AUGUSTA, Ga. — Sixteen holes into the best opening Masters round of his career, Tiger Woods hit his worst shot of the day. With 75 yards to the pin—“a perfect number,” he said later—on the 570-yard, par-5 8th hole, he grabbed a 60-degree wedge. He was a good pitch away from a short birdie putt to drop his score to five under par.
Instead he hit it short of the green’s back ledge and wound up 38 feet shy of the hole. He expelled a string of expletives. He appeared to think better of throwing, and then of breaking, his club.