Jay GreesonExcuse us for a moment as we look around at another player in the Jordan Spieth Invitational.
Oh, there’s no debating that Spieth, the 21-year-old Texan with the perfect rhythm and the megawatt smile, has become the darling of this Masters. He’s 14 under par after 36 holes, turning the formidable challenge and the knee-buckling pressure that is Augusta National into the Kiwanis 4-ball.
Dude is cruising, and barring an unforeseen meltdown — which can happen to those limberbacks as they hunt their initial major titles — the biggest drama of the weekend may be whether Spieth can match or catch the scoring record at the Masters.
Oh, yes, the record-setting number is only 18 under, set almost 20 years ago with a smooth grace and a perma-grin by some young go-getter named Tiger Woods.
You remember Woods, right? The guy who was fast-tracked for every record in golf before life’s hardships and his mistakes got in the way and injuries took their toll.
If you don’t remember Woods, well, that’s understandable. He has been milk-carton-worthy missing lately. His last year has been filled with more weekends missed than weekends contending. His chipping and short game went from inexplicably amazing to amazingly inexplicable.
He was the guy you recognized in the letter jacket five years after graduation at the burger joint near your high school. You remembered the glory days — as did he — but the current version was simply sad. And hard to watch.
But the ghost of Tiger Woods, the guy who had been dressing in Nike swooshes but swinging wildly and recklessly and missing more cuts than a tipsy butcher, was gone on this Friday at Augusta National.
Sure, Spieth looked the part of the next big thing, but Woods looked the part of Woods. And that’s something the 39-year-old, 14-time major champ has missed almost as much as the rest of the golf world.
Tiger talked of winning before the tournament because, quite simply, what else could he say. No one enters a tournament looking for improvement, especially not a guy who has roamed the golfing jungle more like a lion than anything else for the better part of 20 years.
Tiger said he came to win and expected to compete, and while the former may have been an athlete saying what he has to, he has delivered to the shock of most on the latter.
He carded a 3-under 69 Friday — his first round in the 60s at a major in his last 15 attempts, mind you — and had the game of the old Tiger but the smile and twinkle that we have not seen.
He laughed with patrons along the manicured Augusta fairways. He glided around these hallowed grounds with a purpose and a precision that made it feel 2005 rather than 2015.
And this time he shared the moment. Gone was the glare and the cuss words and the tantrums. Here was the poise and the focus of a man doing what he enjoys well. It looked like Tiger but certainly did not sound like Tiger.
Whether that means he’s kinder and gentler, well, that’s impossible to know and ultimately may mean his best club in his bag — that unbending will — has been softened. But on Friday, as Spieth was stealing the headlines and sprinting toward his first major win, there’s no way to call Woods’ 3-under showing anything short of a victory.
“I’m still right there. I’m 12 back (behind Spieth),” Woods told The Associated Press on Friday, again filling the quote book with what was expected even if it’s not plausible.
He then gave a glimmer of hope for the storybook finish, making some sense with the simple logic of, “but there’s not a lot of guys ahead of me. And with 36 holes here to go, anything can happen, you know. … There’s so many holes to play and so many different things can happen.”
Anything can happen.
Anything.
Like the best player in the world can drop like a stone and disappear and become a nonfactor until he becomes a factor again.
Or a 21-year-old prodigy can assault the record books to the point that the Augusta members need supersized erasers and a plan for next year’s champion’s dinner potentially to be pizza and Hot Pockets.
Anything can happen, and while no one expects Woods to climb atop the leaderboard this weekend, most expected him to miss the cut.
“Very proud of what I’ve done, to be able to dig it out the way I have,” he told the media throng at Augusta National on Friday.
“I told you guys on Tuesday, I was at a pretty low (point) in my career. But to basically change an entire pattern like that and put it together and put it in a position where I can compete in a major championship like this,” Woods added, “is something I’m very proud of.”
His hurdles have been self-imposed and unexpected. That’s life, and it can be messy and complicated.
Will he win this weekend? It’s highly unlikely.
Did he win this week? As crazy as it sounds for the man who turned golf into a me-against-the-field scenario, the answer is yes.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6343. Follow him on Twitter at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com. His “Right to the Point” column appears on A2 on Monday, Thursday and Saturday, and his sports columns are scheduled to run Tuesday and Friday. Read his online column “The 5-at-10” weekdays starting at 10 a.m. at timesfreepress.com.