Woods's equanimity was tested last week from his opening swing. Playing in his first tournament in three weeks, he began Wednesday's first-round matchup versus J.B. Holmes with a wild push that went miles out-of-bounds. Woods went on to lose three of the first five holes to Holmes, the big-bopping 25-year-old who has been flying high ever since taking down Phil Mickelson in a playoff in Phoenix three weeks ago. After making a mess of the 13th hole, Woods was still 3 down, but he refused to give in. Over the next four holes he went birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle, making 90 feet worth of putts and uncorking a couple of vintage fist pumps. After losing 1 up, Holmes appeared to have post-traumatic stress syndrome, mumbling, "There's not much you can do when he played five or six under in the last four or five holes. What do you do?"
Woods's comeback sent a charge through the entire tournament and was a prelude to another equally electric match, his thriller with Aaron Baddeley in Friday's third round. After losing a couple of early holes, Badds tore off seven birdies in nine holes to go 1 up with three to play. He could have closed out Woods with a curling 10-footer on the 18th hole, or with a more manageable 12-footer on the first hole of sudden death, but Baddeley missed both. You can't give Woods new life like that, and on the 20th hole he made his 12th birdie, canning a decisive 15-footer that was never anything but good. Explaining his uncanny ability to convert those types of opportunities, Woods fell back on a lifetime of making important putts. "I've been in that situation ever since my junior golf days," he said. "You take those memories and file them away." Even the occasional key putt that hasn't gone in seems to have steeled Woods. "I've missed my share," he said. "Just like [Michael Jordan] taking the last shot. He's missed his share. [But] you want to have the opportunity. That's why you practice, that's why you grind, that's why you put yourself there. You enjoy that situation."
Woods followed his epic tussle against Baddeley with a pair of routine victories over K.J. Choi and Stenson. On the other side of the draw, Cink and Leonard were on a collision course as each mowed down a series of world-class players. Leonard dispatched, in order, Geoff Ogilvy, Lee Westwood, Stuart Appleby and Vijay Singh. Cink took out three straight Ryder Cup stalwarts — Miguel Angel Jimenez, Padraig Harrington and Colin Montgomerie — and then the reigning U.S. Open champ, Angel Cabrera. Cink was particularly deadly during Saturday's 36-hole trudge, making eight birdies in the quarterfinals against Cabrera and then blitzing Leonard in the afternoon semis with a 29 on the front side to take a 4-up lead.
In match play Woods is merciless; when he's 5 up, all he's thinking about is getting to 6 up. Cink reacted to his big lead over Leonard by taking his foot off the gas. "It's embarrassing to say as a professional athlete, but I was almost waiting for something bad to happen," Cink said of his cautious back nine. Eventually he closed out Leonard 4 and 2, setting up Sunday's final.
There wasn't much doubt about the outcome after Woods birdied four of the first seven holes to go 3 up. In his first five matches Cink had relentlessly attacked the Gallery and piled up birdies, but against Woods he seemed somehow constrained. "He forces you into trying to be too perfect because you don't think he's ever going to give you anything," Cink said afterward. "It's not a good way to play golf when you think you can't afford to make mistakes. You try to be too careful, and that's how I played."
For Woods, a third Match Play victory is a nice little achievement and further confirmation that all is right with his game heading into the run-up to Augusta. There was no other deeper meaning for this battle-tested champion. For Cink, the week was full of revelations despite the "demoralizing" (his word) ending. "I have learned to trust myself more," he said. "Coming down to the end of these matches I have hit so many good shots, I have learned I can rely on myself." That's a lesson Woods learned long, long ago.
