The new tiger is human

By Skip Bayless

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You imagined Augusta National's golf gods convening in the shadows beneath the heaven-touching pines at Amen Corner.

You could hear Bobby Jones clearing his throat and Georgia-drawling, "Gentlemen, I think the young man has suffered enough. Let's give him a break."

You could hear Ben Hogan sighing and saying, "No, Bobby, I don't trust that new swing of his. Make him earn it."

And you could hear Clifford Roberts, who ran The Masters for years, breaking the tie with, "I appreciate what you're saying, Ben, but I'm with Mr. Jones."

And so it was that the New Tiger finally won his ninth major after a 10-major drought. This Tiger needed some heavenly help. This Tiger was almost too busy beating himself to beat a guy who could barely hit it out of Tiger's shadow.

During Tiger's three-year reign around the turn of this century, he would have snacked on Chris DiMarco in Tiger's lair – Augusta National. This is the tournament Tiger was born to dominate. This was where he announced his arrival with the first of his four Masters victories, by 12 shots in 1997.

Let's see . . . Same size as before? And before that? And before that?

The Old Tiger was the greatest front-runner this game has ever known. Give him a two-shot lead and suddenly it was 10 or 12. But the New Tiger battles inner doubts the way DiMarco battled him all day long. The New Tiger isn't sure about his new swing, remade by Hank Haney. Sometimes, it looks more like it was sold to him by Mr. Haney, the junk salesman from "Green Acres."

Sometimes Sunday, Tiger looked as if he were playing "Green Acres" instead of pursuing his fourth green jacket. Was Tiger ever lucky. Then again, was Tiger ever good when he absolutely had to be.

He won with his "C" game, even bogeying 17 and 18. He won not as robo-golfer, but as just another very good player who kept himself together and pulled it out. He won a playoff on No. 18 with his best drive, best iron and best putt of the day.

Give this man an A-plus for making gutty putts and one Very Big Chip.

Tiger's chip-in from the back of the 16th green will go down in Masters lore with Larry Mize's 11th hole playoff chip-in that brought Greg Norman to his knees. In 16th-hole lore, Tiger's chip might have been even more electrifying than the putter-raising bomb Jack Nicklaus dropped into the cup in 1975. This one was so stunning because it was so unexpected.

DiMarco had a 15-foot birdie putt and the momentum. Tiger, leading by one, stood over a ball wedged against the collar of the deep grass behind the green. How could he get the club through the grass and cleanly against the ball, while trying to play about 30 feet of break? The ball looked as if it came out too hot, but it bit hard, died, caught the break and picked up steam down the slope, finding the perfect right-to-left line.

But on its final revolution, Tiger's ball went New Tiger. It did not believe. It came to a complete halt on the lip of the cup.

That surely was when the ghost of Bobby Jones heaved just enough of a sigh that an imperceptible gust blew the ball over the edge.

One moment worth $20 million a year

Updated: April 12, 2005, 3:55 PM ET

By Darren Rovell | ESPN.com

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In the time it took the swoosh to disappear over the lip of the cup on the 16th green, Chris Mike had already picked up the phone to discuss strategy with Nike's advertising specialists about how to capitalize on the defining moment of Tiger Woods' fourth Masters title.

Nike pays Woods $20 million as its top endorser, but it's Mike's job to seize on moments like Woods' amazing chip shot on Sunday.

"When I saw the shot roll in, I knew that what we would be doing for the next quarter or two would revolve around this," said Mike, director of marketing for Nike golf.

But while executives at Wieden + Kennedy, the agency that handles Nike's advertising, strategize how best to market the moment, a spokesman with Augusta National, host of The Masters, said officials of neither the agency nor Nike have begun negotiating with the club for rights to use footage from the tournament. Augusta National – not CBS Sports, which televised the event – maintains the rights to all Masters footage.

"We don't think it needs to be out there right now," Mike said. "With the media covering this story, we have some time."

Though Nike could turn around a spot within the week, it has already realized between $750,000 and $1 million in equivalent advertising time, according to Raymond Howland, golf editor of Joyce Julius & Associates, a sponsorship evaluation firm.

Howland said that in the live shot and the five subsequent replays during CBS' broadcast, the swoosh on the ball was shown for a total of 20 seconds. Howland said the strong television ratings – overnight Nielsen ratings for the final round were up 41 percent over last year – combined with additional replays on CBS and other sports networks more than quadrupled the value.

"This moment was so natural, it was almost unbelievable," said Joseph Jaffe, a marketing consultant and author of "Life After The 30-Second Spot." "The ball stopped as if it were in 'Caddyshack.' And as it slowed, everyone could see the swoosh on the ball."

Nike, the shoe and apparel maker, owns about 9 percent of the golf ball market and 4 percent of the club market, according to Golf Datatech. But capitalizing on the moment could give Nike golf products a boost. The timing couldn't be better. The ball Woods played during The Masters, the One Platinum, hits stores in May.

"Every time Tiger does something great, he can affect sales," Mike said. "When he hit a 300-yard drive with a 3-wood at Doral, our phone lines were flooded, so I suspect we could see an uptick now."

Darren Rovell, who covers sports business for ESPN.com, can be reached at Darren.rovell@espn3.com

Wie to play Deere Classic on exemption

Updated: April 13, 2005, 1:05 AM ET

Associated Press

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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Michelle Wie accepted a sponsor's exemption Monday to play in the John Deere Classic, the second time this year the 15-year-old from Hawaii will take her promising game to the PGA Tour.

Wie played the Sony Open in Honolulu the second week of the year and had rounds of 75-74 in blustery conditions to miss the cut by seven shots. A year ago, she shot 68 in the second round of the Sony Open -- the lowest score ever by a female competing against men -- to miss the cut by one shot.

That got the attention of the John Deere Classic, which tried to lure the teenager last year.

This time, Wie accepted.

"Everyone we've told is excited, and I think the community will react the same way," tournament director Clair Peterson said. "We expect there would be spectators here who might not come out otherwise. She may be one of those players that has interest across all kinds of different demographic lines."

The John Deere Classic, played on the TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., will be held July 7-10.

Wie, a sophomore at Punahou School in Honolulu, played her first professional tournament at age 12 when she qualified for the Takefugi Classic on the LPGA Tour. She became the youngest winner of a USGA championship for adults two years ago by winning the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links.

Her focus has been on the professional tours since then. She already has played 20 times on the LPGA Tour, including a runner-up finish in Hawaii. Wie would be 10th on the LPGA Tour money list in three tournaments if she took prize money.

Playing in the John Deere Classic, a 7,193-yard course that plays to a par 71, will be part of a busy summer schedule for Wie. She has exemptions or has qualified for all four women's majors this year, and she plans to try qualifying for the U.S. Open in May and the U.S. Amateur Public Links in June.

"People always ask why I do what I do, and why not just follow the conventional path," Wie said in a recent e-mail. "I always wanted to push myself to the limit."

The John Deere Classic, once one of the weaker tournaments on the PGA Tour, has improved in recent years by moving to the TPC at Deere Run and offering a spot in the British Open to the winner.

Mark Hensby of Australia is the defending champion. The field last year included Vijay Singh, who won in 2003, Masters runner-up Chris DiMarco, Nick Price and Zach Johnson.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press

DiMarco has lost in major playoffs before

Updated: April 12, 2005, 6:39 PM ET

Associated Press

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Chris DiMarco had a satellite truck parked outside his house and a long list of television and radio interviews to do, the kind of treatment usually afforded a Masters champion.

DiMarco was only the runner-up.

The guy with the green jacket -- Tiger Woods -- was on the other side of town in Orlando, Fla., meeting VIPs from Accenture, one of his sponsors, for a Monday outing planned long before he won his fourth Masters.

Rarely does second place draw so much attention.

"I went out and shot 68 around here on Sunday, which is a very good round. And 12-under is usually good enough to win," DiMarco said after his playoff loss. "I just was playing against Tiger Woods."

That's what made this runner-up finish so compelling. That's why the loudest cheers were for DiMarco along the back nine at Augusta National and even during the closing ceremony, when Woods paid tribute to "one heck of a competitor out there."

It was almost an afterthought during the final round that DiMarco had been here before -- not just in the final group at the Masters but in a playoff at a major. Seven months ago at Whistling Straits, he missed an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole of the PGA Championship and then lost in a three-way playoff to Vijay Singh.

But that was different.

Justin Leonard should have won the PGA except for a balky putter. DiMarco slipped into contention with a 1-under 71, the only player among the final 11 groups who broke par on a vicious course. The memory of DiMarco from Whistling Straits is that he had a birdie putt on the 18th hole and left it short.

He was the model of grit and determination at the Masters.

DiMarco shot 41 on the back nine Sunday morning to finish his third round, turning a four-shot lead into a three-shot deficit to a player who had never lost the lead in the final round of a major.

No one gave him a chance.

It was a two-man race from the start, and DiMarco never backed down. Despite giving up 80 yards at times off the tee, DiMarco was inside Woods for birdie on all but five holes. He was aggressive, fearless. He tried to make birdies on his last two holes, left himself six feet for par and then made both those to force a playoff.

This was quite a change from last year at Augusta National, when he was tied for the lead with Phil Mickelson going into the last round and shot 76 to take himself out of contention quickly.

"I don't think I was ready to win," DiMarco said. "This year, I was ready to win. I really felt like I could win it. And coming out the way I did, I will be ready to win next year."

Next year?

What about the next major?

There is already some thought that DiMarco should move to the top of the list as the "best player to have never won a major," but only because his final round is still fresh.

DiMarco has only won three times in his 10 years on the PGA Tour, none against particularly strong fields. There's a reason for that.

He had at least joined some exclusive company Sunday, even if it's not the kind he wants to keep.

Not since Tom Watson at the 1978 PGA Championship and 1979 Masters has someone lost back-to-back major championships in a playoff. Craig Woods is the only other player with that distinction, having lost in 38 holes in the finals of the 1934 PGA Championship and then in a 36-hole playoff to Gene Sarazen at the 1935 Masters.

Sarazen got into the playoff with a shot that put the Masters on the map -- a 4-wood for double eagle on the 15th. Woods ultimately got into a playoff with a shot for the ages. His chip behind the 16th green made a U-turn at the top of the slope, came to a full stop at the edge of the cup and then dropped in for birdie.

DiMarco is the first player since Tom Lehman to play in the final group of a major at least two straight years without winning. Lehman was in the last group at four straight U.S. Opens and had at least a share of the lead in three of them.

Now DiMarco must be careful to avoid joining the wrong crowd.

"I think I proved to a lot of people that I can play under the heat," the runner-up said.

That wasn't DiMarco, though.

Those words came from Bob May after he matched Woods shot for shot in high drama at Valhalla in the 2000 PGA Championship, the only other major Woods won in a playoff.

Golf is loaded with players who show their mettle in a major but end their career as just another runner-up. Ed Sneed at the Masters. Mike Donald at the U.S. Open. Brain Watts at the British Open. Mike Reid at the PGA.

Even multiple close calls in a major doesn't guarantee anything, as Colin Montgomerie and Chip Beck can attest.

DiMarco has proved to be a top-rate golfer. He has played in the Tour Championship the last five years. He won a crucial singles match at the Presidents Cup and was the only American with a winning record at the Ryder Cup last fall.

"There is no back-off in him," Woods said.

There is no major championship on his resume, either, at least not yet.

DiMarco wants to be known for more than giving the No. 1 player in the world the fight of his life on the grandest stage in golf. He is universally respected today. He might be part of a trivia question tomorrow.

Only a major can change that.

Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press