A Hunter and the Haunted

AUGUSTA, Ga. —  He was in the echoes. He was in the stares. He was in their heads.

It was one-on-five at Augusta National playground Sunday, a completely unfair game, because the one was five, and Tiger Woods was everywhere.

He was in Ernie Els’ backswing when, on the 13th hole, the smart and composed Els tried to hack a ball through a tree trunk.

Triple bogey. Timber!

He was in Vijay Singh’s grip when, on the 15th hole, the serene and steady Singh tried to teach a ball to swim.

Quadruple bogey. Man overboard!

For four hours at the Masters Sunday, Tiger Woods was not only a golfer, but a specter, his strength and history haunting those around him until they tugged their hair and tore their clothes and ran screaming off a cliff.

Woods is so much better than every other golfer on the planet, he won his third Masters not by being a hero, but simply by being Tiger.

He shot a 71 Sunday, the worst round of any of his three winning Masters.

He had a total of 276, the worst score he has dared scribble on a green jacket order form.

None of it mattered.

Not when partner Retief Goosen, who began the round tied with Woods, left the first tee and hid behind a tree.

Or when Singh got so mad he threw his ball into a creek.

Or when Sergio Garcia threw his ball into the bushes.

Or when Phil Mickelson lost his common sense.

Or when Els lost his cool.

Five of the world’s best players surrounded Woods when the round started.

But, as evidenced by their needless risks and silly dares, it was the five players who felt surrounded.

Woods simply hung back and watched all five fall on their keisters, then swooped in with a wink and smile.

Leave it to golf’s hippest dude to turn an honorable sport into short-track speedskating.

“I honestly don’t think that anyone can really appreciate, except for the players, how difficult this golf course was playing today,” Woods said.

Nudge, nudge.

Certainly, if your name wasn’t Tiger Woods, it was almost impossible.

Try blocking out the echoes of wild cheers for Woods as they drifted through the late afternoon.

“It’s tough to play with Tiger, because he doesn’t give you any room to maneuver,” Jose Maria Olazabal said.

Try ignoring the pleading looks of fans who constantly remind you, if you don’t do something dramatic, you don’t stand a chance.

“The thing about Tiger is that he’s the only leader that you don’t have the hope he’ll falter,” Mickelson said. “When other guys are up there, you know that if you can just stay around there, there’s a good chance they might come back two or three shots.

“But Tiger doesn’t ever seem to do that.”

In other words, try beating the Yankees in Game 7 at Yankee Stadium.

Augusta is the perfect match for Woods’ big hitting and brainy shot-making.

Especially if he gets last at-bats.

Is it any wonder, then, that his caddie Steve Williams shouted this specific request at Tiger’s sailing ball on his final approach shot of the third round Saturday afternoon:

“Get into the last group!”

Woods, of course, birdied that hole and moved into a final group that he likens to a pole position.

Nobody thinks they can outrun him from there--he won all six previous majors in which he led or shared the lead after three rounds.

But everyone is willing to smash into a wall trying.

In other words, this tournament was actually won Saturday.

“If you think you can’t make any mistakes,” said Thomas Bjorn after his final-round 77, “then you are going to make mistakes.”

Woods already averaged a four-stroke advantage over his playing partners in the final round of his previous winning majors, so it’s no surprise that Goosen laid a 74, three strokes worse than the champ.

But who would have thought that former Masters champion Singh would hum a 76, featuring two splashdowns on the 15th hole?

“That was the end of that,” he said.

Who would have guessed that-- Els Bells!--Ernie would hit a 73 with his triple bogey?

“I told myself not to hit to the left,” he said of the 13th jinx. “I guess I just didn’t listen to myself.”

Garcia shot a 75 and, with wide eyes, said, “It just happened.”

Mickelson made two quick birdies, played the rest of the course in one over par, then sighed.

“You know that you have to go after him to make birdies to catch him,” he said, “which is why I think we saw guys taking aggressive plays and making bogeys and doubles because of it.”

Like he said. A haunting.

The only time any of the leaders hung with Woods was at the 18th green, when Goosen made a rookie-type mistake by not staying back and allowing Woods to walk alone into the circle of cheers.

But that’s OK. He’ll learn. Tiger Woods will show him. Just as he shows all of them. Simply by showing up. Right?

“We’ve been over this a million times,” said an irritated Bjorn, spinning on his spikes and stalking away into the Augusta evening, a red shirt on his mind, a strange breeze on his shoulder.

Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]