ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 14, 1997 TAG: 9704150026
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: AUGUSTA, GA.
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
Tiger Woods caps an ``amazing week'' with a runaway victory Sunday in the 61st Masters.
The Masters crowned its youngest champion Sunday, a 21-year-old named named Tiger who tamed storied Augusta National in a performance that set records and made history.
Tiger Woods didn't just win the Masters, he grabbed it by its fairway and shook it down to its roots. Woods, the first minority golfer to win the Masters, is part black and part Thai, but that is only part of the story.
``It was amazing,'' he said. ``It was an amazing week for me.''
There isn't anyone arguing that fact, not after witnessing the most dominating performance in 61 years of the Masters.
Not only did he finish with a 69 and win by 12 shots, there were almost as many Woods records as azalea bushes scattered around the place.
At 21, he is the youngest Masters winner, two years younger than 1980 champion Seve Ballesteros.
His 72-hole score of 270 is the lowest ever, one shot better than those of Jack Nicklaus in 1965 and Raymond Floyd in 1976.
His 12-shot margin of victory over Tom Kite is a record.
His final 54-hole total of 66-65-69-200 is a record.
Woods even played 72 holes without a single three-putt green, even though they were eating up everybody else.
It was the kind of performance that many said heralded the emergence of the game's first megastar since Nicklaus.
Even Nicklaus said so.
``Tiger is out there playing another game,'' he said. ``He's playing a golf course he'll own for a long time. This young man will win many more.
``It's not my time anymore,'' Nicklaus said. ``It's his.''
Woods is the second golfer to win a major championship the first time he played it as a professional. The first was Jerry Pate, who won the 1976 U.S. Open.
Woods was untouchable. It became clear very early in Sunday's round that everyone else was playing for second.
Yes, it's early in the Tiger Era, but the first returns are spectacular.
Adding his $486,000 check from Sunday, Woods has won $966,350 in seven tournaments this year and $1.76 million in his career. That breaks down to an average of $117,130 per tournament and $30,292 per round.
At least one bit of Masters jargon proved false, the one that says the Masters doesn't start until the back nine Sunday. Heck, it was over on the front nine Saturday.
Woods looked as cool as the iced tea they served on the veranda of the clubhouse as he strolled out to the first tee, flanked by security guards and smiling at the fans who closed in on every side.
Woods began the day with a nine-shot lead, and nobody got any closer than eight. By the time Woods birdied the 11th hole, his lead was 10 shots and the best view that anyone had of him was the back of his red shirt.
As Woods made the turn, he remembered what his father had told him the night before.
``He said it would probably the be toughest round I would ever play, but to be myself and it would be the most rewarding round I ever played,'' Woods said.
With a nine-shot lead at the turn, Woods said his strategy was to play the three holes of Amen Corner in no worse than par. He did better than that - 2 under par.
When Woods walked up the 18th fairway, he was not alone. He was thinking about such golfers such as Lee Elder, the first African-American to play in the Masters, in 1975, and other trailblazers like Charlie Sifford and Jim Thorpe.
``I said a little prayer of thanks to those guys,'' he said.
Woods sent his first putt four feet past the hole, then gently rolled it in. The history and the records fell all around Woods as he hugged his parents and wept in the embrace of his father, Earl.
Afterward, he slipped on a green jacket, size 42-long, helped by Nick Faldo who remarked that the red shirt Woods wore clashed with the green.
LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. 1. Masters champion Tiger Woods hugsby CNBhis father and mentor, Earl, after shooting a 69 in Sunday's final
round. color. 2. Tiger Woods (right), the first African-American to
win the Masters, hugs Lee Elder, the first African-American to
compete in the tournament. Graphic: Color chart. KEYWORDS: GOLF