Tiger Woods could not be tamed after Masters tried | Sports News

Augusta National is famend as one of probably the most difficult programs in skilled golf, with solely a choose few ever managing to win the Masters.

It even took Rory McIlroy 16 years to secure the coveted Green Jacket. The problem of Augusta National is essentially due to the dominance of Tiger Woods.

At simply 21, he set the sector ablaze on the 1997 Masters, changing into the match’s youngest winner. He achieved an spectacular 18-under over 4 days, the bottom of all time (till 2020), and gained by a record-breaking 12 strokes.

In response to his extraordinary efficiency, Augusta officers determined to considerably alter the course to increase its problem. This was the primary time within the course’s historical past that adjustments had been made to its size, a transfer known as ‘Tiger-proofing’ on the time.

However, this strategy did not precisely pan out as deliberate. While it might not have made Woods’ job any more durable, it actually elevated the problem for everybody else.

The course was barely prolonged from 6,925 yards to six,985 yards in 1999, earlier than Woods clinched his second Green Jacket in 2001 with a rating of 16-under. This led Augusta officers to additional prolong the course to 7,270 yards for 2002 – however Woods effortlessly swept previous the competitors to win his third Masters, efficiently defending the Green Jacket.

In the lead-up to this yr’s Masters, which Woods missed as a result of a ruptured Achilles tendon, his former caddie Steve Williams mirrored on the modifications made in 2001-02 aimed toward limiting the legendary golfer.

He stated: “The committee at Augusta probably has a fair indication of how they’re able to set up the golf course and what sort of score they’re indicating.

“If you fast-forward now, they have the flexibility with the underground heating they’ve on the greens to be capable of dictate how tender or how firm the greens are. So they’ll really keep a bit of control on the rating.

“Back then, they didn’t have that heating system available in the greens. I think it probably played into his hands. You talk about ‘tiger-proofing.’ What was ‘tiger-proofing’? It was ‘make the course longer.’ Whilst they did make it longer, they made the fairways a bit wider and took out some of the intermediate rough, which made it more suitable.

“I do not assume lengthening the course-although they described it as Tiger-proofing. I do not assume it really did Tiger-proof it as a result of he was clearly, in his peak, as long as anyone, actually amongst the highest gamers. He was very, very long. The longer the course, the more tough it grew to become for gamers that have been shorter hitters.”