Tiger Woods wanted to make history at this year’s Masters. He was seeking to win a sixth Green Jacket and tie Jack Nicklaus for the most wins in Masters history.
He set a regrettable mark instead. Woods made a septuple-bogey 10 on the par-3 12th hole after hitting three balls into the water. It was the highest score of Woods’ PGA TOUR career.
It started when Woods blocked his tee shot into the water, repeating the same mistake that several of his closest pursuers made last year. After taking a drop, Woods’ third shot found the green but spun back into Raes Creek. He hit his fifth shot into a back bunker, then blasted that sand shot over the green and back into the water. Woods dropped again in the bunker and hit that shot into the fringe. He missed the ensuing putt before tapping in for a 10.
Woods’ previous high score at Augusta National was an 8. He made an 8 on the par-5 eighth hole in 1999 and an 8 on the 15th hole in 2013.
He responded like a true champion, making birdie on five of his final six holes. Woods birdied Augusta National’s final four holes for the first time in his career. He signed for a 76 despite his trouble on the 12th hole.
“I committed to the wrong wind. The wind was off the right for the first two guys, and then when I stepped up there, it switched to howling off the left, which ‑‑ and the flag on 11 was howling off the left,” Woods said. “I didn’t commit to the wind, and I also got ahead of it and pushed it, too, because I thought the wind would come more off the right and it was off the left, and that just started the problem from there.
“From there I hit a lot more shots and had a lot more experiences there in Rae’s Creek, and then as you said, this is unlike any other sport in which you’re so alone out there and you have to figure it out and you have to fight and no one is going to pull you off the bump and you just have to figure it out, and I did coming in.”
