Tiger isn’t Superman any longer

AUGUSTA, Ga. – When he absolutely had to be Tiger-esque, Tiger Woods found some of the old magic to win his fourth Masters and reclaim his position at the top of the golf world. He birdied the first playoff hole, and delivered a Jordan-esque moment with his remarkable chip-in on the 16th hole, as perhaps only he can.

But in truth, this wasn’t the old Tiger.

It would be unfair, perhaps even ignorant, to try to measure the feat of winning a major tournament with style points. Majors are the standard by which greatness is defined in this sport, and more than anything, you win them with heart and guts.

So give Tiger his due for claiming his first major since Bethpage Black in 2002, tying Arnold Palmer with four green jackets, and resuming his quest to catch Jack Nicklaus and his record of 18 professional majors.

Still, was there anyone out there who didn’t fall off his couch when Tiger made back-to-back bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes on Sunday to force a playoff and nearly allow Chris DiMarco to steal the tournament from him?

It was only about as shocking as watching Mariano Rivera fail to close out the ALCS against the Red Sox last year. So now you wonder: Is it possible that, like Rivera, Tiger never will be Superman again?

This is a guy who never gave anyone even the slightest hope whenever he had a lead on a Sunday in a major. In fact, Tiger has never lost a tournament of any kind when he took a lead of more than one shot into the final round, as he did Sunday, and that streak remains intact.

But anyone who watched knows how vulnerable Tiger was down the stretch. He shot 37, 1-over par, on the back nine at Augusta National, made three bogeys, and nearly putted his ball off the green at No. 13 for the second time this week.

Even his magnificent chip-in on No. 16 was the result of a poor shot, pulled left and over the green. As Tiger said afterward, with a big smile, when someone asked him if he had ever practiced that shot: “Nope, never. You’re not supposed to hit the ball over there.”

Still, when he pulled it off, chipping to a spot 20 feet left of the green, then watching it come off the hill and go into the hole, well, surely the tournament was over. Everybody felt it, even DiMarco.

And then it wasn’t. Tiger sailed a drive 30 yards right of the 17th fairway. Bogey. Leading by one. And he missed the green by a mile on his approach to the 18th.

For a minute you thought you were watching Greg Norman, not Tiger, try to close out the Masters.

For once, he seemed to feel the pressure. Hey, it happens to the best of them in golf. It just never seemed to happen to Tiger.

Still, as he said afterward, he also made two of his best swings of the week in the playoff, then rammed the winning putt boldly, in classic Tiger fashion.

Bottom line is he won the Masters, so he’s back. It’s great for golf and all that, setting up the potential for compelling theater in the sport this year, as the pressure reverts to the other three members of the so-called Big Four to prove it’s not really just Tiger and everybody else again.

But in truth, DiMarco was the star of this show Sunday. Surely all but the hard-core Tiger fans were rooting for DiMarco as he slugged it out with the best player in the world, especially after he’d shot 41 on the back nine of the rain-delayed third round Sunday morning, seemingly giving away the tournament.

“This was a good gut-check for me,” DiMarco said afterward. “I think I proved a lot to myself.”

He shot 68, and played near-flawless golf. If his putter had stayed hot, he might have run Tiger off the course.

So who knows, maybe another golf star was born on this day. DiMarco, the kid from Long Island whose family moved to Florida when he was young, seems to have the kind of moxie you need to win majors. He has been close here a couple of times, and lost the PGA in a playoff to Vijay Singh last August.

Maybe we’ll hear more from him. DiMarco didn’t give an inch against Tiger on Sunday. Maybe he pushed Tiger into those bad swings at the end. Or maybe Tiger still has issues with his swing at such moments.

He looked like the old Tiger for a long time during the weekend, making 16 birdies over 30 holes at one point to take control of the tournament. None of the big guns could hang with that.

Only DiMarco wouldn’t let go. Years from now everyone will remember this Masters for Tiger’s impossible chip shot. But the fact that DiMarco made Tiger blink for once on a Sunday in a major may be worth remembering as well.