeah.”

“I got pretty excited,” Shipley said. “That’s when the emotions turned around.”

So did the game. Shipley was 1-over Sunday and finished tied for 53rd at 12-over.

The result mattered less considering the company. They got along famously, discussing golf and life and Charlie, Tiger’s 15-year-old son, a spectacular young golfer who has a lot more in common with Shipley than Tiger does. Tiger even smiled a few times.

“He’s such a normal guy and really cool,” Shipley said. “He was great to me all day. Couldn’t be more appreciative of him just being awesome today.”

And being awed. Not since Palmer at Augusta National has any crowd in any sport adored any athlete more than crowds adore Tiger at the Masters.

“It was just really cool to be around him and just the attention he gets and the roars,” Shipley said. “The crowds were phenomenal.”

Notably, Shipley’s favorite golfer is Vijay Singh, and if Shipley had been three shots worse Saturday he might have played Sunday with Singh. He’d have lost, head-to-head.

Shipley might have beaten Tiger by four shots Sunday, but Singh, who at 61 is 38 years older than Shipley, shot even par.

Tyrell Hatton didn’t know what to expect. Ranked 16th in the world at age 32, he left the PGA and European tours in January, along with Jon Rahm, for LIV Golf at a reported price of $63 million, and he wasn’t quite sure how his pals would receive him when they reunited at the Masters.

“You’re always a bit nervous coming back,” Hatton admitted.

Nothing happened … which was sort of what he expected. Despite a rare cold shoulder, LIV defectors have generally been received amicably since it ramped up in 2022. Hatton, a passionate and genuine bloke, is generally popular among his peers, and that didn’t change.

“I think when I messaged the Ryder Cup chat to tell the lads that I was going, I was nervous sending the message. Obviously I was nervous joining LIV, as well,” he said. “But the messages that I got back were, like, really positive and made me feel at ease.”

The main message from golf’s annual garden party was that golf needs more parties like this, with the principals in attendance. The PGA Tour and the Saudi investment fund that backs LIV are negotiating a partnership, but until then the PGA and European tours have banned or suspended LIV players from most events. Any big tournament that lacks Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, Patrick Reed, Cam Smith, Joaquin Niemann, Rahm, and Hatton simply isn’t as big as it could be.

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Rory McIlroy pointed to a bump in ESPN’s ratings for the first two days of the Masters as evidence the golf world is hungry for such reunions, which only happen at majors.

“When we’re all back together, then golf thrives,” McIlroy said. “When we’re divided, it doesn’t. That’s just another example of why we should all try to put our heads together and get back together.”

Hatton drove down Magnolia Lane with a light heart, then played like it — for a change.

Hatton has played eight Masters. He missed the cut twice. He finished in the top 20 just once. This year he enjoyed his best finish, tied for ninth at even-par, third-best among LIV players, a rare bright spot for LIV this year.

Last year, the first full year of LIV Golf, 12 of 18 LIV golfers who qualified made the cut. Five finished in the top five, and one finished 16th.

This year, with fewer golfers able to qualify due to bans and suspensions from the PGA and European tours, only 13 golfers participated. Eight made the cut. Second-round coleader DeChambeau faded, finishing tied for sixth at 2-over par. Smith also finished at 2-over.

Reed finished tied for fourth last year but tied for 12th this year. Joaquin Niemann, whose sharp play on LIV and in Asia earned him a special invitation, finished tied for 22nd. Three-time winner Phil Mickelson finished tied for 43rd at 8-over, while Koepka, the defending PGA Championship champion, and Rahm, the defending Masters champion, both finished 9-over, tied for 45th.