Woods Draws Crowd At His First Masters, Where Not Even Back Spasms Can Stop Him

As Greg Norman and Nick Price walked up the first fairway at Augusta National Golf Club Wednesday in the company of a long-striding lad in a cardinal-and-white Stanford cap, a man in the gallery turned and inquired: “Hey, who are those two guys with Tiger Woods?”

This has already been quite a week for the Masters, which begins today. The world’s top players are here for the year’s first major championship. Price is going for a third straight major title. Norman, always a threat, is ranked third in the world, behind Price and Nick Faldo. Peter Jacobsen is golf’s hottest player. Davis Love III qualified only last week and has momentum.

But the one player everyone wants to see is Woods, a 19-year-old Stanford freshman who in August became the youngest player to win the U.S. Amateur and is just the fourth black man to compete in the Masters.

He seems to be everywhere. There’s Tiger playing a practice round with Ray Floyd. There’s Tiger going off No.1 for his second 18 of the day. There he is outdriving Fred Couples, there outdriving Norman.

And there he was wincing in pain after hitting his tee shot on No. 5 during a practice round Wednesday. For a few minutes, it looked like Woods’ debut at the Masters was going to end before it ever began.

But it turned out Woods was only suffering back spasms when he cut short the round.

“I’m OK,” Woods said after being treated for the injury, which didn’t stop him from taking part in a par-3 tournament later in the day. “I’ve done it before. It’s no big deal.”

Woods walked to the green, picked up his ball and, after talking with tournament officials and Price, hopped in a van to be taken for treatment on the eve of the biggest tournament of his young life.

“It’s always been my biggest fear: keeping him physically fit for tournaments,” said his father, Earl Woods. “He’s not physically mature yet. Mentally, he’s 19 going on 30. But physically, he’s a teen-ager about ready to go into adulthood.

“Till he fills out his muscle structure and there’s full support for full adulthood functions, I’ll worry.”

But the younger Woods brushed off his brush with pain. He spent about an hour in the PGA fitness van, where the back was treated with electrical stimulation and ice packs.

“I’m fine,” Woods said. “They worked it out and there’s no pain now.”

As if to prove his point, Woods headed off the practice green, where he worked on his putting while joking round with Jacobsen. Afterward, Woods sauntered over to the crowd to sign a few autographs and even had his picture taken while holding a baby.

He then hit dozens of shots on the practice range before taking part in the par-3 tournament, where he struggled to a 2-over-par 29.

Earl Woods said his son had overtrained for his first Masters.

“I tried to tell him to slow down a little, but he’s a young stallion,” he said, noting Tiger played 36 holes Monday and 27 Tuesday. “Back spasms happen a lot to young athletes. He’ll be all right. He’s just a little overworked.”

Paired with defending champion Jose Maria Olazabal in today’s opening round, he left little doubt that he’ll be ready.

“Oh yeah,” Woods said emphatically, munching on a candy bar. “You bet.”