Golf Digest - November 2020

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2020 Masters Let’s try that again The untold stories of Tiger’s greatness Meet UAE PGA historymaker Olivia Jackson

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Tee Sheet 11/20 how to play. what to play. where to play.

▶ leaf peepers The world will see Augusta National in a different light this month.

Features 36 Time to Shine Tournament Director Simon Corkill and his team have had to pivot and pivot again to deliver the 14th OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic.

BY KENT GRAY

38 It’s Ko Time Moonlight Classic headliner Lydia Ko continues to accentuate the positives.

BY KENT GRAY

16 Shank You Very Much An alignment stick and bag is all you need to say goodbye to those hozel rockets.

BY TOM OGILVIE

The Starter 8 Jumeirah Golf Estates Greg Norman’s Fire layout is finally set to step out of Earth’s shadow.

BY KENT GRAY

Play 10 Through the Ball I figured out some things in my iron play, and it paid off during the FedEx Cup.

18 David Leadbetter Forget the folks who say keep your head still when you putt.

26 What’s In My Bag The defending Masters champion.

28 Equipment Lab Shopping with a strategy.

WITH KEELY LEVINS

BY DUSTIN JOHNSON

22 Next Level Stuff How to build belief in your putting.

BY SOPHIA POPOV

be at 1 24 Stroke Index 1 How to tame the 15th at Yas Links Abu Dhabi.

BY KARL DUNN WITH KENT GRAY

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BY KENT GRAY

BY MIKE STACHURA

46 Ladies First Golf Saudi triple down on their investment in the women’s game in the Kingdom.

19 Butch Harmon What to do when you’re leaking oil.

20 Journeys Christiaan Bezuidenhout cleared his name after getting banned from amateur golf. Now he’s playing in his first Masters.

42 Charley Hull Surely 2020 can’t throw another curveball at the dual Dubai and Saudi drawcard?

BY KENT GRAY

masters preview 48 Of Slopes and Swales Deconstructing the mythology around Augusta National’s greens.

BY DEREK DUNCAN

32 History Lesson Olivia Jackson hasn’t taken long to make her mark on the UAE golf scene.

BY KENT GRAY

34 The Loop A look inside the everyman’s yardage book.

BY COLEMAN BENTLEY

66 Jim Nantz Combing through my 25 years of Tiger interviews.

50 The Untold Stories of Tiger Woods We asked more than 60 people who’ve spent time with the 15-time major champ to share their favourite anecdotes.

BY THE EDITORS

64 Fall Classic A Masters played in November might resemble the one I won.

BY ZACH JOHNSON

augusta national/getty images • johnson: j.d. cuban • equipment: dom furore

6 Editor’s Letter Why the first week in April is okay in the second week of November for one show only.

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Editor’s Letter

Traditions reimagined KENT GRAY kent.gray@motivate.ae • Twitter: @KentGrayGolf / @GolfDigestME

HH, THE MASTERS. Revered Augusta National. The drive down Magnolia Lane. Tuesday’s Champions’ Dinner.

Wednesday’s Par-3 contest. Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player conjuring ceremonial tee-shots in Arnie’s honour (RIP The King) early Thursday. The colourful Azaleas. Caddies in striking white overalls. Escapes from the “pine straw”. Heartache at Amen Corner. Bernhard Langer defying Father Time. Time and time again. The fabled green jacket, the most sort after item of clothing in all of sports.

You’ve got to love the first week of April. Even when it is in the second week of November. What a weird old year this has been.

After the cancellation of The Open at Royal St George’s in July, I’m not sure we could have coped without the first major of the year, even this much delayed screening sans patrons.

It won’t be the same but it won’t make it any less intriguing. What will the game’s most exclusive club look like in fall? Will the blooms give way to an orange autumn glow? Will the course play any different and require different strategies? Will Bryson DeChambeau overpower Augusta regardless?

Traditions are what make The Masters so special. Like $1.50 Pimento Cheese sandwiches and cellphones and running being completely prohibited on the fabled grounds. Just sit back in the comfort of your own branded beach chair and soak in the privileged magnificence. Watch the golf through your own lenses, not via a cellphone screen trying to capture that timeless selfie to show everyone how lucky you are. Glorious memories of a lifetime burned into your personal hard drive.

It will be strange without the roar of patrons as career defining shots hug the deceptive borrow beyond the pin on the Par-3 16th and track into the hole. Heck, we might even hear the “plop” of undercooked shots on the Par-3 12th. That sink-

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ing feeling of a major lost hauntingly amplified through the pines.

Welcome to the new normal, hopefully only for this one-time screening.

If 2020 has taught us anything, you can’t take anything for granted. So what have we really learned in this extraordinary year of social distancing and uncomfortable nasal swabs? That the distance debate is even more contentious than it was pre-COVID, that golf attire still sadly paints the game in a petty light – black ankle socks won’t be an issue at Augusta but is anyone game enough to sport a hoodie? – and that we’ve got to cling on to some time-honoured traditions more than others.

Blessedly, some things won’t change at Augusta National. The dulcet tones of Jim Nantz, the justified wall-towall coverage of Tiger’s every move and howls of disbelieving disapproval (from outside Augus ta National) if DeChambeau can get his lengthened driver to co-operate for four days.

We honestly can’t wait. Even though we’ve got very used to having to do just that.

So, enjoy this, our 2020 Masters edition like no other. Enjoy too the televised coverage of the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic the previous week and intersperse your Masters week viewing with our coverage from the new $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International (also Nov. 1215) from Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.

Augusta, Georgia and King Abdulla Economic City near Jeddah. The settings for golfing traditions rescheduled and new. We’re unsure what 2021 will bring but Saudi’s continuing investment in the Ladies European Tour, and golf in general, seems a given.

Just as exciting is the quirk of history that sees the next men’s major after this month’s Masters scheduled for the first week in April. Ahh, backto-back Masters. The blooming Azaleas will never have looked so pretty.

“The Masters won’t be the same without patrons but it won’t make it any less intriguing.”

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Photograph by Eureka Earth

editor-in- chief Obaid Humaid Al Tayer managing partner & group editor Ian Fairservice editor Kent Gray art director Clarkwin Cruz editorial assistant Londresa Flores photogr apher Mustufa Abidi instruction editors Euan Bowden, Tom Ogilvie, Alex Riggs chief commercial officer Anthony Milne publisher David Burke gener al manager - production S. Sunil Kumar assistant production manager Binu Purandaran t h e g o l f d i g e s t p u b l i c at i o n s editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde international licensing director Greg Chatzinoff international editor Ju Kuang Tan golf digest usa editor-in- chief Jerry Tarde gener al manager Chris Reynolds editorial director Max Adler executive editors Peter Morrice, Mike O’Malley design director Ken DeLago managing editor Alan P. Pittman chief pl aying editor Tiger Woods pl aying editors Phil Mickelson, Francesco Molinari, Jordan Spieth, Tom Watson

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Jumeirah Golf Estates Greg Norman’s Fire layout finally set to step out of Earth’s shadow

BY KENT GRAY

desire to showcase the Fire course at Jumeriah Golf Estates to a global audience by transitioning the European Tour’s Race to Dubai decider across from the club’s more famed sister course never advanced beyond the now historical planning stage. But Fire is finally set to move out of Earth’s shadow with the 32nd Eisenhower Trophy (men) and 31st Espirito Santo Trophy (women) to be staged on the desert links in 2023. After an unsuccessful bid in 2008, the Emirates Golf Federation, in concert with Dubai Golf and Falcon and Associates, won hosting rights at the International Golf Federation’s biennial meeting in Lausanne last month, edging the Singapore Golf Association in a close vote. It will be the first time the World Amateur Teams Championships will be held in the Middle East.

“We are very proud to welcome the best amateurs from around the world to the UAE to play on the Greg Norman-designed Fire course at JGE,” said Chris May, CEO of Dubai Golf which manages JGE, Emirates Golf Club and Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club. “The EGF should be commended for their commitment to the sport. This gives all young aspiring golfers from the UAE and the GCC region something to focus on and work towards. It’s an amazing opportunity to help take amateur golf to the next level in this region.”

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Photograph by Kevin Murray

“I’m swinging at only 85 percent on most iron shots to make sure everything is synced up.”

Photographs by J.D. Cuban

Through The Ball Simple ways to sharpen your iron play

BY DUSTIN JOHNSON

Y IRON PLAY in 2019 wasn’t as good as I wanted, so after the surgery on my left knee at the end of the season, I worked on getting my ball-striking back to where it was a few years ago. I think a lot of golfers can relate to dealing with the ups and downs of each part of the game.

For me, it was mostly feeling a touch out of sync, not delivering the club correctly on a consistent basis. But it’s funny how, when you refocus on a part of your game that’s not where you want it to be, things can turn in a flash.

It happened to me during the FedEx Cup. I was already swinging better, but during the playoffs, everything really clicked. I won two of the three events and finished second in the other to reclaim the top spot in the World Golf Ranking. If you want to know some of the things I did to sharpen my iron play, keep reading. —WITH RON KASPRISKE

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impact zone

rip it off the turf ▶ Some guys on tour take thin divots and others gouge them out. But we all do one thing the same way as the club reaches the ball—we have the clubhead moving its fastest in that space just before and after contact. You’ve got to save your power for the impact zone, which means feeling smooth as you swing back and down.

You want your downswing to pick up speed as the club approaches the ball. I’ll talk more about my backswing and transition on the following pages, but just know that I’m swinging at only 85 percent on most iron shots to make sure everything is synced up. Try changing your tempo so that everything feels smooth until that last moment before the club reaches the ball.

That will help you rip it off the turf.

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“When I’m playing my best and we compare my setup and backswing positions, there’s no difference from swing to swing.”

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Tour Technique Play

tr ansition

change direction smoothly ▶ One of the big things that separates iron play from your woods is that you’re not trying to hit these shots as far as possible. It’s not about distance with the irons—it’s distance control. For me, it’s a lot easier to hit shots a specific distance when I’m swinging with the same smooth tempo shot after shot.

I work on that a lot. I don’t want to feel like it’s rushed, or I’m pulling the club down from the top of the swing. It’s more like it’s falling.

Try to feel that as you go from backswing to downswing. Also, when you practice, really pay attention to how far the ball carries with each of your irons—especially when you catch a good one. That way, you’ll always have a pretty good idea if you delivered the club correctly into the ball. And that starts with being smooth from the top down.

setup and backswing

check it, and check it again ▶ We all have tendencies that sometimes creep into our swings and make it harder to do what we’re trying to do. That’s why I’m always checking my setup and backswing— the parts of the swing you can really monitor.

For example, I prefer to set up a touch open (aligned left of the target) to pre-set the fades I like to hit. But every once in a while, I catch myself setting up square/ neutral in relation to the target, often leading to a right miss. My other problem that’s easy to feel or spot happens in the backswing. I start to lift instead of making a good turn off the ball. What I’m on the lookout for might not be the things you need to check, but the point is to know your bad tendencies and make sure you’re doing whatever you can to keep them out of your golf swing.

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Play Tour Technique

follow-through

get through the ball ▶ That expression, through the ball, might sound funny if you’re new to the game.

But it’s the feeling you want for virtually any shot in golf, especially good irons shots.

What it means is that you’ve got to keep your swing speed up and keep turning your body after the ball is gone. Because I like to hit mostly fades, it’s really important for me to keep turning. If your body stops rotating toward the target shortly after impact, you’re probably going to turn a nice fade into a big slice. Think about getting your chest pointing left of the target (for righties) as you finish the swing (right).

If you can swing with smooth tempo, accelerate the club down and through the impact zone, and keep turning after the strike, your iron play is going to get a lot better.

downswing

shift forward, then hit it ▶ One problem I sometimes have is one you might have, too. If I don’t get my weight moving toward the target through impact, I struggle to put the club on the back of the ball the way I want. My worst swings happen when I hang back. When I play in pro-ams, I see a lot of amateurs swinging off their back foot, trying to lift their iron shots off the ground. They usually hit it fat or thin.

Instead, you want to hit down on the ball with your irons to compress it. You have to drive through with your weight on the downswing to get that pure contact. You’ll know that you’re shifting toward the target and getting through the ball if you’re taking divots after contact. You can see here (right) that the ball came off the face, but the clubhead is still cutting through the turf.

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“Iron play is all about hitting your numbers consistently.�

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Play Swing Mechanics with Tom Ogilvie

“Early extension occurs just prior to or during impact…”

WATCH THE VIDEO ▶ Tom brings this lesson to life at golfdigestme.com

F YOU STRUGGLE with repeated strikes out of the heel or, worst still, begin flushing it off the hozel, early extension could be cause.

This is a swing characteristic we see fairly commonly at the Peter Cowen Academy at Dubai Creek

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Golf & Yacht Club and thankfully there is a cure to the curse of the dreaded shanks.

Early extension occurs just prior to or during impact and can be caused by a number of premature movements you can probably identify with: the an-

gle of the spine extending up, your hips thrusting towards the golf ball, pressure transferring into the toes on both feet and/ or you lose balance and fall towards the ball.

A good drill to prevent early extension requires an alignment stick and your golf bag and can be practiced on the driving range or at home.

Start by placing an alignment stick through your belt buckle with your golf bag directly in front of you. Now set up into your golf posture with your hands across your chest.

As you turn through the hitting zone, ensure the alignment stick avoids the golf bag and that your pelvis stays back

A REAL game changer

while you concentrate on maintaining balance on the balls of your feet. A real key here is to maintain your spine angle throughout the movement.

Practice this movement slowly with a mid-iron and once the technique improves, give it a go with longer irons or even woods.

Incorporating this drill into your practice regime will help you develop a more balanced swing and ultimately lead to more consistent centre face strikes.

– WITH KENT GRAY Tom Ogilvie is PGA teaching professional at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club’s Peter Cowen Academy Dubai. For more information, visit dubaigolf.com

mustufa abidi

Shank You Very Much Eliminate early extension in your swing before it turns in a frustrating series of hozel rockets

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Play BioGolf by David Leadbetter

“Do you know which eye is your dominant eye?” ject, the open eye is the dominant one. And if that happens to be the eye farthest from the cup, your ability to the roll the ball on the correct line of putt can improve with a little rotation, says biomechanist J.J. Rivet. Just remember that your eyes need to track on the plane that they were in at address.

My rule is, if you can see the hole in your peripheral vision, there’s no need to swivel. If you can’t, track the ball with your eyes as it leaves the putterface.

Oh, and most important, keep your lower body as still as possible when you putt.

Rivet, who has studied the putting strokes of countless players on the European Tour, says the best putters have the same weight distribution in their feet at address and impact. Even a 4-percent change can result in off-line contact and the wrong type of head movement.

—with ron kaspriske

long putt, long stroke

ow many times have you missed a makable putt only to be admonished by a playing partner—or your inner voice—that you looked up too soon to watch the ball go in? Keeping your head down and still when you

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Chris Keane/Getty imaGes

Want to Take a Peek?

Head movement when putting isn’t always bad

putt is one of the first things any new golfer learns. But is it always great advice? Science says maybe not.

If your dominant eye isn’t closest to the hole, it can help with accuracy if you let your head swivel a little and track the ball down the putting line.

As they say: “Feel it through your eyes.”

To determine your dominant eye, hold your thumb up in front of a small object roughly 10 feet away. If you close one eye and your thumb blocks your vision of that ob-

▶ Tour pro Rafa Cabrera-Bello, who you see swiveling his head (below), is a player I often work with on putting—especially the longer ones because he sometimes has a tendency to hit them with a short backswing and too much effort. It’s hard to control distance that way.

Instead, you should match the distance of your backswing to the length of the putt. Let the weight of the putter get the ball to the hole. Long putt equals long backswing.

Photograph by Dom Furore

Tee to Green by Butch Harmon

Play

“If you feel out of control, shift to a lower gear.” the day d.j. decided he was ready

Plug Your Leaks Here’s how to reboot your swing

hen your swing gets off track, sometimes trying harder just isn’t enough.

You have to jolt the system and re-train your body to move correctly. The best way to do that is to practice swinging in slow motion. Going slower makes it easier to see and feel the proper positions during the swing.

Let’s look at two common issues. If you’re slicing off the tee, you’re probably cutting across the ball from out to in with an open clubface. Try making slow-motion swings, feeling the club staying to the inside on the downswing and then releasing outward. Imagine

kevin c. cox/getty images

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Illustration by Michael Waraksa

you’re hitting the inside-back part of the ball, and watch the club’s toe rotate up as you go through.

Groove this, and you’ll swing more in to out with the face closing.

If you’re hitting fat or thin shots with your irons, you’re likely getting stuck on your back foot on the downswing, which makes the club bottom out before impact.

Make some slow-motion swings with a focus on your weight moving in the same direction that the club is moving. Going back, shift into your back leg, and coming down, shift into your front

leg. Spend some time doing this slowly. You’ll sync up your weight shift with the swing—and start catching the ball flush.

If you still need more convincing that slow-motion swings work, watch Tiger. He’s constantly feeling things out with slow practice swings. Take Tiger’s lead and try replacing your normal practice swing with a few slow-motion rehearsals. Going slow can be the fastest way to get your swing back.

—with peter morrice

▶ Like a lot of long hitters, Dustin Johnson grew up bombing high draws. But I always thought fading it off the tee would be the better play for him. So every time we’d get together to work, I’d have him fade a few. He’d wipe across the ball and hit a big pull-slice, which he didn’t like at all. I finally got him to try the method Jack Nicklaus always used: Aim the clubface where you want the ball to end up, set you your body well left, then swing along your body lines. D.J. did better, but he still loved that draw. Then one day, he calls me and says, “You know, I hit a fade off every tee today—hit it great, I should play that shot.” I still laugh about that call.

I said, “Great idea, D.J.” Fast forward, and his fade has become famous.

When he’s on, D.J. can’t be beat by anyone. The moral here is, sometimes it has to be the player’s idea. They know when they’re ready.

butch harmon, a Golf Digest Teaching Professional, is based at Rio Secco Golf Club in Henderson, Nev.

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christiaan bezuidenhout (pronounced ba-zade-note)

european tour age 26 lives delmas / south africa

Journeys Play

“I worked my entire amateur career for that tournament, and then I couldn’t play it.”

Christiaan Bezuidenhout I’ve overcome some adversity to get here WAS 2 YEARS OLD WHEN IT HAPPENED. My memory doesn’t go back that far, but I’m told I was in the grocery store with my parents, and there was a soda bottle on the ground. I picked it up and drank from it. It wasn’t soda, it was rat poison. When my parents turned around, I was already unconscious on the ground. They rushed me to the hospital, and I spent weeks in the ICU. The doctors said I almost died. That rat poison affected my whole nervous system. Ever since, I’ve had a stutter.

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The stutter made things at school hard. I didn’t like to speak. I didn’t want to get made fun of. It was also a challenge with golf. I started swinging a club when I was 4 and playing tournaments when I was 8. At tournaments, you have to talk to people. And if you won, you had to speak in front of everyone. In those situations, I’d tense up, hit a blank and not be able to get words out. The anxiety it created was awful. My doctor put me on beta blockers to help keep me calm in situations like that, and it helped. But it derailed my golf career. ●

At the 2014 British Amateur, I took a drug test, and they found a substance in the medication that was banned for golf. We obviously didn’t know it was illegal. I had been using the medication for 10plus years and had no idea. I got banned for two years from all competitive golf. It was a shock. I was hurt and confused. I’d stayed amateur that year just to play for the Eisenhower Trophy for South Africa. I worked my entire amateur career for that tournament, and then I couldn’t play it.

Photograph by Jensen Larson

I was heartbroken. I took a couple weeks off to reflect on what happened, to try to sort it out with the national team and clear my name. That was the worst part, being treated like I was a cheater when I didn’t even know what I did was against the rules. Luckily I had the right people on my side, we got my name cleared and my ban shortened to nine months. I was 21 years old, and I turned professional.

I gave my game my full attention, did a lot of shortgame work, kept my play sharp. I knew I would return.

When I came back to competitive golf, I wanted to be ready to try to dominate.

My first event back was an event on the Big Easy Tour, a mini-tour in South Africa.

I won by five. ●

That winter I got my card for the Sunshine Tour, a developmental tour in South Africa. I also played some Challenge Tour events in 2016.

That’s where I hit a tough patch. I was there for seven months, traveling alone, week after week, driving to tournaments in the middle of Europe. I didn’t know the places, the people, the language, the golf courses.

I was staying in some pretty average hotels. I made like

one out of nine cuts. I spoke to my management company and told them: “I need to go home. I’m losing my game here. I’m in a bad frame of mind. I need to go back home, reset, work with my coach, see my family, get myself back.” ●

Two months later I went to qualifying school and got my European Tour card. Looking back now, it was a great decision to leave in the middle of the season. Even though there were 10 tournaments left, I know when I have to listen to my body and mind, when to keep going, when to stop. ●

I kept my card after that first season on the European Tour and got my first win in 2019.

I was playing in the Andalucia Masters in Spain and had a five-shot lead over Jon Rahm when we started the final round, playing together.

I was leading by seven at one point, and five holes later I had a two-shot lead.

I remember feeling the momentum shift toward him, and then after I made a big putt to maintain the two-shot lead, I felt it move back to me. It didn’t shift again after that putt. To win your first European Tour title under that kind of pressure, against one of the best players in the world, in his home country, was a huge boost to my confidence. ●

When it happens, it happens fast. A few good tournaments on the European Tour, and your World Ranking shoots up.

I’m still just a member of the European Tour, but I’m getting starts at PGA Tour events and an invitation to the 2020 Masters. These dreams I’ve had my whole life—big, difficult dreams—are coming true faster than I ever imagined. ●

The build-up and the hype for PGA Tour events, the way the tournaments are run, the courses, it’s a different environment from the European Tour. I love the States. I would really like to play here and base myself here. I’m not playing as well as I know I can. My game is just starting to feel right again after the lockdown ended. I was home in South Africa for three months after the Players. I live on a golf course and couldn’t use any of the facilities. I’m happy to be back in Florida playing again. ●

I haven’t taken the betablocker medication since that drug test result back in 2014, and honestly, I don’t feel a difference in myself. Speaking to reporters and things like that with my stutter don’t bother me like they used to. I can finally function without it.

—WITH KEELY LEVINS

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“I pretended I was playing each shot at home against my friends.�

PhotograPh by Matthew Lewis/getty iMages

Tour Technique

Play

Getting Back in the Game How I went from nearly quitting to winning a major by sophia popov editor’s note

▶ Sophia Popov wasn’t supposed to be in the field at the AIG Women’s British Open, let alone win it. Ranked 304th in the world and a member of the Symetra Tour, which is a developmental tour for the LPGA, Popov was a last-minute addition to the Open after finishing T-9 at the Marathon LPGA Classic. And she got into that tournament only because many international players were not travelling for competition as a result of the pandemic. Talk about a turn of events.

Popov, 28, the first German woman to win a major, lost 25 pounds in a battle with Lyme disease three years ago. And last year, after a long slump, she thought about giving up the game. Now, as a result of her major victory, she has full-member status on the LPGA Tour through 2021. She credits her turnaround mainly on hard work with the putter. In the tournament she averaged 1.71 putts per hole, hitting 78 percent of greens in regulation.

elief was never quite there with my putting. I would question myself on the golf course and make tentative strokes. But during the quarantine, I worked hard on being a better putter, and it was a key factor in winning the British.

First, I worked on keeping my body still.

I have a tendency to move away from the target during the stroke. To monitor my progress, I’d take video while practicing to make sure the extra movement was gone.

Next, I worked on keeping the putterhead low. When it lifts up, it’s almost like I’m unsure of the putt. I also putt left-hand low, so the thought of keep my left wrist straight down the shaft through impact helped make my contact consistently solid.

The final thing I worked on was distance control, and it’s the thing most amateurs should work on, too. When average golfers miss, they think they misread the putt. In reality, it was likely missed because they’re not paying enough attention to speed. You need to figure out if you prefer to hit putts hard or die them into the hole—and then

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stick with that speed every time. For me, keeping my backstroke compact and gradually accelerating in the through-stroke improved the consistency of my pace.

The goal with distance putting should always be to leave yourself with an easy clean-up putt if you miss. That’s one thing I was proud of at the British. I left myself with a two-putt situation whereit felt really uncomfortable only once or twice. So get the first one close to the hole. In stressful events, you don’t want to have to make a lot of five-footers.

As I started to realise I could win the British, two things really helped me stay in control. I blocked out the magnitude of the situation, and I pretended I was playing each shot at home against my friends.

I also focused on breathing between shots.

My technique was to exhale twice as long as I inhaled. I could feel my heart rate immediately slow. Try it when you find yourself in a tense situation. Maybe it will help you have your breakthrough golf moment, too.

—with keely levins

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

23

Play Course Management

Stroke Index 1 Yas Links has this month’s honour in our new series designed to help you tame the Middle East’s toughest holes. Here we join Yas Pro Karl Dunn on the 15th tee at Kyle Phillips’ Abu Dhabi masterpiece.

HE 15TH HOLE at Yas Links is the start of one of the toughest stretches of finishing holes in the Middle East. Not only is it deservedly the stroke index 1 hole, it doubles down by invariably playing straight into the prevailing wind that sweeps across Yas Island. ▶ Par or better is no cinch because even if you safely negotiate the fairway bunker and run off areas designed to gobble up drives that stray too far left, the approach into the large, double-tier green shared with our 12th hole calls for a crisply struck shot.

T

flushed Yas Links' PGA Professional Karl Dunn suggests a conservative approach to your approach shot to the 15th

karl dunn approach: matt hazey • course: kevin murray

Karl Dunn The putting surface is then protected with a large bunker to the left, a hidden run off area to the right and a fairway bunker short right, catching miss-hit or missjudged approach shots which are common-place hitting into this challenging green. But fret not.

Here’s my blueprint to walk away with a stableford point or three. tee shot: There’s not much reward here if you’re tempted to take on the bunker on the left hand side of the fairway. It sits about 276 yards out and because of its depth, you’re looking at bogey at best if your drive ends up in the trap. So for even the big hitter, right is your best chance of avoiding early punishment.

There’s a large area that opens up to the right side of the fairway which you cannot see from the tee. The left side, meanwhile, is cambered,

leading to a run off area which Is laced with thick rough, a magnet for anything that bounces left.

So aim for the right side and leave yourself a nice angle into the green from somewhere between the fairway bunkers. approach: Your number one task here is to simply hit the middle of the green. Manage this and it sets you up for a good start for the final three holes. The deep greenside bunker left and a fairway bunker 30 to 40 yards out is just waiting to catch those poor shots previously mentioned. Miss the green right and the nasty run off area will leave you with a shot from a tight lie over a steep bank guarding the green. So, to reiterate, take a short game blowout out of the equation by aiming for the middle of the green. closing out: The large two-tier putting surfaces sees its share of three (or more) putts on any given day. My advice is to accept a two putt even if you are chasing a score. Don’t get greedy because the undulating green can easily leave you second guessing with the flat stick, not something you want as you move onto the final stretch.

— WITH KENT GRAY

15th

PAR 4 74

486 yards

70

453 yards

66

436 yards

62

409 yards

54

346 yards

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

25

Play Equipment

What’s in My Bag Tiger Woods driver specs TaylorMade SIM, 9°, Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 60 TX shaft, 44.5 inches.

—e. michael johnson

club

yards*

driver

290

3-wood

270

5-wood

255

3-iron

240

4-iron

225

5-iron

210

6-iron

195

7-iron

180

8-iron

165

9-iron

150

pw

135

56˚wedge

120

60˚wedge

100

* carry distance

26 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

▶ I know if a driver is right for me when I’m waggling it. If I feel it matches up to me, then it frees up my swing. I need a driver that is workable. Can I hit a low cut? Can I hit a low draw? Can I elevate it to ride the wind? Those things are important.

fairway woods specs TaylorMade M5, 15°; TaylorMade M3 2017, 19°, Mitsubishi Diamana D+ 80 TX shafts. ▶ These two fairway woods give me the ability to hit a lot of different shots. It’s amazing how far the 3-woods go these days. I find that it’s easier for me to turn the 3-wood over than the driver. If it’s firm, sometimes a roasted 3-wood will go farther than my slap-slice driver.

totally frank ▶ It’s pretty well known my mom got me Frank in the 1990s and sews Rak Jak Mea (Thai for “Love From Mom”) inside each one.

Frank has taken on a persona of his own over the years.

irons specs TaylorMade P•7TW (3-PW), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts. ▶ I had a lot of input in the design of these irons. I prefer an iron with a longer blade length, thin sole and slightly squared-off toe, and these look sweet. Playing a blade gives me distance and trajectory control, and they feel great going through the turf.

wedges specs TaylorMade Milled Grind 2 (56°, 60° degrees), True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts.

spin control ▶ I play the Bridgestone Tour B XS. I’ve always gravitated toward a spinnier ball. I test balls into the wind and crosswinds.

I don’t need any surprises during tournament time.

▶ My 56-degree has a dual sole grind and heel relief. That lets me open or close it more easily when I need to. The 60-degree has relief on the leading edge, which helps on the tight, firm conditions we see on tour, especially on shots where I’m opening the face.

putter specs Scotty Cameron by Titleist Newport 2, 35.25 inches, 4° loft, Ping rubber grip. ▶ I’ve tried some different putters over the years, but I always come back to this one, which I’ve won 14 of my 15 majors with.

It’s a little lighter than some of the putters you see today, and I’ve re-shafted it only a couple of times in 20 years. It’s just a very comfortable, familiar feel.

personal pouch ▶ This pouch is from the 1995 NCAA Championships at Ohio State. I finished T-5 individually. My Stanford Cardinal team lost the team title in a playoff to Oklahoma State.

Photographs by Walter Iooss Jr.

woods: matt winkelmeyer

age 44 lives Jupiter, Fla. story Winner of a recordtying 82 PGA Tour events and 15 major championships, including the 2019 Masters. club enthusiast Woods has a workshop at his Florida home where he can make adjustments to his equipment, like altering the bounce and grinds on his wedges.

“The grinds on my wedges have evolved over time as my technique has changed,” Woods told golftv.

“Once you shave a club down, there’s no going back.”

“I know if a driver is right for me when I’m waggling it.”

c l e ve l and hb soft premier ▶ The face-milling is matched to each head style in the line for consistent roll and distance across the face.

There are grips for arcing or straight-back-and-through stroke types.

taylor m a d e spider fcg ▶ Blades differ from mallets not only in shape, but in the centre of gravity’s proximity to the face. This mallet mimics a blade’s forward feel but adds forgiveness and alignment benefits.

c a l l away big bertha b21 ▶ Slicers need forgiveness and low spin. But too much of one, and it loses the other.

This driver achieves both through its large face, front-, rear- and heel-weighting and composite crown.

t i t l e i st tsi2 ▶ Titleist has a new family of drivers that uses a titanium alloy developed for military body armour. The result is a hotter face that generates less spin across a wider area of the face.

to u r e d ge hot l aunch e521 ▶ More mass has been stretched to the sole’s trailing edge to deepen the centre of gravity for forgiveness and a higher launch. A heel weight helps your slice, and a shorter shaft adds control.

28 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

Equipment Lab Play

Tracking your stats and a quality fitting can save you strokes. m i zu no jpx 921 hot metal ▶ The heat in this gameimprovement iron comes from a steel alloy used in roll cages. Not only does it make the face thinner than ever, it adds extra flex with a variable thickness sole.

Shop with a Purpose How clubs can address your flaws

BY MIKE STACHURA E ALL WANT NEW clubs. Or at least it seems. You only have to look at the sales figures from this summer for the evidence: Industry research firm Golf Datatech said equipment sales for July were the biggest on record.

But are we just grabbing anything that seems new and shiny with a sexy TV commercial, or are we basing our search on our strengths and weaknesses?

No two golfers are alike, but a Golf Digest survey of the best fitters in the country revealed that low-, middle- and high-handicappers tend to have specific trouble areas— or weaknesses that have the potential for improvement.

If you’re strategic about your equipment choices, you can address those weak spots.

For example, a driver designed to reduce a slice could save a high-handicapper a few shots a round just in penalty strokes—and maybe even $10 in lost balls. A putter that rolls those mis-hits more like centre strikes could mean fewer three putts.

But the key here is that golfers need to understand what’s working in their game and what isn’t, because the first question a fitter will ask is: “What are your strengths and weaknesses?” The good news is, there’s never been a better time for introspection, especially if you take advantage of

W

c o bra king tour ▶ A metal-injection process forms these heads from a powder of two steels. That makes them more precise for shape, weighting and soft feel. Heavy tungsten in the toe adds stability.

e diso n forged ▶ Extra mass behind the impact area maximises energy transfer, and a higher CG offers a flatter trajectory. The grooves are sharper as lofts increase for more grab on partial swings.

Photograph by Dom Furore

Play Equipment Lab

Start by knowing your strengths and weaknesses. the numbers show how all skill levels need help he statistical differences between handicap levels reveal potential. The data below is from GPS-sensor based game-analyser Arccos and its 20-million-shot database of average golfers. Yes, low-handicappers have the best stats through the bag, but their advantages over middle- and high-handicappers aren’t just about distance. The right tweaks in the right section of the bag can lower their scores just as much as it can for middle- and highhandicappers. What should those tweaks be? We asked representatives of some of America’s 100 Best Clubfitters how to supplement what’s already good and improve what isn’t.

T

driver

irons

wedge

driving distance (yds) mid high low

7-iron distance (yds) mid high low

sand save mid low

▶ The average 5-handicapper is about 40 yards longer than a 25 but half a football field shorter than the average tour player, according to Arccos data. So even low-handicappers need a driver fitting.

Good players typically benefit by small changes, like a new shaft or a weight movement on an adjustable driver, says Bradley Dolski of Carl’s Golfland in Michigan. For highhandicappers, driver might be the most important club in the bag. A heel-weighted driver can minimise a slice, and more loft can launch tee shots farther to put you in position to reach some greens.

“Address the catastrophic miss,” says Craig Allan of Sea Island’s Golf Performance Center.

“Getting the ball in play off the tee consistently avoids penalty strokes.”

▶ The best players hit the green with a 7-iron more than half the time, middle-handicappers a third and highhandicappers just one-fifth. Sea Island’s Allan says middlehandicappers should look at more than distance with today’s stronger iron lofts.

“Shaving strokes happens best with irons that improve trajectory with appropriate forgiveness,” he says.

That could mean replacing some long irons with hybrids or fairway woods and adding more wedges.

High-handicap beginners should try fewer clubs, says Dan Sueltz of D’Lance Golf in Colorado: “Maybe a 3-wood, hybrid, three irons, a sand wedge and a putter. We can fill in the rest later.”

▶ PGA Tour players get up and down from the sand half the time, so even the low-handicap players have room for improvement. They still miss plenty of greens, so wedges ultimately determine the score.

Scott Felix of Felix Clubworks in Tennessee says higherskilled players should refine the scoring clubs: “Go deeper in sole grind options and shafts. Make sure there are no distance gaps. Even at that level they sometimes don’t know what they are missing.”

According to Dolski, that’s true for middle-handicappers, too. They might be too comfortable with their current bag setup. “They can be between clubs frequently. Understanding wedge gapping, or even just getting wedges with new grooves can help improve the bottom end of the bag.”

243

30 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

225

205

155

147

138

31%

20%

putter high

13%

three-putt mid low

8%

14%

high

21%

▶ “Everyone should be fit for a putter,” says Woody Lashen of Pete’s Golf in New York. He says a putter fitting doesn’t necessarily mean a new purchase, but it gives every golfer more consistent distance and direction.

That’s crucial for high-handicappers who take at least six putts more per round than better players, according to Arccos data. (Our suggestion: Try a more forgiving mallet.)

But even lowhandicappers need guidance, says Chris Hamman at Sticks 96 Golf in Kansas, where a Quintic highspeed camera system detects flaws at all levels: “The majority have never had a putter fitting and could putt better with the proper length, weight, loft and grip.”

yagi studio/getty images

a stat-tracking app on your phone, like Golfshot, GolfLogix, 18Birdies or Arccos.

Arccos just launched a new strokes-gained feature that allows golfers to see how their game compares to any level player in every area—from driving to putting. You might discover, for example, that your game off the tee is every bit as good as the 9-handicapper you want to be, but your short game is preventing you from breaking 80.

The Arccos database of more than 20 million average-golfer shots can also tell you how far low-handicappers hit their drivers and how often high-handicappers make a mess of things with their putters.

It’s easy to assume that the difference between better players and 100-shooters is distance, but a deeper dive into the data tells us the problems can be as glaring through the rest of the bag. For example, good players hit three times as many greens as bad golfers, and they get up and down three times as often and threeputt a third as often (see sidebars, right). So even though a driver fitting is a great idea and probably holds the most appeal, middleand high-handicappers might improve more by looking just as closely at the sections of their bags that don’t get the headlines.

Your search for new clubs shouldn’t be a solo endeavor. It will benefit from the advice of a good fitter, like those on our 100 Best Clubfitters list. But your decision also needs some kind of quality data behind it. GPS stattracking apps are best, but at the least you ought to be using the USGA’s GHIN system app to input your hole-by-hole stats. That kind of post-round analysis can tell you, for example, that you’re missing 60 percent of your fairways to the right or hitting twice as many putts as tee shots.

That self-knowledge helps you and a clubfitter come to an educated decision. Then, finally, it’s time to start drooling over the latest and greatest.

AED 99 only

Get three left- or right-handed Golf Digest-branded cabretta leather gloves when you sign up to a three-month subscription to the region’s leading golf title.

To subscribe, visit golfdigestme.com/subscription

History Lesson Olivia Jackson hasn’t taken long to make her mark on the UAE golf scene by kent gray

he answers to Olivia, Liv or OJ and is happy for you to take your pick. Whichever you prefer, prepare to become increasingly familiar with Olivia Jackson and the winning game that goes with her multi-faceted name. ▶ The 23-year-old Englishwoman slipped into Dubai earlier this year with quite the pedigree after accepting a teaching internship at Emirates Golf Club.

S

32 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

COVID-19s problematic spread meant there was a slight delay between her January 3 start and last month’s date with destiny on the Faldo when Jackson’s talent became evident to a wider Middle East audience. Shooting a 67 on The Faldo to become the first woman to win on the UAE PGA Tour, by three strokes no less, certainly is a fun way announce your arrival.

“I had no clue how significant my win was until after I’d finished playing,” said Jackson whose role at Emirates G.C. was teed up by Nick Huby, her coach at the Peter Cowen Academy in Rotherham, with a handy assist by Cowen himself who now has academies across the Dubai Golf network.

“I had a few lessons [to deliver] after the tournament and after the third lesson in the afternoon, I went to check my phone and had over 85 notifications. I was shocked to see how many people had reached out and congratulated me. It was pretty surreal.”

It turns out we shouldn’t be surprised at all by the historic win last month. Jackson’s talent has already taken her all the way to the U.S. to play division 1 golf for the University of Tulsa Oklahoma, to a Faldo junior series title before that and more recently to the 2018 Yorkshire County Championship. Few can lay claim to a course record at the Home of Golf but Jackson has that on her CV too, a giddy waltz around the New Course in 67 strokes, eight-under.

What didn’t surprise Jackson was her ability to compete with the male members of the UAE PGA. “I don’t think gender matters. I had been prepping for it as I would usually do for a tournament and in the end it’s you against the course.

It’s great to see that I can put myself up against the guys.”

Jackson intends playing all the 2020-21 UAE PGA Tour

Golfers We Admire

Play

“I don’t think gender matters. In the end, it’s you against the course.”

courtesy of emirates gc

events her work commitments will allow and, all going well, breaking another barrier by making the Pro team for next year’s Dubai Trophy. The pros could do with the help after losing the last five editions of the Ryder Cup-style matches to the EGF’s leading amateurs.

Next up though is a return to the Faldo for the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic.

Jackson is “super excited” to take up an invite to represent Motivate Media Group, publishers of Golf Digest Middle East, in the Nov. 4-6 day-night Pro-Am.

“It will be a great week,” said the LPGA Tour teaching apprentice. “I hope to learn from some of the best in the game and connect with some great people. It will be interesting to see how I perform against the tour players and where I can improve as a player.”

You could even call the inside the ropes opportunity at the Ladies European Tour event a dress rehearsal for the real thing.

“I still have aspirations of playing professionally but I get a huge amount of enjoyment growing the game and seeing people fall in love with it like I did,” said Jackson who was introduced to the game by her father at age 11.

“I would love to make my position here more permanent. Dubai is awesome and I can see myself coaching and playing here for a very long time. I could never imagine throwing my coaching shoes in.”

Jackson is working towards an LPGA-sanctioned coaching qualification. When she’s not logged into the online lessons being delivered from LPGA headquarters in Daytona Beach, Florida, or delivering lessons at Emirates G.C., you’ll find Jackson hard at work on her own game. Even between lessons you’ll likely find her on the range or in the gym.

“I try to practice as much as I can. It’s about finding the time even when you don’t necessarily want to or don’t feel like doing it. I definitely feel like university prepared me for this, in being good with my time and trying to prioritise the right things.”

That discipline paid dividends in the UAE PGA event with Jackson able to claw her way back two over through four holes.

“The best part of my game is probably my driving, I rarely miss a fairway. But I would say I’m very good at grinding through a game. I know even when I’m not hitting it great I can still get it round and score.

“The worst part of my game is probably staying in the moment. Sometimes I tend to get ahead of myself instead of focusing on what I need to do.

It’s something I’m constantly working on.”

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

33

MATH WE DON’T HATE BOX-OFFICE BIRDIES (AND BOGEYS) ◀ caddyshack ii

$11.8 MILLION legend of bagger vance

$39.5 MILLION caddyshack

$39.8 MILLION happy gilmore

$41.2 MILLION tin cup

$75.8 MILLION the best golfthemed halloween costumes for 2020 ◀ Wolf with

a Matt name tag

Shirtless muscle suit with Kangol cap Ripped pants Tom Brady Barista Phil Big John and Little John (couples costume) Pilgrim in a green sportcoat 34 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

6 GOLF PATRONS WE CAN’T BELIEVE WE MISS 1. tiger onesie guy 2. first name baba, last name booey 3. middle-age man in head-to-toe rickie fowler orange 4. guy who needs to be the first to every wayward drive 5. b-celebrity cbs thinks is an a-celebrity 6. the vigilante rules official

getty images: caddyshack: michael ochs archives • wolf: julnichols • golfer: christoph martin • fans: donald miralle/stringer • course: andriocolt • toilet: kkay • grave: vyasphoto

Play The Loop

edited by coleman bentley

“Happiness is a long walk with a putter.”

—Greg Norman the hack’s actual yardage book

THE BEST FALL FOLIAGE COURSES IN AMERICA

400 YARDS from five yards in front of the tee box

cactus: marjolijn tammer/eyeem • gator: songsak wilairit/eyeem • cough: timnewman • salish: patrick koenig • boyne: brian walters • others: courtesy of courses

203 YARDS from inside the portable toilet

109 YARDS from the biggest gator

Omni Mount Washington bretton woods / n.h.

Salish Cliffs Golf Club

245 YARDS from the middle of the next fairway over

shelton / wash.

158 YARDS from that damn cactus again 75 YARDS from the drop zone

231 YARDS from the graveyard down the right side (which is O.B.)

Pete Dye River Course of Virginia Tech / radford / va.

7 airtight excuses to get out of playing with someone I woke up with a dry cough I’m too busy watching fall majors

Boyne Highlands Resort (Hills) harbor springs / mich.

I’m moving . . . wanna help?

I got cancelled I don’t play when the barometric pressure is above 30 inches (Hg) My mask gives me acne I broke all of my clubs playing last week

Green Mountain National killington / vt.

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

35

OD20 20MC

DUBAI’S TIME TO

SH NE

even sans fans, the 14th edition of dubai’s annual ladies european tour stop will have a reach like never before by kent gray

B

efore you can shine, you must pivot. and then pivot some more.

The $285,000 OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic will be a vast improvement on last year’s inaugural staging of the 54-hole Pro-Am format and in the same breath unlike 2019, indeed any of Dubai’s 12 previous Ladies European Tour stops at Emirates Golf Club.

After feedback from players, sponsors and fans, Tournament Director Simon Corkill and his team have ticked off just about every item on their “can-improve” list for 2020 including a shift from May to November and the addition of significantly more action under The Faldo’s bright LEDs to accentuate the unique floodlit part of the distinctive day-night event.

And then a pandemic changed everything. First the familyfriendly tournament village with food trucks, get into golf activations, yoga and industry engagement had to go. Despite planning for every thinkable eventuality, it soon became inevitable

36 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

THE MOST NOTICEABLE 2020 UPGRADE WILL BE DISCOVERED BY FANS FLICKING CHANNELS AND DISCOVERING GOLF’S MOST INNOVATIVE PRO FORMAT LIVE ON TV.

that fans on The Faldo wasn’t going to be possible either.

Pivot. Re-imagine. Improve. Come November 4, the biggest 2020 upgrade will be discovered by fans flicking channels and discovering golf’s most innovative pro format. Budgets have been redirected to ensure the sizzle of the tournament and Dubai’s unique golf offering is sold to the world via the small screen. After this global black cloud, the silver lining has come in the form of three hours of live coverage each day on the small screen, including Dubai Sports Channel for those watching in the UAE. Indeed, the LETs finest, The Faldo and the layout’s spectacular after-hours Marina backdrop are set to be beamed to a potential 348

million households in 60 countries. There’s also a two-minute highlights package set to be distributed to 180 countries.

It’s an impressive mainstream media reach but tournament organisers have doubled down by luring Lancashire teaching professional cum content creator Peter Finch to Dubai to gain direct access to his near 600,000 followers across Youtube, Instagram and Facebook. In addition to his daily series of videos to promote the tournament, venue, players and sponsors, fellow “golf influencers” The Jazzy Golfer and Olivia Cooke will be on site to speak to a wider audience.

The priceless experience for 168 amateurs, who get to play 36 of the 54 holes alongside one of the 54 LET/LPGA Tour

clockwise from top left: minjee lee, lydia ko, charley hull, georgia hall, nuria iturrioz, julia engström

stars and two invited amateurs on show, shouldn’t be diminished either. In many ways, the fans have simply moved from outside to inside the ropes.

Kudos too to Corkill who has assembled a stellar cast, no cinch given how restrictive travel has become in the COVID-19 era.

Spaniard Nuria Iturrioz is back to defend her title, former world No.1 Lydia Ko will make her Middle East debut alongside fellow major champion Georgia Hall while the 2018 Women’s British Open winner’s Solheim Cup compatriot Charley Hull is another to watch. Throw in socially connected Muni Lee, rising LET star Julia Engström, reinvigorated Welshwoman Amy Boulden and world No.9 ranked Aussie Minjee Lee, and it seems there will be a worthy winner to add to Dubai’s a stellar roll-call of champions.

This is a different time and sans fans, this will be unlike any previous edition. But everything that could be done to promote the event and Dubai Inc. has been done. It’s show time. Lights, TV cameras and great action guaranteed. It’s #TimetoShine. november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

37

lydia ko continues to accentuate the positives of a glorious past

and forecast an even brighter future ahead of her highly-anticipated debut at the omega dubai moonlight classic

It’s Ko Time

OD20 20MC

by kent gray

getty images

he catch cry for Dubai’s annual Ladies European Tour stop like no other is “Time to Shine”. It’s a clever nod to the unique floodlit component of the $285,000 event with Dubai Inc./open for business undertones. And yet the promotional tune could just as easily have been written exclusively for OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic headliner Lydia Ko. ▶ For outsiders looking in, the 23-year-old Korean-born Kiwi is a curious golfing enigma whose career has gone strangely offpiste after a warp-speed and unprecedented rise to stardom. ▶ From the centre of Ko’s universe though, there is nothing puzzling at all about her up and down and slowly up again progression, even if the most eye-catching part of her game in recent years has been the hiring and firing of coaches and caddies at an alarming rate. Publicly at least, the ever-bubbly Ko has always been a glass half-full kind of girl.

As so it is as she eyes her maiden appearance in the Middle East. For most, 2020 will be remembered for nasal swabs, temperature checks, face masks, hand sanitiser and lockdowns.

Indeed, if there is one great pity about Ko’s welcomed Dubai debut is that the Moonlight will be played behind closed doors for the first time due to health and safety precautions designed to counter this pesky virus. A talent so rare deserves galleries but Ko has even found a way to put a positive spin on a pandemic.

“While this year has been difficult for everyone in a lot of different ways, I think it is important to take some of the positives away as well,” she said. “For example, I was able to focus on fitness and strength during the unexpected time off and that has translated to results on the golf course. “[So yes], 2020 has been a tough year but I’m grateful that we still have the opportunity to play during these circumstances.

Hopefully I’ll be able to finish this season strong and have a good rest and recovery for a fun 2021 season.”

The way Ko’s game has been trending of late, you wouldn’t discount her trotting off into the off-season with some late silverware from The Faldo at Emirates Golf Club.

When Ko linked with Tiger Woods’ former swing mentor Sean Foley in late July, it was her fifth coach in four years. Good luck trying to keep up with who is on her bag one week from the next as well.

SEAN’S HELPED ME TO CLEAR OUT SOME QUESTIONS IN MY HEAD AND REALLY KEEP IT SIMPLE FOR ME. LYDIA KO

But something seems to have clicked with Foley where it didn’t with others including David Leadbetter. Searching for her first win since the 2018 LPGA Mediheal Championship (where she edged Minjee Lee, another Dubai-bound drawcard, in a playoff), Ko came close to a 16th LPGA Tour win in August with a runnerup finish at the LPGA Marathon Classic.

Since then she has gone on to record five more top-20s including 6th place at the ANA Inspiration, one of the women’s games five major championships.

“I’ve really enjoyed working with Sean,” Ko says of their blooming, post-lockdown relationship. “He’s helped me to clear out some questions in my head and really keep it simple for me. I feel like I get great energy from just being around him.”

Foley played the mutual appreciation game in a recent social media post following a focus on Ko’s short game.

“Lydia said out of the bunker she is either amazing or terrible. When I hear november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

39

40 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

THIS WOMAN HAS INCREDIBLE SKILL.” SE AN FOLEY ON LYDIA KO

capture two LPGA titles en-route to 130 weeks at the summit of the amateur world rankings. There was a silver medal from Rio at golf’s reintroduction to the Olympic Games, a place in Time magazine’s 100 most influential people list and even a Government gong last year when she was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to golf.

From the outside looking in again, it seems the two-time major champion has perhaps done it all and lost her mojo because she has nothing left to prove.

Wrong again.

Yes, at this stage, Ko intends sticking to her guns and retiring at 30. But that leaves plenty of runway to achieve some still very ambitious objectives.

“My biggest goal is to do the career grand slam, especially as not many people have done it before. The more times I put myself in contention at the majors the more opportunity I’ll be able to have to do it.”

And perhaps a Toyko gold to go with that Rio silver, all being equal in the world?

“I certainly hope so. I will be able to draw upon some great experience from 2016. Hopefully I can keep my game in top form heading into Tokyo.”

Which brings us back to the present and her improved showing of late. The trick in Dubai will be quickly getting up to speed with the invariably grainy greens on The Faldo, especially under the bright but initially challenging LEDs. “I have never played under the lights but am really looking forward to it. Visually it will be a bit different, and I will really need to trust my swing and my numbers to play well.

“But I have been playing well for the past few months and feel confident in how I am hitting the ball. I am looking forward to Dubai and hopefully a strong finish to the year.”

Just as fans will be restricted to watching Ko and co. on telly (Dubai Sports Channel), the U.S.-based Kiwi won’t be able to explore the UAE quite as freely as she had first anticipated. She does hope to give the Hatta zipline a whirl and that it won’t be her last visit to the region either. It’s much like her golf career. Exceptional early and far from done.

“It does take a bit of getting used to,” Ko says of the spotlight that has followed her from her amateur days in Auckland.

“But I have always tried to stay positive no matter the situation. Regardless of spotlight, I need to be true to myself. I just need to be the best version of myself.”

So far, so good.

getty images

something like that it’s not mental it’s technical. We worked on getting much more square to the target, utilising the clubs loft/ bounce on the backswing with a longer backswing, and then really focusing on the speed and take over rate through the sand.

As well, we hit many shots off of uneven lies because we have to make slight adjustments due to slope, lies and type of sand,” Foley explained.

Foley noticed improvements immediately. “It became insanely good as soon as she UNDERSTOOD the MATH and the WHY. Technique + Talent is undefeated,” he wrote.

“This woman has incredible skill.”

To be fair, there has always been plenty of positives to accentuate when it comes to Ko’s career. You’d almost need an entire magazine to list them all but how about becoming the youngest winner of a women’s major championship at 18 after becoming the youngest ever world No.1 – male or female – at 17 years, nine months and nine days. Before that she become the youngest amateur at 14 to win a pro title and the first amateur ever to

Is that all you’ve got, 2020?

Ladies European Tour

charley hull has always been a tenacious competitor but an unforgettable year has

unearthed even deeper reserves as the northamptonshire star returns to a favourite hunting ground

by kent gray

We’ve all been impacted by the coronavirus in some way but few headed to Dubai and King Abdullah Economic City for the Middle East’s Ladies European Tour triple-header have felt it as intensely as Charley Hull. ▶ The 24-year-old was in the final stages of her prep for September’s ANA Inspiration when she tested positive on the eve of the third women’s major of this crazy old year. ▶ Hull put it down to jet lag, the stifling California heat and her asthma playing up. Indeed, she thought she might have already beaten the invisible enemy.

“I actually thought I’d already had it so I wasn’t really looking out for symptoms,” the Englishwoman revealed.

“I felt a bit flu-like on arrival in Palm Springs but I put it down to a long day of travel. I was pretty surprised when I tested positive as I’d been carrying on with my preparation for a major as normal.”

Hull reckons she got off lightly even if she described her two weeks in quarantine as “pretty brutal”.

“The recovery did take a little longer than I was expecting, not in a major way, but I did notice the tiredness and I also lost my taste for a while. It’s quite nice now knowing that I’ve had it, and I shouldn’t get it again, but I still need to be careful not to be a spreader. “ Welcome to the New World Order. The impacts of COVID-19, especially after a brush with the deadly virus, have Hull fizzing for the OMEGA Dubai Moonlight Classic (Nov. 4-6) and the women’s week of golf at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, the $1 million Aramco Saudi Ladies International (Nov. 12-15) and $500,000 Saudi Ladies Team International (Nov. 17-19).

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I REALLY ENJOY BEING IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE PLACE HAS A REAL HOLIDAY VIBE, SO I FEEL RELAXED HERE, A BIT LIKE I’M ON HOLIDAY.

Photographs courtesy of TaylorMade

It was galling to miss the ANA but the world No. 28 quickly rebounded with a T-7 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship last month for her 6th major championship top-10.

“A sign of good things to come? Yes, I hope so. I’m really excited to still have some good events ahead of me this year…I can’t wait to try to keep the momentum going.

“We were very impacted in the beginning when the golf tours stopped, and all the golf courses closed. So for eight weeks or so things were very different. I’ll definitely play all that I can between now and the end of the year as I’ve only played about 5 events so far. It’s just got tougher moving around the world with all the restrictions; it’s a real feat of organisation.”

Coupled with her desire to make up for lost time, Hull has proven pedigree in the Middle East. She captured her maiden LET title in Morocco just four days before her 18th birthday and went wire-to-wire at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Ladies Open at Saadiyat Beach Golf Club in Jan. 2019, not long after her Christmas time engagement to mixed marital arts champion Ozzie Smith whom she went on to marry last September.

Hull has been close in Dubai before – including solo 2nd at the then OMEGA Dubai Ladies Masters in 2016 – but missed last year’s change to a day-night, Pro-Am format on The Faldo layout at Emirates Golf Club.

“I’ve not heard much about the format but I’ve played under the lights before and that will be a fun experience. I enjoy playing new, different formats as I think it’s exciting for the viewers.

“I played the Faldo under lights a few years back so I have an idea of what it’s like but I’ll definitely play a practice round or two to get used to the shadows again.

“I really enjoy being in the Middle East. The place has a real holiday vibe, so I feel relaxed here, a bit like I’m on holiday. The courses really suit my game too – lots of high shots into the greens.”

The Solheim Cup is another part of golf that clearly suits Hull’s bubbly but tenacious personality. She became the youngest competitor in 2013 and contributed three of a possible four points to Europe’s upset of the U.S. at Gleneagles in 2019 to be running at a 70 percent success rate in the matches. She handles comparisons with countryman Ian Poulter, Europe’s Ryder Cup ‘Postman’, with similar aplomb looking ahead to the 2021 edition at the Inverness Club in Toledo, Ohio.

“Well Ian and I do have one thing in common and that’s that we are both from Woburn Golf Club. But I think I’ve got a way to go before I match his Ryder Cup performances. I just love playing the Solheim and the big crowds and the excitement definitely get me going.’

So to do the new events and formats being rolled out for the women’s game in the Middle East.

“I think it helps to attract new players to the game, and it’s great to hear that there was a real rise in the amount of new people into the game during lockdown this summer,” said Hull.

“It’s really important to grow the game wherever we can. Saudi Arabia is an important new market and I can’t wait to see the set up there.”

Just as exciting as getting to grips with Royal Greens is the Saudi Teams International which was tagged onto the 72-hole strokeplay event at the 11th hour as Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation doubled down on their commitment to the LET and women’s game in general.

“I hope I get drafted into a good team. I think I’d play with Dame Laura [Davies] if I was given a choice.”

It’s likely, given her world ranking, that Hull will be given a choice as one of the 36-team captains involved in the novel NFL-style draft for the teams event. Whether she gets Davies is another matter but you can be assured Hull will fight to the last whomever she is teamed with.

If 2020 has taught Hull anything, it is you can only control the controllable. Like battling back from a positive COVID-19 test, the Rose Ladies Series, bankrolled and organised by Justin Rose and the major champion’s wife Kate to give tournament-starved LET players an employment lifeline, was another case in point.

Hull won the opening event in a playoff at Brokenhurst Manor and went on to claim the £20,000 order of merit title by a whisker from Georgia Hall

IT’S QUITE NICE NOW KNOWING THAT I’VE HAD IT, AND I SHOULDN’T GET IT AGAIN, BUT I STILL NEED TO BE CAREFUL NOT TO BE A SPREADER.

courtesy of a runner-up finish when the final round of the series finale at Wentworth was cancelled due to wildfires raging on nearby Chobham Common.

It was just another 2020 curveball Hull has successfully batted off.

“I just love playing golf so I was playing anything going during the summer. There were a couple of other mini tours going on too. It was so good of Justin and Kate to put on the Rose Series, not least because we got to play some great golf courses. To win it was the icing on the cake.”

Hull clearly has designs on finishing the year on a high but like most of us must secretly hope to put 2020 in the rear view mirror as well. So, what is your dream for the world in 2021 given how tough it has been this year?

“I just hope that things get back to normal as soon as possible, and that not too much damage is done in the meantime.”

Hull has been lucky that not too much damage was done in September. All that positive COVID test has done is make her doubly determined to get things back to normal. A New World Order in which she remains one of the game’s most dangerous competitors. Her peers in Dubai and KAEC have been warned. november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

45

Trailblazing individual and teams championships are just the start of the game-changing women’s golf strategy being orchestrated by Golf Saudi. BY KENT GRAY

Ladies FIRST With a $1 million purse luring a stellar cast to the Kingdom’s first ever

professional women’s golf event, the Aramco Saudi Ladies International couldn’t help but create global headlines. ▶ And then Golf Saudi and the Saudi Golf Federation doubleddown on their commitment to the Ladies European Tour. And tripled-down on their pledge that golf will become a game-changer for women across Saudi Arabia. ▶ The result is an innovative $500,000 Saudi Teams International (Nov.17-19), complete with unique NFL-style draft system, bolted onto the already pioneering 72-hole event scheduled for Nov. 12-15. But the legacy of this month’s Saudi Women’s Golf Week will extend far beyond the fairways and final leaderboards at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club in King Abdullah Economic City.

46 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

ARAMCO SAUDI LADIES INTERNATIONAL/TEAM INTERNATIONAL

left: the ladies first club will offer free golf lessons, activities and full rounds of golf. right: golf saudi ceo majed al sorour Golf has been chosen as a vehicle to help Saudi Arabia achieve its “Vision 2030” socio-economic goals so the real winners shape as a nation of women overcoming traditional gender barriers.

Golf Saudi has unveiled a ‘Ladies First Club’, an initiative that will offer complimentary membership - inclusive of golf lessons, driving range access and full 18-hole rounds – to local women. The initial membership intake will be capped at 1,000 registrants. “[This] is our most exciting initiative yet aimed at developing the great game of golf across Saudi Arabia and is the ideal way to celebrate the historic nature of the Kingdom’s first ever women’s golf tournament, the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented

by Public Investment Fund,” said Golf Saudi CEO Majed Al Sorour.

Players signed-up to the scheme will receive a digital ‘Introduction to Golf’ education pack providing access to monthly seminars outlining the key aspects of golf for beginners. Each of the three golf courses in the scheme - Riyadh Golf Club, Dirab Golf Club and Royal Greens - will also host a monthly golf clinic which will conclude with an on-course induction for all participants and a chance to play 18-holes.

Full range access will then remain available to all members of the club, with the programme’s top 12 performers being offered a full, year-round membership at their course of their choice.

Golf Saudi later rolled out a video series featuring five trailblazing Saudi women to underline the landmark nature of this month’s golf events.

Mariam Fardous, the first Saudi and just the third woman ever to scuba dive deep into Arctic waters in 2015, is delighted to be part of the push to put young Saudi women on their very first 1st tee.

“I hope to be a source of inspiration for women, especially girls who don’t believe that we can achieve the impossible,” she said. ”I imagine that our vision, and the fact we have achieved something, will make girls see that they can overcome anything and achieve their dreams, and that they can think outside of the box in creative ways. We can be poster women for our country.

“These famous golfers who are coming to Saudi Arabia have certainly had their own difficulties, but we can see how they’ve managed to succeed and how they were able to make their own mark in life. They are all great achievers. I’m so excited to learn more about golf here in Saudi Arabia, in my own country, and see these inspirational female athletes compete.”

Sara Salhab, 27, who plays regularly with friends at Dirab G.C., is one young local grateful to have discovered the royal and ancient game.

“Golf is a very nice sport that works both your mind and your body and you’re outdoors in greenery, which is great, especially here. I really enjoy it. More women should play because it is very healthy, you get to be outdoors and it’s a social activity that, with the Ladies First Club, is more accessible than ever.”

With the likes of Solheim Cuppers Georgia Hall and Charley Hull joining LET legends Dame Laura Davies and Trish Johnson and Golf Saudi ambassadors Amy Boulden and Camilla Lennarth at Royal Greens, the top flight golf will take care of itself. But the last word goes to Al Sorour who is just as inspired by the deeds of Saudi’s Famous Five: Fardous; Nelly Attar, the founder of Saudi Arabia’s first dance studio, Move Riyadh; Maram Al Butairi, General Manager of the Eastern Flames, the Kingdom’s first female football team; and DJ Cosmicat. “...We are highlighting the pioneering Saudi women who have helped make these tournaments possible,” he said with a nod to the video series.

“It is our honour to have these exceptional women encapsulate the ethos of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by PIF – and the excitement around it – in this way.”

“Our two tournaments will be only the second and third international, professional women-only sports events to be held in our country.

We feel that’s something of incredible impact...”

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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the subtle genius of augusta national’s greens by derek duncan

gutter credit tk

OF SLOPES... â–ś tilt-a-whirl Slants and ridges at the par-3 sixth push shots in different directions.

... &SWALES

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countless words have been written attempting to decode what makes Augusta National the object of such fascination and fantasy. As broad or specific as these explorations can be, the genius of Augusta’s architecture can almost always be traced to the dynamism of its green complexes.

Augusta National’s greens didn’t start out the way they are now—not most of them, at least.

The greens Alister MacKenzie and Bobby Jones conceived in the early 1930s have evolved— or been rebuilt or relocated—in response to advancements in technology and agronomy, the modern demands of the professional game during the Masters, and even because of personal proclivities. But as they changed, they gained a reputation as avatars of perfection, the game’s best.

Much of that mythology (which dates to at least the first Masters telecast in 1956) is based on their conditioning and their vaunted green speeds, which officially have never been quantified. Regardless of whether they were ever golf’s fastest greens, they’ve existed as such in popular consciousness and were the fastest the viewing public could see on a regular basis.

The paradox, of course, is that not even Augusta National is committed to keeping the greens in Masters form yearround (the course is closed for much of the year), but they’ve become the conditioning ideal for the kind of slick, flawlessly groomed surfaces clubs routinely aspire to and golfers dream of playing.

Greens running 12, 13 or higher on the Stimpmeter are a luxury product that are also

Photograph by Dom Furore

a status symbol in zip codes with the resources to maintain them. But the quest for speed comes at a price beyond economics and prestige. Generally, faster greens lead to longer rounds, creating more threeputt scenarios as balls drift four feet past holes instead of two, and players mark and grind on short putts they’d ordinarily swipe in. Architecturally, the desire for icy-hot grass diminishes the amount of contour and character that can be built into putting surfaces.

Green shapes must flatten as the putting speeds increase or balls can’t hold slopes and begin running off edges or returning to the putter’s feet. This is especially true in Southern climates, where ultradwarf Bermuda grasses go dormant in the winter.

Without meaningful slope on the green to push shots toward or away from hole locations, hazards and angles lose relevance. When greens are relatively flat, there’s little need to stress over the placement of approach shots unless surfaces are exceedingly firm.

As long as the ball is a reasonable distance from the hole, putting becomes an exercise in dialing in the pace, something good players resolve quickly.

The better example to take from Augusta’s greens isn’t the speed but the degree of contour. The voluminous slopes and swales are synced not just with swift green speeds, but with the shots and strategies being played into those greens. The contours demand players analyse target and landing spots, often away from the hole, if they want to get the ball close. If they miss, they’re faced with treacherous

breaking putts and chips.

Think of the par-5 second, for instance, where the best way to get long approaches to front-right pins is to land the ball in the center of the green and use the strong left-toright pitch as a funnel. Similar contours move shots to frontleft and back-left pins on the par-3 sixth, toward back-right pins at 14, toward middle-left and back-left hole locations at the par-3 16th, and elsewhere throughout the course if shots can be properly oriented.

Balls rolling, bending and catching slopes is how Augusta National measures creativity and execution.

Tiger Woods’ long, downhill 90-degree breaking putt at the ninth during the final round last year would require little of his genius without the green’s tiers and tilt. Of course, some degree of firm and fast conditions are necessary for balls to react so demonstratively to gravity (and assuming this year’s fall weather is typical, there should be little if any difference in the speed or firmness of the bentgrass greens compared to early April, given the club’s ability to modify moisture and temperature), but it’s the strategically conceived shapes and movements within the putting surface, rather than speed alone, that gives golf this extra dimension common to the great courses.

Fast greens and the talents required to achieve them can be admired. But the game comes to life when the ground is turning the ball in different directions, requiring equal parts imagination and skill to navigate it. To paraphrase the old Scottish saying about wind, “Nae contour, nae golf.”

november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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THE UNTOLD STORIES OF TIGER WOODS

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we asked more than 60 people who’ve spent time with the 15-time major champion to share their favourite memory. the best of those stories compiled here exemplif y what makes tiger so great and fascinatingly complex

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gutter credit tk

Illustrations by Tim McDonagh

N

O OTHER GOLFER elicits myth, legend and anecdotal storytelling like Tiger Woods. Usually the stories entail some lesser-known evidence of his golf genius—an unreal display of power here, a touch of imagination there and competitive fire everywhere. If the punch lines share a common theme, it’s that Tiger does things with a golf club that ordinary humans can’t do. ▶ But it’s not just his golf. Many stories provide a peek behind the curtain and reveal Tiger the person—his values, attitudes, lifestyle, simple likes and dislikes and his relationships with family and friends. A lot of stories don’t reveal everything, and instead are cryptic parables left to our interpretation. They only deepen the mystery of what Tiger thinks and how he sees the world. ▶ The stories are numerous already and are so ubiquitous and oft-told, they’ve formed their own lexicon. But new ones are always surfacing, and we can count on more for as long as he’s in view. With Tiger, golfers can’t get enough.

Ken Green

pga tour / 1980 to 2006

D

URING a fog delay at Torrey Pines in 2003, my buddy Mark Calcavecchia and I decided to get something to eat. We sat in player dining, and Bernhard Langer joined us. Tiger came by and, seeing the extra seat, asked to join us. We said sure.

It was the first time we’d met, and he remembered me leading the 1986 Masters after the first round and my sister, Shelley, caddieing for me. I was impressed. Tiger was only 10 when that happened.

Calc and I liked to play a game when we ate. We’d take a packet of sugar, put it on the handle of a fork and whack the tines with our hand. It would catapult the sugar packet across the table, and the object was to see who was most accurate. If you landed the sugar packet on the other guy’s plate, you got a point. If you landed it in his coffee cup, you got two points. First guy to six

HE WAS LOCKED IN, HAD THE DEATH STARE GOING AND WAS IN FULL ‘TERMINATOR’ MODE. — p at r i c k c a n t l ay

52 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

wins. It’s harder than it looks.

After a couple of rounds, Tiger said, “That looks easy.

Can I try?” We passed him the sugar-packet holder. His first try, the sugar packet just missed Bernhard’s head.

Bernhard is big on manners, and the look on his face said he didn’t appreciate almost getting beaned.

Tiger reloaded. He aimed for my plate. This time it went off crooked and landed on Bernhard’s plate. Without saying a word, Bernhard picked up his plate and walked to another table. I said, “Tiger, you may be the best golfer in the world, but you suck at games.”

Patrick Cantlay

A

T LAST YEAR’S Presidents Cup in Australia, everyone was drained and struggling with jet lag. We were down after each of the first three sessions before cutting it

to two points heading into Sunday’s singles. At that point it would have been easy for Tiger to give a fiery locker-room speech to pump everyone up. Instead, he never said a word that we needed to turn things around, and his demeanor made us feel like we were the ones in control.

On Saturday, he picks up Xander [Schauffele] and me in a cart after we’d lost our morning match, and I asked if he was playing with Justin Thomas in the afternoon [they’d played together earlier in the week], and he says he’s not playing until Sunday. I said, ‘That’s a mistake. We need you out there.’ He just calmly said he’d already announced the afternoon pairings, and he was going to rest until Sunday. In a silent way, he gave everyone a confidence boost, in essence saying he trusted us to go out and do our job.

When he walked out Sunday morning, he was a different person. He was locked in, had the death stare going and was in full “Terminator” mode.

Then he went out first and played amazing. Seeing his name on the board leading set the tone for the day. Not only was he never panicked when he was in captain mode, he delivered the goods on Sunday morning. It was insight into how his brain works, and it was cool to see.

Rory McIlroy

T

HERE’S THE TIGER the public and the media know, and there’s the Tiger a select few of us have gotten to know. But he’s changed a lot during the past 10 years. Before, he was this ruthless, single-minded competitor. That’s still in there, but with everything that’s gone on in his life, he has mellowed and become more compassionate and empathetic. Every tournament I win, he’s the first person to send me a text congratulating me. In 2019, when I won the Tour Championship and the FedEx Cup, the first text

was from him; I replied that I enjoyed the walk down 18 more than I did the year before when he won and got swallowed up by the fans.

His effort feels genuine.

There’s a happiness from him that you’ve done something good. That says a lot about him and the relationship we’ve been able to build over the past few years. He’s a caring guy. That sometimes gets lost.

Thomas Bjørn

I

’ve played a fair number of practice rounds with Tiger before major championships. Most of them at 5:30 in the morning.

Once we were the only two players on the range. For the first 15 minutes or so, I was there by myself. The rest of the range was empty. But that didn’t stop Tiger from dropping his basket of balls as close to my heels as he could possibly get without touching.

It was all in fun, of course.

But it was also his way of saying, “Here I am.”

This went on for a little while, him hitting right behind me. But I soon got tired of that.

I turned around, looked at him and kicked his balls down the range. I remember Steve Williams gasping as I did so.

At first Tiger said nothing.

He just stared at me. Then he burst out laughing.

worked. He was keeping stats before they were even a thing.

[Tiger’s mother] Tida would keep track of everything on a scorecard, and they’d go talk about the round and figure out where he could improve. I was just trying to figure out where I could use my hot-dog ticket.

Guy Yocom

senior writer / golf digest

T

iger has a long memory. The first time I met him was on the practice range at Stanford Golf Course in 1994, midway through his freshman season. As he hit balls, I made conversation and took notes.

A few minutes in I asked for a closer look at the 9-iron he was hitting. He handed me the club, pointed to his spot and said, “Go ahead.”

After my second swing, he said, “Man, you take it back too far inside.” He pulled another club from his carry bag and demonstrated a better takeaway. Tiger liked talking about his swing—and mine—more than he did his

I TURNED AROUND, LOOKED AT HIM AND KICKED HIS BALLS DOWN THE RANGE. —thomas bjørn

personal life and points of views on things. By the time my hour was up, we’d spent most of it talking about swing mechanics. He checked the time, abruptly put his bag on his shoulder and started to walk in. “But . . . ” I said, and he said, “Sorry, gotta get to class.”

Two years passed. In December 1996, I was one of a dozen writers invited to attend kind of a Tiger town-hall meeting at Bay Hill in Orlando.

Tiger’s management set it up. The idea was for national writers to get to know him better over lunch, then break out into foursomes and play the course. Tiger would play a few holes with each group.

It was a cold, rainy day. As we warmed up on the range, Tiger walked by and out of the corner of his eye saw my driver swing. “Anyone ever mention you take it back inside?” he said. “No, never,” I said. Tiger laughed. I hit another shot and said, “What club would you need to hit it by my driver?”

He said, “Bunt 3-iron.” To that I said, “Oh, please” and added a fake yawn. Tiger took that as

Jason Gore

played against woods in junior golf and on the pga tour

I

was just north of L.A., and Tiger was the Long Beach area. I’m a year and a half older, but Tiger always played up an age division.

I think I beat him twice. The thing that set him apart: He wanted to embarrass you. He wanted to beat you as bad as it was possible to be beaten.

Right from the beginning his will to win was something you could see. And it’s not like God sprinkled some magic dust on him and he just cruised.

He worked and worked and november 2020 | golfdigestme.com

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fracture of his tibia, but few knew during the tournament the extent of his injury.

At the start of the second round, Tiger began the day on the 10th hole and had hit a wayward tee shot that settled on the cartpath. Rather than take a drop in the rough, he played the shot off the path, and at impact there was this horrible sound, like his leg had just broken. The look of pain on Tiger’s face was something I’ll never forget.

I said to him that perhaps now was a good time to call it quits. He looked at me in disbelief and just said, “F___ you, I’m winning this tournament.” His determination, desire to win and ability to play through pain was never greater than that week.

Justin Thomas

I a challenge, I guess, because he asked where his clubs were. His handler, the late Bev Norwood, shot me a look.

“That’s a bad idea. Tiger’s not warmed up yet.” He said to Tiger, “We really don’t have time for this.” Tiger replied, “It’s OK. I want my clubs.”

Members were gathering.

There was a little gallery now.

Someone drove up with Tiger’s clubs. He pulled out an iron and said, “We both get one shot.” It started raining harder.

I hit the driver well, 225 yards maybe. It stopped where it landed. It was Tiger’s turn.

“Get him, Tiger!” one of the members shouted.

Tiger pushed a ball up on a swatch of turf. He ripped it.

The ball went so high it was hard to pick up on the way down. When it did land, I thought I squeaked him. “I got you, Tiger! I got you, man!”

I exclaimed. Tiger said, “No way” and turned to the gallery for an official determination.

HE LOOKED AT ME IN DISBELIEF AND JUST SAID, “F___ YOU, I’M WINNING THIS TOURNAMENT.” —steve williams

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With their shouts, they voted him the winner. Tiger then held the iron close to my eyes and peeled his hand away to reveal the number: It wasn’t a 3-iron, it was a 4-iron. His smile was good-natured but also said, You really don’t want to mess with me. One of the writers walked past. “Way to represent,” he said.

At the 2015 Memorial Tournament, I spoke with Tiger briefly on the practice putting green. It was 19 years after the my-driver-versushis-4-iron disaster. As I approached, he said, “Still taking it back inside?” Like I say, he has a long memory.

Steve Williams

caddie for woods 1999 to 2011

D

URING the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, we all remember that he played that week with a torn ACL and a double-stress

’VE NEVER known the old Tiger. People tell me all the time that I never would’ve had this friendship with him in his prime. But this is the only Tiger I know. We text each other pretty much every day. When I was at East Lake this year for the Tour Championship, I FaceTimed him from the 18th fairway during a practice round to remind him what it looks like since he didn’t qualify. A few hours later, he FaceTimed me wearing the green jacket.

That’s our relationship. It’s a lot of competitive banter.

I think it’s that way because I got to know him when he was hurt and wasn’t out on tour.

The friendship just grew from there. Sometimes we’ll have dinner and hang out at his house playing video games or pingpong.

Once we played home-run derby with his son, Charlie, inside Tiger’s living room.

Charlie’s using a golf club, and Tiger’s pitching, but Charlie wanted a bigger bat, so he grabbed an actual bat.

Tiger takes his turn, and he’s swinging full speed, just ripping them. Then I go, and I hit one off the end of the bat,

and it hits a candle and breaks it. So that’s another one he has on me now. He’s also very supportive—and I am, too, of anything he does—and will always text me after a win. But we’re also pretty sarcastic with each other and say things that aren’t fit for print.

Chubby Chandler agent

I

was with Darren Clarke when he beat Tiger in the final of the World Match Play at La Costa in 2000.

Afterward, Darren did all his media stuff, and maybe 90 minutes had gone by before we got to his locker. There was a hand-written note on the back of the door. My memory is not perfect, but it went something like this: D, you’ve had a great day. Well played. Be very proud of yourself. You’ll always be a friend. Best wishes, Tiggy. PS. You’ll always be a fat f___.

Rudy Duran

coached woods from 1980 to 1986

T

iger and I would go around Heartwell, an 18-hole par-3 course in Long Beach, and I came up with what I considered par for him as a 5-year-old—67. What solidified that I wasn’t crazy was when he shot 59—eight under his personal par. He played every ball down, made every putt and never let up.

Going lower and lower never got too big for him, even when he was that small. A lot of it comes from how he thinks.

So much of the culture in golf is this toxic negativity: What mistakes am I making, and how do I fix them? For him, it was, What do I do well, and how do I do more of it? Even when he’d mess up a hole, he’d have his moment of littlekid anger, but by the time he was on the next tee, his focus was on the next shot. There are other players who can hit the ball as well as Tiger Woods can. But they can’t use those swings to shoot scores like he does.

Rick Roberts

bay hill locker-room attendant

I

’ve been at Bay Hill for 19 years, but my first year in the locker room was 2003, when Tiger won his fourth in a row here. The weather was awful and rainy, and he was very sick from food poisoning, and every few holes he was throwing up. At the turn he came into the locker room and splashed water on his face.

Then he put his head down on his arm, and his legs kind of buckled, and I thought there was no way he was going to finish. I asked if he needed anything, and he asked for a Gatorade. His voice was kind of weak, but he thanked me, headed out and shot 68 and won by 11. When it was over, a veteran player came in and said that there was no way anyone could shoot 68 that day, let alone Tiger as sick as he was. That’s when I saw firsthand what Tiger Woods was all about. Sheer will.

John Cook

A

fter tiger had won the U.S. Open at Bethpage in 2002, he kind of laid low for a week before gearing up for the Open Championship at Muirfield, where he was going to be trying for the third leg of the Grand Slam. Mark O’Meara and I didn’t see him much.

One day Mark and I were on the back of the range at Isleworth trying to hit 3-irons down to this one green about 220 yards out. We had played Bethpage, and unlike Tiger, every hole for us was like a driver and 3-iron or 4-iron or even a wood. So we’re trying to get the ball up higher with our 3-irons, just seeing if we can launch them.

All of a sudden here comes Tiger getting back from a sixmile run. He’s got no shirt on, he’s wearing sunglasses, his hat is turned backward and he’s sweating like crazy. He sees us, and he stops to watch, but he doesn’t say anything.

HE’S GOT NO SHIRT ON, HE’S WEARING SUNGLASSES, HIS HAT IS TURNED BACKWARD AND HE’S SWEATING LIKE CRAZY. —john cook

Finally, he asks, “Hey, what are you guys working on?”

We tell him we’re trying to hit these longer clubs higher in the air. So he says to me, “Let me see your 3-iron.”

Now he just got back from a run, he hasn’t hit a ball, he’s got running shoes on.

But without a practice swing he hits this 3-iron not at the green Mark and I were aiming at but at the next green, about 245 yards out. He flew it right into the middle of that green, handed the club back to me and said, “Just do that.” Mark and I looked at each other like, We’re trying to beat that?

I put the club back in my bag and said, “I’m going to go over here and putt more; maybe that will help.”

Darren Clarke

I

have never seen anything more impressive than the time I spent hitting balls alongside Tiger at a tournament in Germany.

It must have been in the early 2000s. We were on the range, and there was some banter between us, as usual.

But it didn’t take long for me

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to notice what he was doing.

I hadn’t seen anything like it, and I haven’t seen anything as good since. Every shot Tiger hit was perfect. He must have hit about 200—all pure.

When Tiger finished, I had a look at where he had been.

What I would normally call his “divot pattern” was the size of a dinner plate, but there wasn’t a bit of brown earth to be seen.

Every blade of grass had been lightly brushed in the same direction. There wasn’t even the hint of a divot. All of which is unbelievable, considering he had used about every club in his bag. It verged on impossible. And it remains the most impressive thing I’ve ever seen. Ridiculous.

Davis Love III

I

CAN’T remember what year it was, but I called him a few days after one of his knee surgeries to see how he was getting along

and if he was up and moving and starting rehab yet. He answers, and I hear a lot of wind in the background, and he’s out of breath. It turns out that he was on a 50-mile bike ride because he was not allowed to run or lift weights.

I just had to laugh.

IT TURNS OUT THAT HE WAS ON A 50-MILE BIKE RIDE BECAUSE HE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO RUN OR LIFT WEIGHTS. — d av i s l o v e i i i

Butch Harmon

coached woods from 1993 to 2004

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N MAY 1997, I was in Houston for the NBA playoffs, and Tiger was in Dallas playing the Byron Nelson. A month earlier he had won the Masters by 12 shots. At halftime, I went up to the bar and began watching live coverage of the day’s play. Tiger had shot 64-64 in the first two rounds, but his driving was off on Saturday.

He was backing up on his tee shots and flipping his hands through. He missed a few drives left, which Tiger hated to do. I called him

from the game and said, “I see something in your driver swing. Get me a room in Dallas, and I’ll drive there tonight. I’ll show you in the morning what I see.”

Tiger said, “Just tell me.

I want to know now.” I insisted on showing him in person, and he finally agreed.

We met after breakfast the next morning and started working on the range. After a while, he said, “Thanks, Butchie. I got it. I appreciate you coming.”

That was it. I wished him luck, and he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll win today.” And he did. But what amazed me was, from the first tee that day, he never made the mistake he was making the day before.

He committed 100 percent to what we worked on that morning, and he drove the ball beautifully.

It proved again what I had seen before: When Tiger trusts something, he plays with it right away, no matter the situation. He knows the only real test of something is whether it works under pressure. He always wanted to keep getting better, and as a result, he has made changes— changes that nobody ever knew—while he was winning golf tournaments. That, to me, is one thing that has made Tiger great.

Annika Sorenstam

W

HEN Tiger and I lived in Orlando and were both ranked No. 1 in the world, I would go over to Isleworth to practice with him on a number of occasions. What I remember most was that he loved trying difficult shots and always wanted to learn something new.

He would also observe what I was doing and ask a lot of questions. He was especially interested to know how I hit the ball so straight without sacrificing length, especially off the tee. He was just really curious, always trying to get better. I admire that.

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Adam Scott

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week before the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, right before I turned pro, Tiger was in Las Vegas working with Butch Harmon and so was I. Butch set up a game with me and Tiger at Rio Secco, and I thought, This sounds incredible. He was 1 up at the turn, and I thought I was doing pretty good, really. Then he hits this 375-yard drive onto the 10th green—keep in mind, this is in 2000, when very few people were capable of hitting the ball that far—and he made eagle. He birdied each of the next four holes and closed out the match. I was in shock. It was quite the introduction.

He won the U.S. Open by 15 the next week.

Jason Day

I

grew up reading Tiger’s book How I Play Golf and absolutely idolised him.

In November 2011, just before I turned 22, I got paired with Tiger for the first two rounds of the Australian Open. It was like it wasn’t real. I watched him on television for so long, and then I’m standing there with him. What I remember most was seeing him hit his famous stinger in person for the first time. It was on the par-5 eighth, and he had like 300 yards into a 20-yard wind on his second shot, and he hits this low, bullet 3-wood. It flew only 10 feet off the ground, never left the flag, and landed about 20 feet away. I hit driver off the deck and came up 20 yards short. I just shook my head. It was so cool, though— like seeing a video game unfold in real life.

Max Adler

editorial director golf digest

T

he first time I met Tiger was at a photoshoot for a Golf Digest cover at Medalist Golf Club in 2018. Because we needed high ceilings, our set

was inside the maintenance barn where the mowers are normally parked. Tiger arrives, says, “Hi, I’m Tiger,” and politely shakes hands with each person in our crew.

If handshaking becomes a ritual of the past as we move into the era of fist- and elbowbumps, certain memorable experiences in pro golf will be lost. The right hand of Nick Price brings to mind a vicegrip, Tony Finau a baseball glove, Alex Noren sandpaper.

Between Tiger’s thumb and index finger—the muscle called the abductor pollicis brevis, though commonly thought of as what forms the “V” of the grip—there’s a lump the size and firmness of half a golf ball. Tiger has talked before about the firmness of his grip pressure, squeezing the club tightly to limit face rotation, and you just can’t fathom how many balls he has hit in his life with ultimate intensity. But shaking his hand gives you an idea.

Michael Campbell

I

was washing my hands and face in the locker room at Pinehurst, only minutes after holing the winning putt in the 2005 U.S. Open. My thoughts were all over the place as I tried to digest what had just happened. I thought I was alone until I heard a urinal flush behind me. Seconds later, Tiger appeared beside me. He had just finished second, having, I heard later, missed a few vital putts down the stretch.

Nothing was said as we both stood there in front of a big mirror. It was pretty intense.

Then he walked away without a word, which I thought was a bit strange given that we knew each other reasonably well. But then he came back seconds later, tapped me on the shoulder, shook my hand and said, “Well done.” He had just needed a little bit of time to get over the loss of a battle he had been expected to win.

I understood that.

Brandel Chamblee

I GREW UP READING TIGER’S BOOK HOW I PLAY GOLF AND ABSOLUTELY IDOLISED HIM. — j a s o n d ay

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t the 1998 Sprint International, I got paired with Tiger in the third round. We’ve got 10,000 people at least lining the first fairway. There is no escaping the anxiety. On the first hole he hit a 4-iron that punched a hole in the clouds and stopped dead to the hole from about 250 yards. He made eagle. At the sixth, I hit it to 10 feet. He was just outside me, and he circles his putt, working his quiet into the crowd. He pures it, and the crowd goes nuts. He punches the air, does the whole big-putt celebration.

I remember thinking that I’ve never been that excited on a golf course in my life. Next hole is a par 3, and he has the honor. Pin is tucked back right.

Tough to get to. He makes it.

Hole-in-one. Crowd erupts. He does his thing.

Finally, it’s my turn to hit, and as I’m settling in, I hear him whisper to Fluff, his caddie, “God, I love this game.”

I stop, look up at him and said, “Well, of course you love it!

You make $50 million a year and hole about every other shot you hit. You should try loving it from my perspective.”

The crowd laughs. He smiled.

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That was a transition year for Tiger. He was changing his swing to the one that would win four straight majors, but he did things that day I’d never seen before and haven’t since.

Except from him. I won my only tour event the next week, and I couldn’t help but think the experience of playing with Tiger contributed to the calm I had down the stretch.

Costantino Rocca

I

played with Tiger in the final round of the 1997 Masters. He was well ahead, so I suppose I knew what to expect. But wow. He was fantastic. He hit the ball so far. On one hole I had a 1-iron to the green, and he flew the putting surface with a 6-iron.

I couldn’t believe it. On the 18th green I said: “Thank you for the lesson.”

But that round at Augusta helped me a lot when I beat Tiger in the Ryder Cup singles at Valderrama later that year.

I played my game and never watched him hit a shot. He was hitting 2-irons past my driver. I was hitting the second shot first every time. But even when I was 4 up at the turn, he never gave up. That’s maybe the most impressive thing about him.

Charles Howell III

I

n 2003, he let my wife, Heather, and me fly with him to South Africa for the Presidents Cup. He could tell I was nervous—it was my first time playing in the event.

He came over and said, “You’re a great player. That’s why you’re here. I’m here for you all week, whatever you need.”

Guy Yocom

senior writer / golf digest

T

he late Earl Woods once suggested Tiger could have been a world-class athlete in other sports. But I wonder if that’s true. When I visited the Stanford campus in the fall of Tiger’s freshman year, in 1994,

Smylie Kaufman and Jordan Spieth—Tiger’s name never came up. It might be that Tiger, in one way at least, is just an ordinary gym rat.

Hank Haney

TIGER SHOULD HAVE BEEN SITTING WITH HIS LEG UP IN A CHAIR AT HOME AND GOING TO THE KITCHEN ON CRUTCHES, NOT PLAYING GOLF. —hank haney

Notah Begay mentioned that Tiger was a terrible basketball player and that he’d kidded Tiger for putting up zero points and assists in a recent intramural game. When I heard Tiger was at the gym playing a pickup game at that moment, I had to watch for myself.

Tiger indeed wasn’t very good. He had a hard time keeping his head up when he dribbled and used his right hand almost exclusively.

Instead of gathering the ball in his palm, he kind of slapped at it. On offense he went to the No. 2 guard position and more or less stayed there, waiting for someone to pass him the ball.

On defense, when a guy with the ball got past him, it was over. It was inexperience.

Maybe he improved. After Tiger turned pro, I heard he played pick-up games with other pros, some of whom were pretty good. But it’s telling that over the years, when players named other pros who were exceptionally talented basketball players—Billy Andrade, Gary Woodland, Tony Finau,

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coached tiger from 2004 to 2010

I

always thought Jack and Tiger were the two best pressure putters, but even Jack didn’t make a putt like the one Tiger made on Sunday during the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines to get into that playoff with Rocco Mediate.

I was listening in on the consultations with the doctors going into that week, and Tiger should have been sitting with his leg up in a chair at home and going to the kitchen on crutches, not playing golf.

Think about the mental strength it took to not just make that putt on 18 with everything that was on the line, but do it after walking around the whole week in incredible pain in which it took hours of treatment each night from his trainer, Keith Kleven, to be able to stand, never mind walk or hit balls. And to make that putt knowing it was going to mean another 18 the next day.

Tom Sargent

longtime teaching professional in southern california

T

iger, as one might imagine, was a dominant junior player in Southern California.

When he was 11, he won 30 junior events. When he was 12, in 1988, he was playing in the Yorba Linda Junior Invitational at Yorba Linda Country Club. Though he was competing in the 12and 13-year-old division, he entered the final round with the lowest score among all divisions, including the 14 to 15 and 16 to 17 divisions.

For the final round, the upper two divisions were moving to the blue tees, so I asked Tiger if he’d prefer

moving to the blue tees to compete for the overall championship. Tiger declined, choosing to remain in his age bracket and telling me there’d be time for that later. To an extent it was wisdom— 12-year-old wisdom if there is such a thing.

Stewart Cink

I

lost to him in a playoff in the 2006 WGCBridgestone in Ohio. He beat me with a birdie on the fourth hole. It was something like his 50th win, and I was grinding my butt off trying to get my fifth. Anyway, about a month later we’re on the plane to Ireland for the Ryder Cup. He’s sitting there, and as I’m walking by, I say, “You couldn’t have let me win just one?” He did not turn his head, did not laugh, did not smile. He just looked at me with his eyes for half a second, then went back to what he was doing. And we were friends! He was just different, man.

Rob McNamara

vice president for tgr ventures

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t was my sophomore year at Santa Clara, and Tiger’s freshman year at Stanford. Stanford had this event in the fall that was our first big event of the year. We were all aware of Tiger—he was the reigning U.S. Amateur champ and already a pretty big deal in the golf world.

The first hole at Stanford has this elevated tee box, and there’s a bunker out there in the fairway. My teammates and I had been talking about that bunker all day—how far is the carry? Should I lay it up short or challenge it?

Tiger, then probably only 140 pounds, steps up to the first tee and does not even consider the bunker. He makes this smooth swing and flies it by 30 yards. We all looked at each other, my teammates and guys from other schools, and immediately knew he was playing a different game.

Nick Faldo

I

n 2006, I played with Tiger the first two days of the Open at Hoylake.

It was a strange pairing; I was already starting TV at that point. I had played against Tiger in the World Match Play in 1999 a few years after he’d turned pro [losing 4 and 3], but I never played good enough after that to go against him when he grinds you into the ground. I knew I was an observer more than I was a competitor at the Open.

We all remember he hit only one driver that week—in the opening round on the 16th hole that went about 45 degrees to the left—and hit irons off the tee the rest of the week and won the claret jug. That made the course the equivalent of at least 700 yards longer than what the scorecard said. It was cool to see, perfection, really, and if you can hit 4-iron inside guys who are hitting 8-iron, well, that’s a very Tigeresque moment.

We came off 18, and I joked that if he wasn’t going to use his driver the rest of the week, could he give it to my son, Matthew, who was caddieing for me that week. He laughed, but then he signed the glove that he just shot 65 with [in the second round] and gave it to him. That was cool.

John Wood

caddie for cameron champ. has also looped for matt kuchar and hunter mahan

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t the open Championship at Hoylake, he was leading going into Saturday.

All week long he had hit balls on the very left side of the range, right next to the trailers. It was kind of his spot.

On Saturday, after Hunter had finished his round, we went to hit some balls. I kid you not, there were 2,000 people in the stands and 50 guys hitting balls. You did not hear a word, did not hear a shot from any of the other guys on the range. Everyone

just stood there, watching. I look at Hunter, and I go, “He just won the tournament, you realise that?” He goes. “Oh, yeah. I do.” It was a moment I’ll never forget.

Trevor Immelman

O

ne day Tiger invited me to play with him at Isleworth. This was in 2006, and I had just won the Western Open for my first tour win, and we were getting ready for the Open Championship.

Hank Haney was with us.

Tiger was testing 2-irons.

I’ll never forget a shot he played on the 17th hole, a long par 5 with a narrow green.

It’s more than 600 yards, so back then it wasn’t really reachable. I hit a perfect drive and layed up with a 5-iron.

Tiger pulled his drive into the rough and these mounds on the left. He had a decent lie, but the ball was above his feet sort of halfway up a mound.

He pulls out his driver, and I’m thinking What in the world? Well, he crushes this driver, and it bounces up on the green and rolls to about eight feet from the hole. He made the putt for eagle. This shot had to be over 300 yards, and nobody could have pulled that off except Tiger. It was easily the greatest shot I ever saw. Funny thing was, he went on to win the Open at Hoylake and hit only one driver in the entire tournament. I still laugh about that.

Paul Casey

M

y all-time favourite Tiger Woods moment was when he beat Stephen Ames, 9 and 8, at the 2006 Match Play. Of course, everyone remembers it because of not just how badly Tiger had beaten him but what poor Stephen had said beforehand, that “anything could happen, especially where Tiger is hitting the ball.” It was comical to me that he’d say that, especially about Tiger, even if he had

withdrawn from his previous start before the Match Play.

I’m a pretty confident guy, some might even say cocky, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in 20 years going against Tiger, it’s that you don’t talk shit to him, certainly not before a match.

I don’t think Tiger missed a green against Stephen. I lost to Henrik Stenson in the first round that year, but I must not have been that upset because when I saw Tiger’s score, it made me laugh out loud.

to me and said, “How about that f___ing shot?” He knew that was a shot he could never hit. Same thing happened in 1998, when Tiger and Jay were paired together at the Masters. Jay hit driver/ 3-wood and had 90 yards left.

He was trying to figure out why Tiger was waiting to hit, and then Tiger hits 3-wood 10 feet from the hole. He turned to me and said, “How about that f___ing shot?”

Bill Harmon

never met Tiger until I was paired with him in the second round of the Masters in 1995, and, frankly, at that time, I didn’t know that much about him, except he was the U.S. Amateur champion. I had never seen him play. I just knew that he was dominating amateur golf. I mean, three U.S. Junior Amateur wins in a row? Of all the things he’s done in the game, that gets almost no mention, and it’s one of his greatest accomplishments. He has to win the first one when he’s 15. Think about that.

So I knew he had to be darn good, but on the first hole I found out why he was beating the other amateurs at will. He had a sand wedge into the first green. I had 7-iron. He hit a 6-iron for his second into the par-5 second. He hit a wedge into No. 5, and I was back there with a 6-iron. This went on all day. His game wasn’t quite polished yet, but we know how soon that changed.

I

golf digest 50 best teacher

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remember when I caddied for Jay Haas.

Jack, Seve, Norman, Tiger . . . once or twice a round, they would hit shots every other player knew they couldn’t hit. I’ll give Jay credit—when they hit a shot like that, he’d admire it in the most respectful way. Jack hit a 1-iron out of a bunker at Muirfield Village three feet from the hole, and Jay turned

IF YOU CAN HIT 4-IRONS INSIDE GUYS WHO ARE HITTING 8-IRONS, WELL, THAT’S A VERY TIGERESQUE MOMENT. — n i c k fa l d o

Curtis Strange

Paul Azinger

I

played in the 1996 Milwaukee Open, where Tiger made his pro debut, and Payne Stewart and I were traveling together and ran into him on the tarmac in Milwaukee the day after he won the U.S. Amateur again.

We congratulated him on winning, and then Payne spent about 10 minutes trying to talk him out of turning pro and staying in college. Payne knew what was coming.

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The day before the first round, Butch Harmon came up to me with Tiger and said, “Hey, Zinger, show this kid how you hit a bunker shot.” I had won sand saves on tour three of the past four years.

So I hit a few and talked about how I hit ’em. Then Tiger steps in there, and they were every bit as good. I told Butch, “This kid doesn’t need my help.”

E. Michael Johnson

golf digest equipment editor

I

n 2003, I got a call from Nike asking if I’d like to sit in on a test session with Tiger for what would become the Nike One ball. I’d never met him but was surprised when he showed up in gym shorts, muscle shirt, sneakers and a Stanford University hat.

His perception—like Itzhak Perlman being able to tell a violin’s age by playing one note of music—was unlike anything I had witnessed.

Tiger made decisions about which golf ball he preferred based largely on the trajectory of chip shots. He brushed driver faces against the grass and determined one had a thicker face than the others.

When tees were needed, Tiger said he had some in his bag but not to take the ones from St. Andrews—as if he were protecting a souvenir from a buddies trip. His knowledge of equipment history surprised me, too. When I said that this one driver shaft was reminiscent of a shaft used in an old MacGregor driver from the 1950s, he looked up, smiled, and said, “You remember that f______ shaft?”

Denis Pugh

swing coach

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nyone who played late in the third round of the 2002 Open Championship at Muirfield is unlikely to forget it. A huge storm blew in the afternoon, bringing with it almost galeforce winds and sideways rain.

For 90 minutes or so, playing

Sir Michael Bonallack legendary english amateur player

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I’M MORE IMPRESSED— NOW AND ALWAYS—ABOUT THE ENGINE HE HAS IN HIS MIND. TIGER NEVER PUT A LIMIT ON HIMSELF. —sean foley

golf was all but impossible. It was carnage, really. At least it was for Tiger and Colin Montgomerie. Tiger, who was still alive for the Grand Slam after winning the Masters and U.S. Open, made only one birdie and shot 81. Monty— who I was coaching then— shot 84, after going 74-64 the previous two days.

Early the next morning, the two of them were on the practice putting green. I was standing a few yards away from Monty, watching him putt. As I did, Tiger came past and gave me a wink. “Hey, Monty,” he said, “at least I kicked your ass yesterday.”

Monty turned around with a smile and replied, “Everyone did, Tiger.” At which they both burst out laughing.

It was a rare moment of humor from Tiger, especially given the disappointment he must have felt at seeing his quest for the Grand Slam end.

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first came across Tiger during the 1995 Walker Cup at Royal Porthcawl.

He didn’t have breakfast with the rest of the American team every morning; he went across the road to McDonald’s. Even at that stage he was very much his own man.

As captain of the R&A in 2000, I presented the claret jug to him when he won the Open Championship at St. Andrews.

A few weeks earlier—as the official observer—I walked the last two rounds with him inside the ropes at Pebble Beach, when he won the U.S. Open by 15 shots. That was the best golf I have ever seen—and probably the best golf anyone has ever played. I have never seen anyone dominate a field like he did that week. I think he was in the rough once over the 36 holes I was with him.

When I got back to St. Andrews, I was asked what I thought he would do in the Open. My response was simple: “If he doesn’t win, there ought to be a steward’s enquiry.” And he did, of course, by eight shots.

Sean Foley

coached woods from 2010 to 2014

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et’s face it. There are plenty of players who can do amazing things physically. They can hit a ball over impossibly high trees or carry a bunker nobody ever imagined would be in play.

There’s obviously a physical engine inside Tiger that was impressive to see when he was a younger man, but I’m more impressed—now and always— about the engine he has in his mind. The only limit any of us has is our own limit, and Tiger never put a limit on himself.

It starts with his ability to concentrate. He’s the only player I’ve ever been around who hits a few bad shots and yells at himself and tells himself to focus. He’s pointing

at something internal, not external like most players do.

He’d be hitting balls, and he’d hit one shot that came off a little different, and he’d have such an insightful reaction: He’d go sit in the cart for 10 minutes and think about it. So much of his work happened in those quiet places.

Claude Harmon III swing coach to dustin johnson

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played nine holes with Tiger late in 2000 in Las Vegas after he had won three legs of the Tiger Slam.

I said that he surely must now realise he is better than everyone else in the game. He said “I never think like that.

But I know no one is willing to do the things I am, and no one in the game can outwork me or out-think me.”

Billy Foster

caddie for matthew fitzpatrick, former caddie for lee westwood and seve ballesteros

I

caddied for Tiger in the 2005 Presidents Cup in Virginia while Steve Williams was with his fiancee, who was expecting their first child. Tiger and I are walking to the first tee, and there are thousands of people lining the walkway, yelling their heads off: “Tiger!” “Tiger!” It was the first time I’d ever seen the Tiger circus, the hysteria of it, that feeling that this was just so far from a normal human experience. My ears were bleeding. We get to the first tee, and it’s kind of blocked off from the spectators. A moment of tranquility. I turn to Tiger and said, “You might be a billionaire, the best golfer to ever play the game and have any woman in the world. But I wouldn’t swap lives with you.”

And I meant it. He looked at me and said, “Thanks for saying that, Billy. That’s why I don’t play very much.”

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Jim Moriarty

I saw Tiger after the round, he said of Taylor’s ace, “That’s one of the coolest things I’ve seen on the golf course.”

golf digest contributor from 1984 to 2014

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t a junior clinic in Cincinnati, Tiger was watching teenager Kevin Hall, who was deaf. The kid could really hit it, a rarity at these things. Tiger watched him nail a couple of drivers and whispered something to Hall’s mother, who relayed the advice to Hall using sign language.

The next drive flew 20 yards farther. Hall turned and looked at Tiger with a smile larger than Woods’ own. A few years later, Hall won the Big Ten Championship playing for Ohio State.

Chris Como

coached woods from 2014 to 2017

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t seems like a lifetime ago, but there was a time when Tiger was really struggling with his chip shots.

He was nervy, and because of his injury, he’d get these shooters going up his back when he tried to practice. It would’ve been easier to hang it up. He had nothing left to prove. But he didn’t. He followed his intuition, was open to suggestions and worked on it every day for hours, as much as his back would let him, in the face of adversity and tough results.

I mean, to go from shooting 82 in Phoenix and WDing at Torrey in 2015 to the Masters two months later, where he was hitting these delicate shots off those tight lies?

That’s just pure perseverance and mental toughness.

Nate Radcliffe

former director of engineering, nike golf

O

ne of the last times I worked with him he was testing a wedge by hitting flop shots off the putting green. That grass on that green was super tight—it was running at 12 or 13 on the Stimpmeter. It blew my mind watching him slide that wedge under the ball without damaging the green.

I HAD A FAIRLY SIMPLE 75-YARD PITCH, AND [TIGER] WAVES ME UP. I PROCEED TO HIT IT TO ABOUT 40 FEET. NOT EXACTLY A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION! — e r i k va n r o o y e n

Beau Welling

senior design consultant with tgr design

A

t the opening of The Playgrounds, a 10-hole short course at Bluejack National in Texas, Tiger’s first design in the United States, 11-year-olds Taylor Crozier and Cedi Lococo played with Tiger in front of 600 members and guests. Tiger has said he wants to create fun and playable experiences. When we shaped The Playgrounds, he had the slope left of the first green shaped with the idea it could be used to feed the ball toward pins at the back of the green.

When it was Taylor’s turn to play, he hits his tee shot toward that slope; it rolls down and goes in for an ace.

The crowd erupted—the loudest 600-person roar I’ve ever heard—but nobody was happier than Tiger. He was still recovering from a back injury and had decided to play with Taylor and Cedi using only a putter. Now, Tiger appreciates competitiveness, and once the crowd calmed, he takes his putter and lips out from 83 yards. My jaw dropped. When

62 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

Steve Stricker

W

e were paired for a foursomes match in the 2009 Presidents Cup. Playing your own ball alongside him is one thing, but when you’re playing alternate shot, you feel a lot more pressure. We come to this long par 4, doglegs to the left. I want to hit a 3-wood, but I’m thinking I probably should hit driver. A 3-wood is going to leave him well over 200 yards to the green. I’m waffling a bit, and then he tells me, “Hit the 3-wood in the fairway; I’ll hit a 4-iron to 20 feet, and you make the putt.” So, I hit the 3-wood, he puts the 4-iron onto the green about 20 feet from the pin, and I make the putt. I relaxed from there because Tiger was basically saying to me, Don’t worry, whatever you do, I’ve got this.

Erik van Rooyen

I

n the 2018 Open Championship at Carnoustie, I was hitting into the 15th hole, which shares a green with the fourth.

Tiger was on the fourth green.

I had a fairly simple 75-yard pitch, and he waves me up, so he’s watching my shot.

Now, I’m not sure if it was nerves or what, but I proceed to hit the shot to about 40 feet. Not exactly a great first impression!

Jaime Diaz

started writing for golf digest in 1989

A

t the 1994 World Team Amateur, an 18-year-old Tiger was the only player on the range on a chilly morning at the Golf de La Boulie in Versailles, France.

After striping a dozen or so 5-irons about 200 yards, he turned and said, “You want to see something weird?

Watch this.”

He then performed what would now look like an imitation of Jim Furyk or Matthew Wolff, but which then might have recalled Miller Barber. After taking the club back well to the outside with the face shut, he dropped it into the slot and whiplashed through the ball. The shot took off faster and higher and landed 15 yards beyond his other 5-irons. He chuckled at the sheer perfection. A few minutes later, when he was hitting drivers, I asked him to “do that other swing again.” He did, the ball shooting out with even more startling speed, and flying way past his others.

Almost plaintively, he asked, “I mean, what’s wrong with that?” “Nothing,” I said. “You ever think of going with it?”

A pause, and then, “Nah. Looks too funny.”

Two things. Tiger was, and I suspect still is, decidedly old school, constitutionally favouring the orthodox over the unconventional. At the time, he was diligently committed to his work with Butch Harmon, who’d been his coach for a year. But Tiger has always been insatiably curious about the swing, and all the more when actual validation is possible.

As a teenager today, he would have tested that “funny” swing on a launch monitor and likely been convinced to adopt at least some—and maybe all—of its principles in competition.

The point is that though Tiger got as much out of his immense talent as any golfer who ever lived and indisputably advanced what was possible in the game, I witnessed an unused reserve that might have made him even better.

Reporting by derek duncan, john huggan, e. michael johnson, keely levins, peter morrice, alan p. pittman, daniel rapaport, matthew rudy, dave shedloski, john strege, brian wacker, mark whitaker and guy yocom.

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A

Augusta National is the most predictable place we play on tour, and that’s one of the highest compliments I can give a golf course. The fairways and greens are so pure that if you hit the ball here, it will end up there. If you land the ball there, it will end up here. This makes it a little easier for the players to adjust to whatever the playing conditions are in November.

When I won in 2007, it was windy and unseasonably cold much of the week. I expect we might see those conditions this year. Here’s how I plan to prepare.

Temperatures in Augusta on average are 10 degrees colder in November than in April. If the wind blows anything like it did in 2007, especially in the third round, when gusts reached 33 miles per hour, you have to take par out of your mind-set. I shot 76 that day, and it was a decent score—the field average was 77.35. I made one birdie, on 15, and it was a tough putt. I thought I pushed it, but a gust of wind brought the ball back to the center of the cup. The more you can ignore the scorecard and embrace the conditions, the better off you are.

We now have the ability to program a TrackMan launch monitor to simulate how far the ball will travel under any conditions. Ten degrees colder is a big difference. The ball will go shorter, and you have to adjust your club selection or shot type accordingly. Instead of a high 7-iron into a hole like the par-3 sixth, it might be a 6-iron flighted a bit lower.

Any talk of doing well at Augusta National includes the four par 5s. With the imperfection variables eliminated, you can take advantage of them regardless

64 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

FALL CLASSIC

here’s my str ategy for pl aying augusta national in november by z ach johnson

of the type of style you play. In 2007, my wedge game was on, and because I knew where to hit it and how the ball would react once it landed, I was able to play the par 5s in 11 under par to lead the field in par-5 scoring. This despite not reaching any of the par 5s in two shots.

Contrary to some reports, I never decided before the tournament to not go for any of the par 5s in two. The situation didn’t present itself; it was never the smart play. There are a few unwritten rules you try to adhere to at Augusta National. Chief among them is not taking unnecessary chances. It’s a risk-reward course, but it has to be a sensible risk. Take the final round in 2007. I had 198 yards to the front of the green on 13. Typically when players have a yardage that starts with a 1, they’re going for it. But I hadn’t hit that shot the entire week, and my lie wasn’t very good.

I decided to lay up, and I stuffed a wedge to 10 feet and made birdie to retake the lead.

The predictability of the course means you don’t have to manipulate your game.

If you hit a high fade, that’s fine. If you hit a high draw, that’s fine, too. If you rely on your strengths and your strengths surface that week, there’s a good chance you’ll find yourself in contention.

There are several “backboards” on the greens at Augusta National that savvy players can take advantage of. If there’s a right-hand pin on No. 2, you have a board that almost always rolls the ball to within six feet of the hole. There’s a board on No. 4 that you can use. There’s a miniboard on 8 and certainly ones on Nos. 9 and 13. The par-3 16th might have the most reliable one of all. You hit the tee shot middle to middle back of the green, and it will go left, feed in there and leave a good birdie try. There’s no second-guessing.

Whether that favours a certain type of player, I can’t really say. The Masters has a reputation for being a course that favours long hitters, yet looking at the past 15 years, a number of players who don’t hit it far won. In 2007, I averaged just 265 yards off the tee, ranked 57th out of 60 players making the cut. Jordan Spieth isn’t overly long. Neither is Danny Willett or Charl Schwartzel. That’s because cliché golf usually works at the Masters: The better you drive it, the more greens you hit in regulation; the more you leave the ball below the hole and have uphill putts, the better off you’ll be whether you bomb it or not.

One thing I am sure of: A fall Masters is going to be amazing regardless of the conditions. It’s still Augusta National.

It’s still the Masters.

—with e. michael johnson

â–ś zach johnson, recipient of the 2020 Payne Stewart Award, won the 2007 Masters in less than ideal conditions.

harry how/getty images

Closeout The View from Pebble Beach

Five green jackets, and many more fond memories.

Jim Nantz My visits with Tiger over 25 years at Augusta National OST IN THE TALK of an autumn Masters played with no patrons is the fact this edition marks an important milestone.

When defending champion Tiger Woods is introduced on the first tee on Thursday, Nov. 12, it will mark the 25th anniversary of his first appearance at Augusta, in 1995. I’ve been fortunate to visit with him numerous times over the years, frequently in Butler Cabin when Tiger had just won one of his five green jackets or was presenting a jacket to his successor. ▶ To evidence his changing thoughts and perspectives, I revisited those interviews and selected some of our more revealing exchanges.

L

I always try to not only help out African-Americans but minorities in general, or kids. Because you try to help everyone; don’t limit yourself to just one race. Just try to help everyone you can, and if you can do that, that’s wonderful.

That’s what it’s all about. ●

sunday, april 13, 1997 age 21 You are the first AfricanAmerican to win the Masters and the first Asian-American.

What does all this mean to you?

It means a lot. Because obviously I was the first, but I wasn’t the pioneer.

Charlie Sifford, Lee Elder, Teddy Rhodes, those guys are the ones who paved the way for me to be here.

I thank them because if it wasn’t for them, I may not have had the chance to ever play golf.

Were they in your thoughts today? Oh, yeah. All night I

was thinking about them and what they’ve done for me and for the game of golf. When I was coming up 18, I said a little prayer. I said thanks—thanks to those guys. Because those guys are the ones who did it.

●

sunday, april 8, 2001 age 25 You have an incredibly keen sense of history. Where does the Tiger slam rank in the history of this game?

It will probably go down as one of the top moments in our sport. I’m very proud of the accomplishments I’ve been able to have in my short career.

I’ve been very lucky. I’ve had some good breaks, I’ve had some good things happen to me, and I’ve had some wonderful people supporting me and encouraging me to accomplish the things I’ve been able to accomplish.

You birdied the final hole—your mom and dad were back there waiting for you. What did that mean to have them there? To

see Mom and Dad there, it’s pretty special. Probably wasn’t as special as it was in ’97 because of dad’s heart surgery

66 golfdigestme.com | november 2020

in ’97. Nonetheless, without those two people, there is no way I would have been able to succeed and have the accomplishments I’ve been able to have. ●

sunday, april 14, 2002 age 26 We’ve been talking today about the journey to the green jacket, how it’s a childhood dream.

Tell us where it all started for you. I guess my first recollec-

tion of Augusta was the putt that Jack hit on 17 in ’86.

I believe I was [10] at the time.

That was such a monumental feat that he did. I didn’t appreciate it at the time; I thought it was so cool how he put his arm up and walked it in. From then on, I was glued to the tournament every time come April.

sunday, april 10, 2005 age 29 You now have a fourth green jacket on the way. You join Arnold with four, Jack has six, and now you’re in that territory with those giants. This one, in your mind right now, what are you thinking? My mom and I

talked about this today, that if I was lucky enough to win, we wanted to dedicate this to my father. He’s here [in Augusta].

He’s just not healthy enough to come out here today and enjoy this. So this one’s for you, Pop.

●

sunday, april 14, 2019 (above) age 43 Tiger, welcome back to Butler Cabin. That reaction coming off the 18th green, the Tiger chant and the release of all that emotion. What was going on in your head at that time? To have my

kids there, it’s come full circle.

My dad was here in ’97, and now I’m the dad with two kids there. It’s overwhelming. What is it—22 years, I think?—between wins. That’s a long time.

It’s unreal for me to experience this. My mom was here; she was there in ’97 as well, and so I just couldn’t be more happy or more excited. I’m kind of at a loss for words, really.

courtesy of cbs

tuesday, april 4, 1995 age 19 People say you can help young African-Americans who want to take up the game.

What do you say to that?

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