Chapter 45

Bay Hill Invitational

Bay Hill Club when the speed combines with the severe sloping of Augusta’s greens, they can get out of hand.”

This April, the greens are soft, almost forgiving.

Not so the media glare, which burns bright around a single, inescapable question: Can Tiger win his fourth consecutive major championship?

Mickelson is driven. So is David Duval, who, though he’s recovering from a wrist injury, has achieved two top-three finishes in Augusta—tied for second in 1998 behind winner Mark O’Meara and tied for third last year behind winner Vijay Singh.

Celebrating past winners is one of the many Augusta National traditions. Byron Nelson, Masters champion in 1937 and 1942, is this year’s honorary starter. Two days from now, on April 5, he’ll step to the first tee and hit the ceremonial shot that will open the tournament.

“Do I feel the burden of it? No,” Tiger says during an April 3 interview. “Come Sunday night, win or lose, life is going to go on. The sun will come up on Monday.”

Mickelson, Duval, and Tiger quickly emerge as the players to beat. Tiger’s 70–66 places him two strokes off the lead going into the third round, where he delivers a 68 that puts him atop the leaderboard and paired with Mickelson (67-69-69) in the final round.

On Saturday night, Tiger hits the practice range, surrounded by the tall pines of Augusta National and some nagging thoughts. He’s detected a problem with his swing and works it out, hitting ball after ball until darkness sets in.

On the par-five 13th, Mickelson trails Tiger and David Duval by two. The dogleg hole named Azalea is one of the most famous in all of golf, bordered on its south side by sixteen hundred of Augusta National’s signature plants. Unfortunately, “Tiger is allergic to everything on the golf course,” his father says. “When he gets to Georgia in the spring, that pollen gets to him.”

Mickelson is the first to tee off, then he crosses the Nelson Bridge over a tributary of Rae’s Creek to the spot where his fade has landed in the middle of the fairway.

Tiger selects a 3-wood. His shot lands thirty yards beyond Mickelson’s drive, which puts him in position to birdie the hole and preserve his two-stroke lead.

On the CBS broadcast, commentator Ken Venturi gets animated. “That’s huge. That’s really big,” he says. “You thought Mickelson was big? Hit it right by it.”

“Do you always hit your 3-wood that long?” Mickelson asks.

“Further,” Tiger says. “Normally further than that.”

Of the shot he calls a high sweeper, he “practiced on the range all week just in case I might need it,” Tiger says. “I had to pull it out. I had to step up and aim another 15 yards right and hit that big slinger around the corner to give myself a chance.”

Duval is playing two groups ahead of the leaders. After birdieing seven of the first ten holes, he pulls even with Tiger. He can’t see how Tiger and Mickelson are playing, but he’s learned from his previous rounds at Augusta National how easily the crowd noise carries through the pines. He listens and hears… nothing… then thinks, I’m in it.

Then comes Redbud, the par-three 16 named for the pink flowering plant commonly known as the Judas tree. The hole, played entirely over water onto a green with three bunkers, proves to be Duval’s downfall. He bogeys the hole.

So does Mickelson.

Tiger pars 16 and 17 and takes control.

Augusta National’s par-four 18th hole is Holly, an uphill-cresting fairway. Tiger’s tee shot soars 330 yards, then it’s a seventy-five-yard pitch and a twelve-foot putt for birdie. A fourth-round 68 brings Tiger to 272 and 16 under par to capture the 2001 Masters.

There’s a momentary pause before Tiger processes what has happened. “When I didn’t have any more shots to play, that’s when I started to realize what I had done; I won the tournament, and I started getting a little emotional, and I was trying to pull it together.”

Tiger covers his face with his cap. The cameras keep rolling as he struggles to regain composure while Mickelson sinks his own final putt.

Earl and Tida join Tiger on the 18th green. The family embraces in celebration of what Tiger says “probably will go down as one of the top moments in our sport.”

Per tradition, the 2000 Masters champion, Vijay Singh, puts the Green Jacket on the new two-time champion Tiger.

David Duval, once again a Masters runner-up, offers some context. “It’s very difficult to win any of these major tournaments. To have your game in the right place at the right time, there’s an art to that. I don’t know what you can compare it to because there’s not something to compare it to in modern golf.”

In the lead-up to the Masters, there was talk of a Tiger Slam—if he won four consecutive major tournaments outside the scope of a calendar year. The name sticks.

“When I won here in ’97, I hadn’t been pro a full year yet,” Tiger says. “I was a little young, a little na?ve and I didn’t understand what I’d accomplished. This year, I understand. I’ve been around the block a few times now, and I have a better appreciation of what it takes to win a major championship. To win four in succession, it’s hard to believe.”