TIGER WOODS AWARDED MEDAL OF FREEDOM (BACK ON TOP):
TIGER’S APPEARANCE BEARS THE BATTLE SCARS OF A WOUNDED SOLDIER BUT HE REMAINS NO.1 IN GOLF.
IT IS POSSIBLE TO BOUNCE BACK IN LIFE AFTER EMBARRASSING SCANDALS AND BEING PERSONALLY ATTACKED.
GOD BLESS TIGER & HIS CHILDREN,
Post Sources: AP, ESPN, Youtube
**** Medal of Freedom awarded to 'true legend' Tiger
President Donald Trump awarded golfer Tiger Woods the nation's highest civilian honor on Monday, describing the 43-year-old as a "true legend" who transformed golf and then fought through years of injury to return to the sport's summit.
Trump awarded Woods with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Woods is the fourth golfer to earn that distinction and certainly the youngest.
While he dominated the sport for more than a decade, he won his first major in nearly 11 years at last month's Masters tournament, a comeback that captivated the sporting world.
"Tiger was back on top," Trump declared during the Rose Garden ceremony.
Trump described the litany of victories Woods has obtained during his remarkable career and the injuries that almost derailed it.
"This evening, we are in the presence of a true legend, an extraordinary athlete who has transformed golf and achieved new levels of dominance," Trump said during the presentation. "He's also a great person. He's a great guy."
Jack Nicklaus, a previous recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, was among several golfers to congratulate Woods in messages on their Twitter accounts.
Woods was joined at the ceremony by his mother, Kultida; daughter, Sam Alexis, 11; son, Charlie Axel, 10; and girlfriend, Erica Herman.
Woods' father, Earl, passed away more than a decade ago. Woods' longtime caddie Joe LaCava also attended.
Woods became emotional as he spoke of his parents, and he thanked those who have supported him over the years, saying, "You've seen the good and bad, the highs and lows, and I would not be in this position without all of your help."
Woods tweeted after the White House ceremony:
President George W. Bush presented the Medal of Freedom to Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer. Obama presented it to Charlie Sifford, sometimes referred to as the "Jackie Robinson of golf." Woods noted that he named his son after Sifford. "He was like the grandpa I never had," Woods recalled.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is given to individuals who have made "especially meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House.
Presidents have complete discretion over whom they honor with the medal.
TIGER OVERCOMES SCANDAL, DISGRACE & ILLNESS TO TASTE VICTORY AGAIN.
ALL OF HIS JEALOUS HATERS CAN KICK ROCKS.
I’M PROUD OF YOU TIGER.
Post Sources: ABC News, ESPN, PGA, Youtube
***** How Tiger Woods overcame pain, scandal and age to triumph again
He was bigger than an NFL Sunday, which seems perfectly apropos. In his prime, Tiger Woods was bigger than everything and everyone. Why not win a head-to-head with America's modern pastime in his return to the winner's circle as an aging, balding man?
Whether you were in Lincoln Financial Field to watch the return of Carson Wentz, or in any other stadium where outsized athletes in helmets and pads took turns pancaking each other, you had to keep one eye on the nearest TV, the other on your phone. Why? Woods was doing far more in Atlanta than finishing off his 80th PGA Tour victory, that's why.
He was becoming Eldrick Tont Woods again, Tiger to you and me and the rest of creation. He was becoming the best of the best one more time, protecting a 54-hole lead of at least 3 shots for the 24th time in 24 tries. He was returning as Mozart and Michelangelo in a red shirt and spikes, all the way back from the golfing dead.
The scene on the 72nd hole was stunning, as a huge parade of fans at East Lake marched up the fairway behind Woods, nearly inspiring him to cry. The crowd around the green chanted "U-S-A ... U-S-A" for a golfer who never thought he had a prayer of being part of this year's Ryder Cup team. Then Woods hit his bunker shot onto the green that sealed the deal. He tapped in his second putt, raised his arms to the sky, and hugged Rory McIlroy and then his own caddie, Joe LaCava, as the fans started chanting his name.
We never thought we would see the artist return to the peak of his powers, and for good reason: Tiger never thought he would see the artist return to the peak of his powers, either. But in July he held the lead at The Open with eight holes to play, and in August he quieted his old, achy bones in ice baths at the PGA Championship and beat all the younger, fresher stars who grew up idolizing him -- well, all except Brooks Koepka.
And now in September, NFL season, the 42-year-old Woods wasn't going to let Rory McIlroy or Justin Rose or anyone else deny him his Tour Championship triumph. All those back surgeries and an everyday life of searing pain had made the vision of Tiger holding another trophy seem almost unfathomable.
"Oh God," Woods had said at the PGA Championship, "I didn't even know if I was going to play golf again."
He played golf in Atlanta like he played it in his dynastic prime. The better news? Woods nailed down No. 80 as a different human being, as a kinder and gentler update on the programmed assassin he used to be. Tiger has mellowed some with age, offering the head nods and eye contact he rarely bothered with during his scorched-earth prime. Back in the day, the legend Tiger has spent his life chasing Jack Nicklaus, altering his act, too, after growing tired of playing the villain while his neighborly rival, Palmer, basked in the gallery's love.
Woods? He didn't change because the fans had fallen hard for someone else. He changed because parenthood always changes young dads and moms, and because his staggering physical and personal breakdowns inspired him to reassess his tee-to-green purpose. Many of Tiger's wounds were self inflicted, and a fan is entitled to feel about the man the way he or she sees fit. But no matter how you judge his character, Woods is indisputably one of the finest athletes this country has ever produced. And what he has pulled off in the early stages of recovery from what he called "some really dark, dark times" ranks among the greatest sports comebacks ever.
Do you remember the last time Tiger won any tournament? Do you? It was only five years ago, yet it feels like 15. Woods dominated the field at the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone, claiming his eighth title at Firestone and his fifth victory of 2013 before almost immediately wondering aloud how often he'd won at least five times on tour in a single season.
Tiger Woods shoots a 71 in the final round of the Tour Championship to win by two strokes for his first win in five years.
"Eight or nine?" he asked.
Ten, he was told.
"That's even better," he said. "That's something I'm very proud of, is how many tournaments I've been able to win consistently, year in and year out."
Tiger's sheer volume of victories made people forget just how hard it is to win just once on the PGA Tour. Golf might be the world's most maddening game -- just ask any recreational player dumbfounded by his or her standard two-way miss -- and yet Woods regularly reduced it to a springtime walk in the park. He conquered a game thought to be unconquerable, and flattened dozens of opponents he wasn't allowed by the sport's bylaws to blitz, tackle or defend in any way.
For the very first time, a golfer was arguably the world's most recognizable athlete. He bargained for himself an entirely new and unwanted level of global fame and infamy over Thanksgiving 2009, of course, when he drove his Escalade into a fire hydrant and a tree in the dead of night and ended up in the street unconscious and bleeding, his then-wife Elin standing over him with a golf club in hand. Woods' serial infidelity was about to be exposed, and so were his vulnerabilities as a man and an athlete.
Woods ultimately lost his marriage. After checking into a treatment center for sexual addiction, he returned to the sport a far less intimidating force. He would win eight more times on tour over the 2012 and 2013 seasons, but he couldn't recapture the major championship aura he lost at the PGA in 2009, when he finally stumbled on a Sunday (he had been 14-0 in majors when holding at least a share of the 54-hole lead) and fell to a self-taught South Korean journeyman named Y.E. Yang.
Asked in 2015 why his vanquished foe had lost the eye of the Tiger in the majors, Yang told ESPN.com, "I, amongst many other players, believe that it has to do with his personal issues and that it is none of our business. Tiger is not a machine and is a person like all of us. I think once he gets his focus back, he will be fine."
As it turned out, Tiger's body was more fragile than his focus. One back injury after another left him bedridden at times, and at others unable to perform the basic physical functions of your average middle-aged dad. "I couldn't even go out for dinner," Woods said. "I couldn't sit. I couldn't get from Point A to B in the house."
Woods couldn't chip because of the pain he felt running down his leg when he bent over, causing his hands to shake. The cortisone shots and the epidurals didn't give him relief. He couldn't play pickup golf with his friends, and he couldn't even play backyard ball with his kids.
"Coming back and playing golf was never in my thoughts," Woods would tell ESPN in March. "It was just, 'How do I get away from this pain? How can I live life again?' That was driving my life. I felt like I couldn't participate in my own life."
Woods said the pain and sleeplessness caused him to over-medicate himself and led to his late-night DUI arrest near his Jupiter, Florida, home on Memorial Day in 2017, when he was found asleep at the wheel of his damaged car with the engine running. The mortifying roadside video of Woods' interaction with police suggested the golfer was literally and figuratively lost, and maybe for keeps. The toxicology report would show that Tiger had Vicodin, Dilaudid, Xanax, Ambien and THC -- the active ingredient in marijuana -- in his system at the time the cops arrested him. Woods would seek professional help, he said, to "manage my medications and the ways that I deal with back pain and a sleep disorder."
Woods could have killed himself, or someone else, after he started his car that night. He seemed almost irretrievably broken, and a million miles removed from the epic champion he used to be.
But the in-patient treatment that followed his arrest -- along with his Hail Mary of a fourth back surgery, the spinal fusion surgery -- ultimately changed his entire life. He arrived at the Masters in April calling himself a "walking miracle." His smile was back, and so was his astonishing swing speed.
Woods decided he wanted to win for daughter Sam and son Charlie; he had joked of his children seeing him almost exclusively as a "YouTube golfer." Sam and Charlie were forever asking him, "Daddy, when are you going to win the tournament?" and for good reason. Sam hadn't seen her old man win a major since she attended the U.S. Open in 2008, when Tiger beat Rocco Mediate in a 19-hole playoff on one leg. Charlie had seen his old man win only once, as a 4-year-old, when he attended the WGC-Bridgestone in 2013.
And then 1,876 days later, Sam and Charlie's dad finally ended the biblical drought. By clinching victory No. 80, two shy of Sam Snead's record, Woods made Atlanta in September feel like Augusta in April.
The world has changed so much since Tiger won on tour for the first time, at age 20, in the fall of 1996, but its fascination with the golfer who is equal parts artist and assassin has remained very much intact. The game has never seen a force quite like him, and chances are it never will again.
Maybe this is the last time Tiger Woods will hold the winner's trophy high, maybe not. Either way, the man in red outplayed the NFL on Sunday and, of greater consequence, delivered a vintage Tiger triumph as a new and improved man.
NIKE STANDS BY TIGER WOODS AFTER DUI ARREST (LOYALTY):
TIGER HAS MADE A TON OF $$$ FOR NIKE.
TIGER IS STILL AN AMAZING GOLFER.
Sources: CBS News, Fox News, YouTube
***** Iconic Sponsor NIKE weigh in on Tiger Woods' DUI arrest
Nike is keeping its sponsorship of golf pro Tiger Woods, after his arrest in Florida for driving under the influence.
A spokesman told CBS News, "There is no change in our relationship with Tiger."
The golfer admitted to getting behind the wheel after taking a potent mix of prescription drugs.
Police reports confirm Woods was not drunk, reports CBS News correspondent Manuel Bojorquez.
Two breathalyzer tests showed his blood alcohol level at zero.
Still, officers say Woods slurred his speech and failed field sobriety tests, prompting them to take him into custody.
Around 2:00 am Monday morning police say they found Woods asleep behind the wheel of a black Mercedes.
His car was blocking the right hand lane, its left brake light on and right turn signal flashing. Both drivers' side tires were flat. The rims were damaged.
Once awake, police say Woods was swaying, that his eyes were extremely droopy and seemed as if he was lost. Woods also told officers he had taken four medications, including the painkiller Vicodin.
"I feel bad for him," said Jack Nicklaus at a press conference. The golf great said he hopes Woods will play again. "He needs a lot of support from a lot of people, and I'll be one of them."
Vicodin is a highly addictive opioid often used for post-surgical pain. The FDA warns the drug can impair driving.
Woods, who is recovering from a back operation last month, said: "I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions."
"Tiger lucked out. He got pulled off the road before he committed an even worse crime -- before he killed somebody, before he injured someone or himself," said Heather Geronemus, a Mothers Against Drunk Driving board member.
Prescription drugs also allegedly played a role in Woods' 2009 crash. The latest incident so far has not cost him any sponsorships.
Bridgestone Golf told "CBS This Morning" it was, "... continuing to monitor the situation."
"It saddens you," said legal analyst and former "60 Minutes Sports" correspondent, Jack Ford.
Ford once played a round of golf with Woods. He says few DUI cases ever go to trial.
"The process has become so sophisticated -- the testing process so sophisticated -- and the penalties are fairly severe. So usually people try to work something out," Ford said.
Jupiter police say they will release dash cam footage of the arrest later today.
Woods received two citations – driving under the influence and illegal parking. His first court appearance is scheduled for July 5.
***** Tiger Woods: ‘Unexpected reaction’ to meds led to DUI arrest
Golfer Tiger Woods spent Memorial Day morning in a Jupiter, Fla., jail charged with DUI following a traffic stop.
Woods was arrested about 3 a.m., according to the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. He was released on his own recognizance about eight hours later.
Woods on Monday blamed an unexpected reaction to medication as the reason for his arrest.
The 14-time major championship winner, in a statement, insisted alcohol was not a contributing factor.
“I understand the severity of what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Woods, 41, wrote in a statement. “I want the public to now that alcohol was not involved. What happened was an unexpected reaction to prescribed medications. I didn't realize the mix of medications had affected me so strongly.
“I would like to apologize with all my heart to my family, friends and the fans. I expect more from myself, too.”
Woods, who lives in Jupiter Island, has undergone four surgeries to relieve chronic back pain since 2014. His most recent procedure was in April.
He has not played professionally since February. He has missed three of the last four Masters Tournaments at Augusta National Golf Club.
Tiger Woods has a very long memory. On Sunday evening after earning his 74th career PGA Tour victory in a 2-shot win over Bo Van Pelt in the AT&T National, the 14-time major champion reminded us of what many people had predicted about him at the beginning of the year.
"I remember there was a time when people were saying I could never win again," Woods said. "Here we are.
"A lot of media people didn't think I could win again, and I had to deal with those questions for a quite a bit. It was just a matter of time."
Yet many of his doubters were also average golf fans. Since I joined ESPN.com in August, I have received an avalanche of mail from readers who have grown impatient with Tiger. Nearly every day for the past three years, people from all walks of life have drilled me with questions about Tiger's future.
Many of the fans or commenters generally fall into three camps. The first group abhors any mention of Tiger unless he's winning the tournament. On Saturday night, when Brendon De Jonge held a 1-shot lead over Tiger and Van Pelt, a reader pelted me for barely mentioning the 31-year-old Zimbabwe native in my column.
The second camp, the practical kind of people who recognize that Tiger is one of the most exciting athletes to watch in the world, appreciates the 36-year-old former Stanford star as one of the most extraordinary transformative figures of our times. Fans of Tiger, like the average Joe who wouldn't watch golf otherwise, could be lumped into this group.
Then there are the Tiger haters. For these people, he can't do anything right. They often remind us of every bad choice that he's made in his life. They don't like him because of the color of his skin or his choice of women or any number of his imperfections.
Over the past several months, I've pondered often about Tiger's abilities to get back to the golfer he was in 2000 and 2001. I have never been a Tiger hater or a major doubter of his ability or will to win, but I have considered that he might never again be a dominant player.
To paraphrase a line from Matthew McConaughey's character in "Dazed and Confused," Tiger has seemed to be getting older while all the kids have stayed the same age. Rory McIlroy and a host of young bucks are emerging every year with an aim to unseat Tiger from his throne.
At times recently, Tiger has looked brilliant. His winning performances earlier this year at Bay Hill and the Memorial, after a nearly three-year winless drought, showed a glimpse of his former genius. But then there were his failures at the Masters and the U.S. Open. Still, it was foolish of any of us to think he would never win again. And it's not because of what he had done in the past but really because of how hard he's continued to work on his game through injuries and a very public divorce.
"Give me a little bit of time, and I feel like this is what I can do," Tiger said Sunday night. "When you're changing systems and have a totally different release pattern, it's going to take some time, and there are times when, yeah, I revert back, but that's happening less and less, and my ball striking is getting better and better."
Tiger has earned our patience with him. He's not promising to win the next two majors or even this coming week in West Virginia at the Greenbrier Classic, where he will be playing for the first time.
All he did this week at Congressional was pass Jack Nicklaus on the all-time wins list and take over the top spot on the money list for the first time in three years. He's brimming with confidence after winning three of his past seven tournaments.
It sounds good to say, Tiger is back. And for the next several news cycles until he has another disappointment at a major or regular tour event, we'll be talking about his slow ascendance back to No. 1 in the world. But Tiger has warned us time and time again that this is all a progression, and that perhaps our expectations of him are sometimes unrealistic despite his otherworldly success.
Does it matter that he's still No. 4 in the world despite being the only three-time winner this year other than Brandon Grace, who has achieved the feat on the European Tour? Not really. In Nicklaus' prime, there wasn't an Official World Golf Ranking.
Whether we like Tiger or not, he's in the business of hard work and winning.
"I try hard," Tiger said. "I try everything I possibly can and give everything I possibly can, and sometimes I don't quite hit the ball well or not putt well and do everything right. ... Welcome to golf."
So wherever you fall on the Tiger spectrum from the lovers to the haters, try to do what those 25,000 fans did on Sunday afternoon at Congressional and just take in the moment for what it is.
Tiger's game will never be perfect. But we can always be sure that he's trying his best. The world of golf had better take notice.
So much for Tiger Woods wanting the attention to return to his Golf game.
In a shocking meltdown Friday at the Quail Hollow Championship, Woods matched the worst nine-hole score of his PGA Tour career and wound up with a 7-over 79 to miss a cut for only the sixth time in his 14-year career.
He had three-putt bogeys on consecutive holes. He hit a flop shot that ran over the green and into the water. And he bottomed out on the 15th green with a four-putt double bogey from just over 30 feet.
"It is what it is," Woods said when asked if rust or mechanics were the culprit. "Whatever it was, it wasn't good enough."
Not even close.
Making the performance even more surprising is that Woods was coming off a tie for fourth at the Masters three weeks ago, a remarkable performance considering it was his first competition since a five-month break after being caught cheating on his wife.
This was a big step back.
The 79 was his second-worst score as a pro behind an 81 that Woods shot in the wind-blown third round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield when he was going for the Grand Slam. His 43 on the back tied his worst nine-hole score on tour; he also shot 43 at the Bay Hill Invitational three years ago, and the 1996 Tour Championship.
"He's obviously got things in his mind other than what's going between the ropes right now," said British Open champion Stewart Cink, who played with Woods. "You've got to learn how to balance what's going on in your life with your golf. And if you're not in a great place mentally, then it sometimes shows up out there."
This was his first time playing at a regular PGA Tour event with public ticket sales, and the crowd was gracious as ever with a few exceptions. Two fans, including a woman, held thumbs-down as Woods walked off the 15th green. Police also escorted away a fan who apparently heckled Woods as he left the 17th green. A friend of the fan, who declined to give his name, said the fan only said, "No red shirt for you on Sunday."
Otherwise, it was clear over the last two days the fans were more interested in Woods as a golfer than anything to do with his personal life. He just didn't give them much to cheer. And he won't be around for the weekend.
Billy Mayfair was the leader through 36 holes. At 8-under 136 after a 68, he had a one-shot lead over two-time major champion Angel Cabrera, who played in Woods' group.
For Woods, it was the first time he had missed a cut since the British Open last summer at Turnberry, and the first time at a regular PGA Tour event since the Disney Classic at the end of the 2005 season.
"Give this guy a chance, though. He'll bounce back," Mayfair said. "We all know that. Everyone on tour knows that. By him missing a few cuts here and there, it's just going to make him come back even stronger. I don't think anyone out here is worried about Tiger, and I'm sure Tiger is not worried about it right now, either."
One shot over the projected cut going to the back nine, Woods bogeyed the next three holes before it really turned ugly. He hit driver on the 329-yard 14th hole well to the right on a hill, leaving him a downhill shot to a green sloping toward the water. His flop shot came out too hot and went into the water for a double bogey.
He had little chance of making the cut at that point, though more drama followed. He four-putted the 15th, missing a 30-inch putt.
"I've seen him struggle like that off the tee," said Cink, who also missed the cut. "But he's usually the magician that gets the ball up and down from everywhere, hits some miraculous shots out of the trees and stuff. But you've got to remember, he hasn't played a lot of golf since about November. It's hard to just come back and be the magician instantly."
Elin Nordegren is engaged in "round-the-clock" talks with her attorneys about divorcing Tiger Woods, a source tells the Chicago Sun-Times' Bill Zwecker.
The Swedish ex-model could reportedly receive between $500 and $600 million from her husband if a Divorce is reached.
Less than two weeks ago oddsmakers placed the over/under of a possible divorce settlement at $300 million, with the "under" slightly favored. Since then, however, more reports have claimed that a Divorce is likely.
A source recently said that a divorce is "100% happening," and Nordegren is reportedly interested in moving back to her native Sweden, where she is vacationing with her two children.
Woods, meanwhile, continues to golf. On Thursday he plays his first round at a public golf tournament since his sex scandal unraveled, and he showed up Wednesday sporting a new goatee.
Woods won't be far from one of his alleged mistresses: Joslyn James, the porn star who says Woods impregnated her twice (and sent her highly graphic text messages), plans to strip in Charlotte this weekend -- when she isn't speaking out about a high-profile domestic violence case. Still, bettors don't expect the distraction to affect Tiger's play. He is a 3/1 favorite to win Quail Hollow.
Look around at the parking signs at the Quail Hollow Championship in south Charlotte, and you will see names you've never seen before: CNN, NBC News, ABC News, CBS News.
The Tiger Woods scandal and his return to golf have turned his second appearance at a tournament into something more than a sports event.
There are 353 journalists who've been given permission to cover the tournament -- about 100 more than in 2009. The group was so large that the tent where members of the media are asked to work was expanded.
"We've obviously had to create a little more desk space, a little more working space," explained Lee Patterson, the tournament's Director of Communications.
The attention is so high that reporters and photographers will need a special credential to follow Woods along the golf course during tournament play. A separate credential will allow them to follow any other golfer.
"There is so much more reaction, response, readership, viewership, e-mails, comments when he plays," said Bob Harig from ESPN.com
"He really does heighten the interest in so many ways."
After playing a leisurely 18 holes this morning in the Quail Hollow pro-am, Tiger Woods said his second golf tournament of the year feels more like normal than his return to golf at the Masters three weeks ago.
"This feels a heckuva lot more normal than the Masters did," Woods said at a press conference just after noon.
Woods' gallery grew as the morning unfolded. There were several hundred fans when he and his amateur partners teed off at 7:30 a.m. but thousands were following as they played the closing holes. There were no incidents of heckling from the gallery as Woods made occasional conversation with fans during the round.
Woods said he decided to make the Quail Hollow Championship his second event of the year because of his comfort level at the tournament.
"I'm trying to get back to normalcy," Woods said. "Charlotte has always been one of my favorite tour stops. It's always a treat to play a course like this. It's very similar to a major championship."
Asked about the reception he received from fans, Woods said, "The people here have always been very gracious. The fans really get into the event."
Woods was greeted by applause as he walked from the practice green to the first tee and, upon being introduced prior to his tee time, he smiled at the crowd and tipped his white cap.
The closest thing to an awkward moment came when Woods flared his opening tee shot far to the right, leaving in the trees between the first and third fairways. Woods made par from there.
Walking from the first green to the second tee, Woods stopped and gave a signed golf ball to a six-year old boy from Gastonia, posing for a photo with the youngster.
Woods was paired with Kurt Kimball and Jim Rathburn and they played quickly, moving around Quail Hollow with no players in front of them on the first nine holes.
It was a ragged start for Woods, who will be making his second start in almost six months when the Quail Hollow championship begins Thursday.
Woods put his tee shot in the par-3 second hole in a greenside bunker left of the putting surface and flared another drive into the right trees at the third hole before finding his rhythm.
Its true Phil Mickelson came in first place @ the 2010 Augusta Masters 16-under par.
Mickelson is an awfully good player but he's not a Great Golfer like Tiger Woods.
Tiger tried to focus on his game but ghosts from his past repeatedly taunted him, thus he handed the championship over to Mickelson on a silver platter.
I pray Tiger will seek God for future guidance and that he bounces back in full force next year.
Phil Mickelson kept yanking balls into the trees, and even had an unexpected brush with nature right on the green.
Still, he had what it took to win his third Masters championship on Sunday.
Already a fan favorite and sentimental pick with his wife and mother battling breast cancer, Mickelson rolled in a 15-foot birdie putt at the signature 12th hole. He then managed a stunning shot off the pine straw and around a tree to set up another birdie at the next hole.
Lefty wrapped it up with yet another birdie at the 18th, then headed to the side of the green to hug wife Amy.
Mickelson finished at 16-under par and three shots ahead of 54-hole leader Lee Westwood and four shots in front of hard-charging Anthony Kim, who finished with a 7-under 65 that sent him to the clubhouse clinging to hope Mickelson would falter.
The other contenders faded away, most notably Tiger Woods, who struggled all day with a shaky swing off the tee and never made a serious push for the lead.
His big highlight was holing out from the seventh fairway for an eagle, and he had another eagle at the 15th, but an inexplicable three-putt bogey from about 6 feet at the 14th doomed his chances. He finished with a final-round 3-under 69 to stand at 11 under.
Woods wasn’t the only one to feel Augusta’s bite. Fifty-year-old Fred Couples dumped a shot in the water at the 12th, leading a double-bogey that stifled his bid to become golf’s oldest major champion. K.J. Choi looked steadier than anyone until two straight bogeys knocked him from a share of the lead. Choi tied Woods at 11 under.
After all the consternation over competition -- or the lack thereof -- Tiger Woods is back where he seemingly always is -- in contention.
The long layoff, the sordid stories, the paltry practice ... none of it seems to matter to the No. 1-ranked player in the world.
Woods followed up his surprising opening-round 68 with a solid 2-under-par 70 at Augusta National on Friday to stay in touch with the leaders heading into the weekend at the Masters.
"It feels good. It feels really good," said Woods, who is playing his first tournament since a self-imposed leave from the game due to his acknowledged marital infidelity.
"It feels good to be back and in contention. I usually put myself in contention most of the time most years here, and this year I'm right there.''
Woods, who has won the Masters four times and also has two runner-up finishes, will enter the third round chasing a couple of Englishmen, Lee Westwood and Ian Poulter.
Westwood picked up 4 shots in his first seven holes -- and added birdies on two of three holes in Amen Corner -- to move to the top of the leaderboard. However, a double-bogey 6 at the par-4 14th slowed his momentum. He rebounded with a birdie at the par-5 15th to move back to 9 under, but a wayward drive at the 18th led to a bogey and a share of the lead at 8 under.
Poulter birdied both par-5s on the front side (No. 2 and No. 8) and then added birdies at the 12th, 13th and 16th holes before dropping a shot at the 18th to shoot his second straight 68.
Westwood, 36, has missed major playoffs in each of the last two years -- at the 2008 U.S. Open won by Woods and at the 2009 British Open won by Stewart Cink. He is ranked fourth in the world.
Poulter, 34, who was runner-up at the British Open two years ago, won the WGC-Accenture Match Play in February and is ranked seventh in the world.
Woods was solid, if not spectacular, making three birdies and a single bogey.
He putted a little better Friday, needing just 28 putts compared with 31 during the first round and hitting 12 of 18 greens and 11 of 14 fairways.
For a guy who has not played in a tournament since winning the Australian Masters on Nov. 15, it has been pretty solid stuff through 36 holes.
"I felt that I could put myself in contention," said Woods, a winner of 71 PGA Tour events, including 14 major titles. "My practice has been really consistent and progressing with [coach] Hank [Haney]. I didn't have the luxury of playing tournaments coming in here. So I had to be more focused on my practice sessions coming into it and then take more out of them than most people would."
Woods did not begin serious preparations until about five weeks ago, and decided to forgo tournaments such as the CA Championship at Doral and the Arnold Palmer Invitational because he felt he was not ready.
Instead, Woods worked at home, and took separate two-day trips to Augusta National, getting in four practice rounds here before returning on Sunday.
Although the course conditions were not the same, it still gave him the opportunity to play here more than he would have sticking to his normal schedule.
Woods finished tied for third with Phil Mickelson, Anthony Kim, K.J. Choi and Ricky Barnes.
"We've got 36 more holes and I'm sure the golf course ... they are not going to make it easy for us," Woods said. "They made it easy on the first day for us and today was certainly much more difficult."
For the first time in 16 appearances at the Masters, Tiger Woods opened the tournament by breaking 70, shooting a 4-under 68 to trail 50-year-old Fred Couples by 2 shots.
It was Woods' first round of tournament golf in 144 days after a highly publicized sex scandal that caused him to take a leave from the game.
That absence caused many to wonder just how well he could perform at one of the most exacting courses in the world, Augusta National.
But Woods shot his tournament lows for the first round both on the front nine and overall, had two eagles in a round for the first time, and even pulled off a remarkable ninth-hole hook shot around trees to set up a birdie.
"Very pleased," Woods said of his first official round of golf since winning the Australian Masters on Nov. 15. "I hit the ball well all day. … For the most part, I think I hit the ball well all day. And I just didn't make a lot of putts. If I putted well today, it could have been a really special round."
Woods needed 31 putts and had several lip-outs, keeping his round from being even better. He hit 14 greens in regulation and missed just five fairways.
"To be surprised by a guy who won a U.S. Open on one leg … you kind of stop being a little bit surprised," said Matt Kuchar, who played in Woods' group, referencing the No. 1 player in the world's 2008 U.S. Open victory at Torrey Pines.
After admitting he was nervous about the reaction he would receive from spectators when he played his first practice round Monday, Woods received a warm, although not boisterous, ovation as he approached the first tee.
"The people were just incredible, incredible all day," he said.
Although there were no negative incidents on the course, there were two planes that flew overhead pulling banners that referenced Woods' off-the-course transgressions.
Woods said he did not notice them, but, when pressed, said he was not surprised.
"It wouldn't be the first time," Woods said.
Woods began the round by launching a drive into the middle of the fairway and making par. His first birdie came at the third hole, his first bogey at the seventh.
Then things got interesting. Woods made just his second eagle ever at the par-5 eighth -- the last came in the fourth round last year -- and hit an amazing hook around the trees to set up a birdie at the ninth.
The 33 was his lowest front-nine score in the first round in his Masters career, which is in its 16th year.
Woods bogeyed the 10th, then missed a good opportunity for a birdie at the 12th and barely missed an eagle putt at the 13th. A poor approach to the 14th led to a bogey, but Woods hit two perfect shots at the par-5 15th, setting up another eagle putt, a 10-footer that he drained to get to 4 under.
"I expected to go out there and shoot something under par today," Woods said. "After looking at the scores, guys were just tearing this place apart."
No doubt, Augusta National yielded plenty of low numbers on opening day. There were 31 players under par, 16 of them in the 60s.
Woods finished in a tie for seventh, trailing Couples by 2 strokes, and 1 shot behind 60-year-old Tom Watson, Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi. He is tied with Anthony Kim, Nick Watney, Ian Poulter and Ricky Barnes.
Asked whether he was surprised to see Woods' name on the leaderboard, British Open champion Stewart Cink chuckled.
"Boy have we gone a long way now," he said. "No, I'm not surprised."
"No surprise at all," Steve Stricker said. "I figured he would come out and play well, and he'll be around come Sunday afternoon, I'm sure."
Tiger Woods - who brought along his mom when he apologized to the nation for his tomcatting ways - Wednesday night turned to his dead dad to polish his image.
On the eve of his return to competitive golf, Woods starred in an eerie new Nike ad invoking the haunting voice of his father.
The 30-second spot began airing last night on ESPN and the Golf Channel and is expected to be repeated Thursday as the girl-crazy golfer tees up for his first round at the Masters.
In the stark, black-and-white commercial, a camera zooms in on Woods' solemn face as he stands on a golf course wearing the famous Nike swoosh on his hat and dark pullover sweater vest.
Woods doesn't say a word in the ad, but in a voice-over his father, Earl, who died of prostate cancer in 2006, asks his troubled son, "Did you learn anything?"
While the ad does not specifically address Tiger's serial infidelity, it harkens to his marital woes in the tone of his father's deep husky voice from the grave.
"Tiger, I am more prone to be inquisitive, to promote discussion," Earl Woods says. "I wanna find out what your thinking was. I wanna find out what your feelings are, and, did you learn anything."
Nike officials said the ad will only run until 4 p.m. Wednesday.
"We support Tiger and his family. As he returns to competitive golf, the ad addresses his time away from the game using the powerful words of his father," Nike officials said in a statement.
It was not clear when the recording of Earl Woods was made or in what context.
The ad marks Woods' first return to the airwaves as a pitchman, albeit one missing the charismatic smile that once earned him multimillions from sponsors.
But it wasn't the first time he relied on his folks to help make him look more sympathetic.
His mom, Kutilda Woods, sat stoically in the audience and gave her son a big hug when he gave a teary mea culpa in February for cheating on his wife, Elin Nordegren.
The Nike commercial aired on a day Woods received an unprecedented verbal spanking from the boss of the Masters tourney for his "egregious" conduct.
Masters Chairman Billy Payne blasted Woods' behavior, even as a new tabloid report added a nubile neighbor to the golf great's parade of porn stars and party girls.
"It's not simply the degree of his conduct that is so egregious here," Payne said in his annual pre-Masters talk in Augusta. "Our hero did not live up to the expectations as a role model that we sought for our children."
Payne said Woods' golf game makes him "worthy" of being mentioned in the same breath as Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer.
"But as he now says himself, he forgot in the process to remember that with fame and fortune comes responsibility, not invisibility," he said.
It was a stunning rebuke for Woods, who had been treated with kid gloves by Masters officials bent on getting golf's biggest moneymaker back on the links.
Woods took his medicine from Payne without a murmur.
Nor did Team Tiger respond to a National Enquirer report that Woods had a two-hour romp with 22-year-old neighbor Raychel Coudriet last May on a couch in his office - near a crib for one of the golfer's kids.
"I felt used and violated, like I meant nothing to him but a night of casual sex," Coudriet told her friend afterward, the tab says. "I just wanted to dig a big hole, crawl in and die."
Despite winning numerous times over the past several years, including major championships, Tiger Woods admitted Monday that golf was not fun because of all the turmoil in his personal life.
That's why, Woods said, he is looking forward to the start of the Masters on Thursday, his first tournament since a sordid sex scandal put his career on hold.
"Look at what I was engaged in," Woods said to a packed interview room at Augusta National Golf Club, where Woods held his first news conference in more than five months. "When you're living a life that is a lie, life isn't fun ... that's been stripped away. It feels fun again."
Woods' highly anticipated news conference before more than 200 reporters lasted 34 minutes and included all range of questions, including why he chose to receive treatment from a Canadian doctor who has been linked to performance enhancing drugs with other athletes.
For the first time, Woods disclosed that in addition to recovering from reconstructive knee surgery in late 2008, he also tore his Achilles tendon in his right foot late that year.
Woods admitted to undergoing a procedure known as platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which helps speed the healing process. He said he chose Dr. Anthony Galea -- who is under federal investigation in a drugs case -- because of his work with other athletes. Galea came to Woods' house to perform the procedure.
The platelet rich plasma treatment Woods cited was introduced in the 1970s for surgical uses in hospitals. It didn't enter sports medicine until a decade ago. In the 30-minute procedure, a tube of a patient's blood is put in a centrifuge and spun, producing concentrated platelets. The platelets contain growth factors that accelerate tissue repair and regeneration. The platelets then are injected into the injury site.
PRP is gaining popularity among injured "weekend warriors" and their insurers because its $2,000 cost is a fraction of that for potential surgeries.
The procedure is legal under the PGA Tour's drug testing policy.
Woods also denied that Galea gave him human growth hormone.
"I've never taken any illegal drug in my life," Woods said.
Woods said that his agent, Mark Steinberg, has been contacted by federal investigators about Galea, who has been charged with dispensing illegal drugs in both Canada and the United States. Woods vowed his full cooperation.
"They contacted my agent and will get full cooperation whenever they need me, but right now they haven't asked for my time," he said.
Asked why he did not address the issue earlier -- The New York Times first reported Galea's link to Woods in December -- the golfer said it was because he had not had the forum to discuss it, and wasn't asked in the two televised interviews last month.
Woods' world -- and that of golf -- has changed greatly since his Nov. 27 SUV accident just outside of his Florida driveway.
That mysterious run-in with a fire hydrant and a tree began a stream of negative publicity that continued with numerous reports of marital affairs, his leave from the game, a stint in undisclosed rehab, and a gradual return to the public glare.
Woods said that that he had five stitches in his mouth after the infamous Thanksgiving night car crash.
Woods also said he made "some incredibly bad decisions" and "hurt so many people." He again said that he takes all the blame for allowing his life to fall apart and refused to say why he spent 45 days in rehabilitation. He said he intends to continue with his treatment.
While his wife, Elin, won't be joining him at Augusta, Woods still believes he can win his fifth green jacket after a five-month layoff.
"Nothing's changed," Woods said. "Going to go out there and try to win this thing."
Woods made his first public comments on Feb. 19 at PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., apologizing to his family, friends and business associates and promising to "make amends, and that starts by never repeating the mistakes I've made. It's up to me to start living a life of integrity."
Just less than a month later, on March 16, Woods announced that he would be returning to golf at the Masters. On March 21, he gave his first interviews, five-minutes each to ESPN and Golf Channel. Monday was the first time he took questions in an extended format.
Typically, Woods would have fielded queries in a pre-tournament setting which topics such as why he has not won the Masters in five years or why he has claimed just one green jacket in his past seven attempts.
But after a break from golf of nearly five months, the answers to those questions were left for another day.
Among the subjects he addressed among the 48 questions asked:
• On why he didn't speak to the police, sponsors or the media in the five weeks following the accident and before he entered rehab: "I did everything to the letter of the law. The lawyers gave me advice and I followed that advice. I did everything to the letter of the law."
• On showing more respect to the game, as he vowed to do in February: "I made a conscious decision to try and tone down my negative outbursts and consequently my positives outbursts will be calmed down as well."
• On winning golf tournaments while living a secret life and how he will be able to move forward: "I think how I was earlier in my career. I was at peace, and I've had some great years. Unfortunately what I've done over the past years has been just terrible to my family. And the fact I won golf tournaments I think is irrelevant."
• On whether he has taken prescription drugs Ambien and Vicoden: "I've taken them, yes. I've had some pretty interesting knee situations over the years. I've had four operations now on my left knee. Then last year with my torn Achilles, it hurt quite a bit at times ... That's when I was taking some of those things to help me sleep."
• On rehab: "I was in there for 45 days and it was to take a hard look at myself, and I did, and I've come out better. I'm certainly a much better person for it than I was going in. Does that mean I'm ever going to stop doing that? No, I've got to still continue with my treatment. And that's not going to stop in the near future for sure." Asked what the treatment was for, Woods said: "That's personal."
• On how he fooled so many people for so long: "I fooled myself as well. I lied to a lot of people, deceived a lot of people, kept others in the dark," he said. "Rationalized and even lied to myself. And when you strip that all away ... the full magnitude of it, it's pretty brutal. I take full responsibility for what I've done, and I don't take that lightly."
Masters officials made it clear that it was their idea for the interview to take place on Monday, not as a concession to Woods, who would have normally met the media on Tuesday. But to do so then would have rendered every other interview meaningless, while making it impossible to get the focus on the tournament.
"A lot has happened in my life in the past five months," Woods said. "I'm here at the Masters to play and compete and I'm really excited about doing that."
Earlier Woods played a practice round with former Masters champion Fred Couples. They were joined by Jim Furyk on the 13th and played the rest of the way together.
Although the crowd was cordial, it was not overly enthusiastic.
Woods made an attempt to interact with spectators -- not typical for him -- and even engaged in the tradition of trying to skip a shot over the pond at Augusta's par-3 16th. Nobody ever remembers Woods doing that.
Woods said he'll play another practice round Tuesday with Steve Stricker and Mark O'Meara.
"I was more nervous [out there],'' Woods said. "That first tee, I didn't know what to expect. To be out there in front of the people where I have done some things that are just horrible. For the fans to really want to see me play golf again, that felt great. ... Today was a little bit different. I kind of took it in a little bit more and it felt really good.''
Woods also promised to tone down his outbursts after good and bad shots alike, saying he had a responsibility to children as a role model to set a better example on the course.
"A lot has happened in my life in the past five months," Woods said. "I'm here at the Masters to play and compete and I'm really excited about doing that."
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