Masters 2013: Tiger Woods Shoots 70, Finishes 5-Under Overall
By Josh Hill
Tiger Woods is the No. 1 golfer in the world, but he won’t be putting on a green jacket this year. Despite the hype surrounding his comeback and his return to glory, Woods finished his final round at Augusta National 5-under par and four shots behind the leader.
Woods said after the tournament that he thought he could shoot under 70 on Sunday but he bottomed out at that exact score.
But even though he failed to bring his score under 70 for the duration of the tournament, Woods was consistent the whole way through and remained in the running for the lead the whole weekend.
The bigger part of this story is that Woods appears to be back in terms of being a dominant force in golf. He’s coming off of some big wins and he finished not far off the lead at Augusta. Some credit Lindsey Vonn for this, but the fact of the matter is no matter what’s happening for Tiger, it’s working and it’s great to see.
But despite the fact that he finished 5-under, that’s still not what we expect to see from Tiger, even if he is just now regaining his footing on the Tour circuit. For being the best golfer in the world, you expect the best from him and Woods failed to kick himself into high gear until too late into the weekend. Woods birdied the 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th holes and 15th holes. Tiger had a chance to eagle the 15th hole but he double-putted and only birdied.
Much has and will continue to be made about the 2-shot penalty Woods was assessed after Friday when he dropped his ball illegally. Had Tiger won, he would have never heard the end of how people feel about the official ruling, but the fact that he didn’t win at Augusta will sort of calm the storm. However, despite the fact that Woods didn’t win and the 2-shot penalty didn’t factor into a green jacket, the debate about the USGA rule book still needs to be had.
Woods next chance to win a major is in June at the U.S. Open, and for now we’ll have to accept the fact that while everyone says Woods is ‘back’ his major drought continues and he’s still just another golfer who failed to win the green jacket this weekend.