Sweet 16
Tiger's miraculous chip en route to 2005 victory was drop-dead gorgeous
"Got a break on 16. Didn’t go in the bunker, didn’t go in the rough, and somehow an earthquake happened and it fell in the hole." -- Tiger Woods
AUGUSTA, Ga. — No, it wasn’t an earthquake that made the ground shake at Augusta National Golf Club late on a sultry April Sunday last year.
It wasn’t an earthquake that sent a small, white golf ball quivering, then diving into a 4-inch hole.
It wasn’t an earthquake that caused grown people to jump and do belly-bumps.
It wasn’t an earthquake that rekindled memories of legends long gone.
What it was, in Tiger Woods’s view, was luck.
What it was, in the view of everyone else, was magical.
It was a moment instantly frozen in Masters folklore, a shot rivaled by others in impact, but few others in theater. When Woods chipped in for a birdie at the par-3 16th in last year’s final round of the Masters, he not only changed the complexion of the tournament, he did what he always seems to do: He reshaped our perception of reality. With him, the impossible is possible, the improbable probable.
"You’ve just got to not watch what he does," said Chris DiMarco, the fateful victim to Woods’s magic last year, "because he’s going to hit shots that you just don’t have."
DiMarco is right, of course. Woods hits shots that no one else can.
But DiMarco is so dreadfully wrong. We have got to watch. Over and over and over and over. For those who watched and admired it, the shot was that special and that momentous. But for those who were somewhat involved, it was even more so. This is where they were, what they saw, what they felt.
Woods was 13 under par and in the lead. But DiMarco was just a shot back and riding a surge of energy.
"Even though we had both made birdie [at the par-5 15th], the momentum was in my favor," said DiMarco. "I kept the honors, I was already on two birdies in a row."
With the pin in its traditional Sunday spot -- back left, but on the bottom shelf -- DiMarco hit a shot that kept his emotions high. "Exactly where you’re supposed to hit and if my ball is maybe a yard to two further, it's probably within 3 feet of the hole," he said.
Instead, his ball came to rest 15 feet below the hole. Not perfect, but DiMarco had done his job.
''Now," said DiMarco, ''it was on him."
''I hit it so bad," said Woods of the 8-iron that he pulled long and left. He cringed.
So did caddie Steve Williams, who watched anxiously.
''There was a possibility it could have been wet," said Williams, ''but when the ball landed on the ground I said, 'OK, we've taken [double bogey] 5 out of play."
Having delivered the uncharacteristically bad shot, Woods had brought a tie into the equation. Heck, there was even the possibility of a two-shot swing -- DiMarco birdie, Woods bogey -- that would have put him a shot behind. In either case, it was a dream come true for the folks at CBS. They had themselves a tight Masters with Woods in the hunt and in the production truck, director Steve Milton and producer Lance Barrow had rows and rows of monitors, but their job was made easier by the fact the only story they needed to focus on was Woods and DiMarco. Luke Donald, in third place, was seven shots back.
''By then, our coverage was strictly 16, 17, and 18," said Milton. ''We had 25 cameras, five on the 16th hole. We had a lot of angles."
One of those cameramen was Bob Wishnie, a 30-year veteran of television, the previous 24 with CBS. He's been assigned the Masters since 1985, stationed at the 16th since 1989, and he was on the ready as the players made that long walk around the pond toward the green. Colleague Verne Lundquist, a fixture as a Masters voice for CBS, was prepared, too, a job he had tuned up for during the practice rounds.
''Wednesday afternoon, Bob and I were in the tower behind the 16th, just the two of us, and he showed me a new camera he had," said Lundquist. ''He said, 'Look at my new toy,' and he zoomed in on a coin at the front of the green that a player had used as a marker. You could read 'In God We Trust.' It was a nickel."
''A high-definition lens from Canon, 100 to 1," said Wishnie. ''I could tell you heads or tails, even what year the coin was."
Technology. It's a mind-blowing thing sometimes.
''You just had to wonder when you'd get a chance to use it," said Wishnie.
Minutes after Woods's shot had come to rest behind the 16th green, Wishnie would have his chance, and he and his colleagues would handle it flawlessly. Yes, it was Woods at his best. So, too, was it TV at its best.
Woods had anticipated the worst, that his ball would be on the apron, but right up against a cut of rough. ''I knew that it was going to be virtually one of the most difficult shots you could possibly have on the whole golf course," he said. When he realized he was wrong, that the ball had settled and was not up against a cut of rough, he said a silent prayer of thanks.
Still, ''he's got a really tough lie," said DiMarco, and Kel Devlin figured as much. As director of sports marketing for
''I ran into Rock Ishii [Nike's director of product development], who was watching Tiger," said Devlin. ''I said, 'Oh, man,' [Tiger] is going to have to work his butt off to make three.' Rock looked at me and said, 'He's going to make this shot.' I looked at him and said, 'Rock, you're smoking something.' "
Wishnie braced himself, but he didn't know for what, only that he was sure that everyone involved at CBS would react accordingly.
''We've been doing this for so long and I'd been watching that hole all week," he said. ''Basically, they gave me the freedom to stick with the shot."
''Truthfully," said Milton, ''it was kind of a director's dream. When the tournament is on one hole, you can concentrate and do a good job."
Over the air, Lanny Wadkins analyzed the situation.
''There's a good chance he doesn't get this inside of DiMarco's ball," said Wadkins, and Lundquist nodded his head. ''Lanny was absolutely right," said Lundquist, who has been working the Masters for CBS since 1983, save for 1997-98 when he moved over to Turner Sports. He was there when Jack Nicklaus made his memorable putts at Nos. 13 and 17 in 1986 and for years he worked Amen Corner, that mystical piece of Augusta real estate. But nothing could have prepared him for his next act.
''You do not lie in bed wondering what you'll say if Tiger hits a shot that breaks 90 degrees," said Lundquist.
In the truck, Milton and company moved to the edge of their seats.
''All anyone was thinking was, it would be a miraculous up-and-down," he said. ''I don't know what [Woods] was thinking."
He was not thinking about a miracle.
''My whole game plan on that shot was to get the ball inside of Chris's," said Woods. ''If he made his putt for birdie, I could make my putt for par. He would have momentum going into 17, but so will I after making a great up-and-down."
On a straight line, there was perhaps 25 feet between Woods's ball and the pin, only this was not a shot that called for anything resembling straight. Woods needed to play it well left, but only to the top of the slope, at which time it would bend left-to-right. The margin of error was slimmer than Charles Howell's waistline. Too hard, and Woods's shot would trickle down into the bottom of the bowl, leaving him a difficult two-putt for bogey. Too easy, and it would stay on the hill, from where a two-putt was near impossible.
''The creativity that went into it, the imagination, I still find stunning," said Lundquist.
His long stare having been completed, Woods moved back to the ball, sand wedge in his left hand. Hundreds of patrons ringed the green, hundreds more sat in the stands, and tens of millions of eyes followed on TV. Yet, Woods was alone with his thoughts. ''Just be in a position that I can answer Chris's birdie, if he made birdie," he said to himself, then he settled in over the ball, waggled the club, got his feet set, took a look, waggled the club some more, took just one practice swing, and stood still.
When he made contact, Williams felt a rush of adrenaline.
''He played the ideal shot," said Williams. ''It was perfect. In my mind, I had a spot picked out. When it landed, I knew it was going to be a good shot."
So did Wishnie, who got behind his camera with the 100 x 1 lens and followed the ball on its slow, meticulous roll down a slope toward the hole. In the production truck, Milton and Barrow couldn't believe what they were seeing, Wishnie's shot brilliant, and with each second the drama built.
Woods took a couple of quick steps up the slope and took a deep breath. ''All of a sudden, it looked pretty good, and all of a sudden it looked like really good," he said, and Williams, the bag still draped over his shoulder, quick-stepped to get to his player's side, then he froze. ''I got to the top of the hill, stopped, and I expected it to run farther to our right, which would be under the hole," said the caddie. ''But it rolled straighter than I thought. I think the golfing gods may have been there."
All the while, Wishnie continued his great work. Yes, he was caught up in the emotion, but everything remained so still and he said a silent thanks to ''an anti-stabilization device" on the camera.
By now, the ball had gotten to the hole. It was going to go in, so Williams pumped his right arm. Then he gasped. So, too, did Woods, who fell to his knees because the ball was going to stay on the lip.
''I can't believe it's going to be short," Williams thought to himself and for what seemed to be an eternity, the ball hung on the edge. Wishnie's shot was so tight, that the famous Nike swoosh was a vivid image for one second, two seconds . . . then it was gone. The ball had dropped.
''Once the shot went in, [the truck] erupted," said Milton. ''People were screaming. No one could believe he made it. But the way it went in . . . just spectacular. It's what created the moment. Bob followed the shot in, everyone did their job, starting with Tiger. Let's face it, the stars were aligned."
A spectacular golf shot made even better by spectacular television camera work and enhanced by a broadcasting job by Lundquist that should be forever taught in TV Sports Announcing 101. Letting Wishnie's tight camera work speak volumes, Lundquist remained silent. ''Then, drawing on 40 years of broadcast experience, I said, 'Oh, wow,' " he said, with a laugh.
Truth be told, Lundquist followed Wishnie's great work with some of his own. He let the viewers soak in what they had just seen, then he said, ''In your life, have you ever seen anything like that?" and in the TV truck the work of the late Norm Patterson, a technical assistant director, Milton, and Barrow remained focused on the shot and all the reactions.
''It was so surreal, like watching something in slow motion," said Wishnie, who had never experienced noise quite like what erupted as Woods's ball dropped. ''For 30 seconds, you couldn't hear a thing."
Lundquist will tell you that ''I had punched my arm in the air," and the tower shook, but just a little, not enough for anyone to notice.
No one at CBS, no one in the crowd, no one in the TV audience could have blamed him.
The putt, of course, did not go in, thus Woods's dramatic birdie had given him a two-shot lead.
''I said, 'Great shot,' " said DiMarco. ''He said, 'Thanks.' "
What followed is the greater part of the 2005 Masters story -- a bogey-bogey finish by Woods, a par-par finish by DiMarco, and a one-hole playoff. It ended with Woods making a 15-foot putt for birdie at the par-4 18th to win his fourth green jacket and no one will ever try to tell you that it was won with that chip-in at the 16th.
''It was luck," said Woods.
No, it was magic. For Woods, for CBS, and yes, for Nike.
''The only thing I ever tell Tiger is, 'You could have centered the swoosh better,' " said Devlin.
''It was free advertising, really," said Woods. ''Something you just can't quantify."
That evening, Wishnie couldn't stop thinking about the good fortune that had come his way. He and his colleagues knew they had come through and reacted with precision and the images will be with them forever. They have all watched it time and time again and one shot sticks out in their mind -- a large man with a big belly takes his cap off, throws it into the crowd, then turns and does a belly-bump with a large man next to him.
By the next morning, Woods was back at his Florida home with another green jacket and the 69th Masters had been entered into the archives. There were golfers out on Augusta National as Wishnie returned to his beloved 16th tower and began to disassemble his camera and all his gear.
''I'm watching people make that shot and I'm laughing," said Wishnie, with a laugh. ''I should have told them how it would break."
