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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Staring down the Tiger


Tiger Woods, left, gets the Green Jacket from Phil Mickelson.
 (Associated Press / The Spokesman-Review)
From wire reports

Surely one of these days Chris DiMarco will be leading a major when it counts.

But give him his due this time: He stared down Tiger Woods in one of the greatest duels in Masters history.

Matching Woods almost shot for shot in an epic showdown, DiMarco overcame a two-shot deficit in the final two holes Sunday, nearly holing out a chip at No. 18 that would have claimed his first major championship.

In the end, it wasn’t quite enough. DiMarco forced a playoff, but could only make par on the first extra hole. Then he could only watch as Woods rolled in a 15-foot birdie to win his fourth Masters and ninth major overall.

DiMarco keeps contending in the biggest tournaments – especially at Augusta. He’s led at the end of a round five times in five years, including both the 18- and 36-hole marks of this one.

For the second year in a row, he played in the final group at the Masters. For the second straight major, he was involved in a playoff.

“This was a good gut check for me,” DiMarco said. “I felt like I proved a lot to myself.”

Last July, DiMarco was matched against Justin Leonard and Vijay Singh in a three-hole playoff at the PGA Championship at Whistling Straits.

Singh won after a birdie on the first extra hole. DiMarco had to be content with a closing 71, the lone player in the last nine groups to break par.

DiMarco put up an even lower score Sunday, finishing with a 4-under 68 that had him pumping his fist, dropping to his knees and thoroughly enjoying the moment.

“I told my caddie walking down 18, ‘If you’re not having fun doing this, there’s something wrong with you,’ ” DiMarco said. “Sure, my stomach was churning. But it’s nice to know when you’re stomach’s going crazy and you’re going crazy, you can still perform. That shows I can do it in any arena. If I can do it in this atmosphere, I can do it anywhere.”

Tiger’s back on prowl

This from Mike Lopresti, writing for Gannett News Service: Once upon a time, there was a golfer named Tiger Woods. He hung up major tournament titles like shirts in his closet, and then he stopped. People wondered if he had lost his edge, or had a screw loose changing his swing, or grown too comfortable, he and the wife.

He wasn’t the undisputed master of the universe anymore. There was also Mickelson, Singh, Els. The Fab Four. They had all caught up to Tiger Woods, and would live happily ever after.

The fairy tale took a new turn Sunday, in the dying light of Augusta National.

He’s back. Maybe not as the steamroller who flattens anything in his way. Maybe not as golf’s supernatural force, crushing a field of mortals. Maybe those days are gone.

But he’s back in a green jacket. Back as a major champion. Back as Tiger Woods.

“You never arrive,” he said. “If you do, you might as well quit. Can’t get any better. …You should never have that moment. You’re always trying to get better.”

Maybe he doesn’t shred the record books now. Maybe there are still questions about where his shots sometimes wander. Maybe he can’t run out of sight anymore. He couldn’t Sunday.

Now he needs to save himself with an unforgettable chip-in that only the most vivid of imaginations and steadiest of hands could produce.

“He made a great chip. Great imagination,” DiMarco said. “I was over there expecting him to make it. You expect the unexpected.

“Unfortunately, it’s not unexpected when he’s doing it.”

The chip-in won’t be forgotten

The shot was already brilliant before it hung tantalizingly on the lip of the cup.

Now it was about to become a part of Masters lore.

Tiger Woods didn’t just help himself win a fourth green jacket with his improbable chip-in on the 16th hole. He gave the Masters a moment as memorable as any that had come before it.

When gravity finally took over and the ball toppled slowly into the cup early Sunday evening, the shot Woods hit from an awkward lie just off the back of the green became more than just an instant classic for TV highlight shows.

It joined iconic moments of the past that have defined the Masters as golf’s greatest stage.

“I was just trying to throw the ball up there on the hill and let it feed down there and hopefully have a makeable putt,” Woods said. “All of a sudden, it looked pretty good, and all of a sudden it looked like really good, and it looked like how could it not go in and all of a sudden it went in. So, it was pretty sweet.”