Tuesday with Tiger: Same as it ever was

If we're seeing the "new" Tiger Woods this week, Brian Wacker says, he looked just like has has for years on a sun-splashed Tuesday morning: cool and comfortable inside the friendly confines of Augusta National.

By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- As much as things change, they stay the same, at least inside the gates at Augusta National, where time stands still with $1.50 egg salad sandwiches and $1 bottles of water.

Nothing changes. Not even for the return of Tiger Woods, who was back on the course Tuesday morning. The patrons were still polite, as was the applause. Woods even had a familiar playing partner in Mark O’Meara.

Woods had planned to play with Steve Stricker, but with Woods’ 8 a.m. tee time, and Stricker’s 3:30 p.m. press conference, Stricker took a last-minute pass.

In was O’Meara, who has said recently that he hasn’t seen much of Woods the last three years -- despite spending 10 years as his “big brother” when Woods first came on the PGA TOUR. This week alone, though, O’Meara has practiced twice with Woods.

"We talked a little bit, I reminded him of our relationship and what it meant," O'Meara said.

While O’Meara added that he thought Woods’ game looked good and that he would be surprised if he didn’t play well, the results sometimes said differently.

On a sun-splashed morning, Woods’ approach shot on No. 3 came up short of the green and rolled back down the slope fronting it. Woods dropped another ball, though, and stuck the next one, drawing gentle applause from the gallery.

On the fourth hole, it took a 5-wood for Woods to reach the 240-yard par-3. And barely reach at that, landing just over the bunker fronting the green. On No. 5, Woods’ approach rolled back down the front of the green.

Not all the shots were bad, of course. "I said some things never change, you’re still hitting it 40 by me," O'Meara said. 

If this was a “new” Tiger, though, he looked much the same: cool and comfortable inside the friendly confines of Augusta National. About the only thing that looked different were the semi-goatee he was sporting and the sunglasses he wore to protect against the pollen that’s been blanketing the area.

Woods also smiled more. On the seventh hole, Woods broke from stride, went to the gallery ropes and hugged what appeared to be two friends with the three men exchanging smiles before Woods jogged back up the fairway.

"He kept telling the people thank you. Looked at them, acknowledged their appreciation," O'Meara said. "Maybe in the last three or four or five years, that hasn’t been happening. "It’ll be a difficult week for him, but if anybody can handle it, he can. As all of you know, he’s mentally tough enough to deal with a lot of the stuff that’s happened."

The strangest sight, though, were two helicopters overhead on the seventh and eighth holes. One hovered and circled the area a couple of times, while the other made a few passes before moving on.

Augusta National said it does not restrict its airspace during the event, but it does work with the FAA. One longtime resident said a helicopter over the grounds was “unprecedented.”

Whether Woods noticed or not was hard to tell, but he and O’Meara hit a few extra putts than normal on the seventh green.

By the time the two reached the ninth green, the gallery had swelled to 20 deep and Woods finally gave them something to cheer about, first by sucking his approach back over the edge of the hole, then by holing what was about a 25-footer.

Three holes later, Woods pulled out his cell phone on the 10th green -- but not to text. O’Meara said Woods was recording his putting stroke to help cure the loop in his stroke.

"We ask players not to use their cell phones," club spokesman Steve Ethun told the Associated Press. "We would make exceptions if players were using any kind of recording device during a practice round."

The rest of the back nine for Woods and O’Meara, though, went without incident.

On the 16th hole, the famous par 3 where players like to skip shots across the pond to the green, the gallery urged Woods and O’Meara to do so as well. They obliged, each dropping a ball in front of the tee box before simultaneously hitting shots that came up short.

When Woods and O’Meara reached the 18 th green, the sight of so many fist pumps and bear hugs for Woods, the two shared an embrace of their own.

Again, the gallery cheered. Again, Woods made his way up the hill, surrounded by security, the way he has so many times before. Again, he disappeared into the sanctity of the clubhouse.

Again, it felt a lot like any other Tuesday at the Masters.