AUGUSTA, Ga. – Butch Harmon marched from Augusta National’s third tee up the hill to the second fairway where four of his students – Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Dustin Johnson and Brandt Snedeker – were playing an early Tuesday morning practice round together. One group ahead, his former star pupil, Tiger Woods, was prepping for his first tournament since he walked off after 11 holes at the Farmers Insurance Open in February. Harmon couldn’t have been more than 50 yards from where Woods was teeing off, but his head never swiveled for a glance. Not that he wasn’t curious. “How’s he look?” Harmon wondered.
When told that Woods looked like a different man, as if he had somehow turned back the clock to a better time when he wasn’t struggling with release patterns or shooting 82 in Phoenix, Harmon smiled his tight smile. Then he delivered this reminder. “It’s only Tuesday,” he said.
Yes, indeed. Just as he did late Monday afternoon, Woods played with Mark O’Meara on the front nine. They were the second group off the first tee at 8:05 a.m. Dressed in a hot pink shirt and black slacks, Woods hit five of seven fairways and avoided any skulls, chunks or bladed chips. In fact, he spent less time chipping and more putting than he did on Monday. On several occasions, O’Meara stood at the back of the green waiting for Woods to finish his routine. Sometimes, O’Meara went ahead and teed off, as he did at the fifth hole.
Once again, Woods was full of smiles and broke from putting at the seventh green to hug Billy Horschel, who came over to say hello from the third tee. When he wrapped up the ninth hole, Woods gave O’Meara a “bro-hug” and called it a day. After a brief break, Woods headed to the practice tee with swing consultant Chris Como, who stood among the patrons behind the eighth tee and craned his neck to see Woods’ tee shot.
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