Chapter 34

The 61st Masters

Augusta National Golf Club

Augusta, Georgia

April 13, 1997

In the locker room, Tiger reads a message.

“Play the course,” it says. “Don’t listen to others. You know when to go for the pins and when not to go.”

It’s a fax from “Grandpa Charlie” Sifford, the latest in a tradition that began when Tiger first played Augusta National, in 1995.

Sifford’s been keeping a close eye on his surrogate grandson from afar, watching the tournament on TV from his home in Humble, Texas.

“I’ve been a golf fan for close to 74 years,” he tells a reporter. “Why would I miss it now, of all times?”

Tiger may be only twenty-one, but on the eve of the biggest moment of his life, he’s more resolute than he has ever been. “He was determined,” Sifford says. “He wasn’t going to let nothin’ get in his way.”

Neither will Lee Elder. The first Black golfer to play the Masters—in 1975, the year Tiger was born—pushes his rental car to eighty-five miles an hour from the airport in Atlanta to Augusta National, collecting a speeding ticket on the way.

The Georgia State Patrol officer who writes the ticket is unmoved by Elder’s tale of history in the making. “He didn’t know anything about golf,” Elder says. “I couldn’t believe it.”

But Elder doesn’t care about the ticket as long as he makes it in time to watch Tiger.

“Nothing was going to stop me from getting here,” Elder says. “I made history here, and I came here today to see more history made. After today, no one will turn their head when a Black man walks to the first tee.”

He manages to get there in time to catch Tiger on the practice range and wish him well.

“I tried and Charlie tried and Jim Thorpe tried,” Elder reflects. “We were just a little before our time. Now, the time is right for a black man to win a major. The doors are all open.”

Forty-year-old Costantino Rocca is an Italian veteran of the European tour who played against Tiger at the U.S. Open at Oakland Hills when Tiger was an amateur. This is the third Masters for both, but the crowds clearly want Tiger to win today. “I don’t know if anyone remembered I was on the golf course,” says Rocca. “It was good for him, not for me.”

As they make the turn onto the back nine, Tiger holds a nine-stroke lead. Still, he maintains focus. “I saw only the hole I was playing and felt only the shots I had in mind.”

“Ti-ger, Ti-ger,” the spectators call out as he walks up the fairways. But he focuses on no one at all.

“I knew Mom was following every shot, but I didn’t see her,” Tiger recalls. “She’s only about five feet tall, but I doubt I’d have spotted her even if she were taller. I didn’t see Phil Knight from Nike or Lee Elder.”

He hasn’t seen Earl yet, but he knows Jerry Chang made sure to get him there by the 15th hole, and his proud dad is already in the press tent giving interviews.

“This is a culmination of a lot of hard work, years and years of training, dreams,” an emotional Earl tells reporters. “It’s now turned into reality.”

Watching Tiger’s inevitable win from home in Texas, Charlie Sifford is emotional, too. “When he was walking up 18, I shed a few tears. I felt like I was a part of him. He did what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have a chance; I was too doggone old.”

On the 18th, Tiger spots Lee Elder near the green, and standing behind it are both his parents, clapping and smiling. There’s no question now that he’ll win—but if he can two-putt, he’ll also break some records.

I enjoyed the rush of having everything on the line, he reminisces later. I liked having a putt to win. It was on me. To me, that was fun.

Tiger wins with a fourth-round 69, twelve ahead of 1992 U.S. Open winner Tom Kite, and an incredible 18 under par for the tournament.

The twenty-one-year-old has made his mark:

? He is the youngest golfer ever to win the Masters.

? His score of 270 breaks the record for lowest 72-hole score ever at the Masters.

? His twelve-shot win is the largest margin of victory in any major championship.

? He is the first Black man ever to win the Masters.

“It means so much,” Tiger says. “I’m the first, but I wasn’t the pioneer. Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Teddy Rhodes, those guys paved the way for me to be here. I thank them. If it wasn’t for them, I might not have had the chance to play here.”

“For him to acknowledge me, Charlie Sifford and Teddy Rhodes was tremendous,” says Elder, whom the new champion stops to embrace on his way to Butler Cabin. “Tiger Woods isn’t like any other golfer,” Elder adds. “Him winning this major event like this, I think it’s just like what Jackie Robinson did.”