LITTLE ROCK — Behind the 18th green at Augusta National, fans read the roars — hole, score, and player — and then check the hand-turned red numbers on the nearby scoreboard for confirmation.
For more than two hours on Sunday afternoon a year ago, the guessing game was non-stop as one after another of those unified reactions erupted from the back nine at The Masters. Clued in spectators know that down the valley to their left are Nos. 10 and 11, that to their right, No. 13 is farther away than Nos. 15 and 16, that No. 17 is almost dead ahead, and that eagles are celebrated more vociferously than birdies.
During the head-swiveling madness, eight players held or shared the lead. It began with Tiger Woods making up seven strokes and moving into a tie for the lead with a 31 on the front nine and ended with Charl Schwarzel making birdie on 15, 16, 17, and 18 with putts from 8 to 15 feet.
In between, third-round leader Rory McIlroy collapsed.
Playing together two groups in front of McIlroy and just ahead of Schwarzel, Jason Day and Adam Scott posted 10-under-par 276. At one point, a three- or four-way playoff seemed likely.
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“There’s always a roar,” Schwarzel said after winning with 274. “Every single hole you walk down, someone has done something … So many roars and so much atmosphere out there. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
The history of the 2011 tournament is recalled to point out that Tiger Woods will have to contend with different circumstances than he did when he broke a 923-day drought by winning last week at Bay Hill. On that Sunday, Woods only had Graeme McDowell to beat.
Not only were Woods and McDowell paired together, the former U.S. Open champion opened with a double bogey. The rest of the way, all Woods had to do was monitor his opponent, make a couple of par putts, stay in bounds and out of the water.
This week, Woods will have to contend with McIlroy and other young guns and he will have to compete with them sight unseen. Don’t get me wrong. I’m glad Woods broke through last week. So is CBS and ESPN.
Whether people tune in to root for or against Woods, they do watch him. NBC’s coverage of Bay Hill earned a 4.8 overnight rating, up 129 percent from the previous year. Kentucky’s blowout of Baylor in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday drew a 5.3 rating, down 29 percent from Kansas vs. VCU last year.
Woods was very good tee to green last week and much has been made of the fact that he is leading the PGA Tour’s statistical categories labeled Total Driving and Ball Striking. More impressively, he made 62-of-67 putts inside 10 feet last week. When he was dominant, he never missed a putt that mattered. That has not been the case during the past 30 months.
In 2004, while revamping his swing, he won twice and finished out of the top 10 only five times in 21 events because he continued making putts.
Woods’ intimate knowledge of the Augusta National greens is a plus, but it was only a month ago that The Associated Press’ knowledgeable golf writer cranked out a piece about how scrutiny of Woods’ game had shifted from his swing to his putting. A couple of misses from inside 6 feet and his putting will regress as quickly as it progressed.
Other than McIlroy, identifying the contenders is a crapshoot. A year ago, Schwarzel was not on anybody’s short list.
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Harry King is sports columnist for Stephens Media’s Arkansas News Bureau. His e-mail address is hking@arkansasnews.com.