Woods back where he belongs

Golf/US Masters: In sport destiny has a habit of calling only its most favoured sons. Sometimes, an interloper grate-crashes the party and, on a few occasions over the past few years, Tiger Woods must have wondered if he had been forgotten.

Not since the US Open in 2002 had he claimed a major. Until yesterday, that is. Yesterday, the prodigal son returned to reclaim his own fate.

On a day of sustained sunshine, there was no Ben Curtis to emerge from the pack. Or a Shaun Micheel, a Rich Beem or a Todd Hamilton. Yesterday belonged to Woods, another magical Sunday in a magical career. As Vincent Van Gogh once described destiny, "your profession is what you were put on earth to do, with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling". For much of the day, Woods played as if it were more than that.

In the 69th edition of the US Masters, Woods turned the tournament on its head. Traditionally, we are told, the Masters is decided by what happens on the back nine of the final round. Woods, though, used the back nine of his reconvened third round to perform the transformation.

As Woods walked down the 10th fairway to replace his ball on the fairway, where he had driven it the evening before when fading light halted play, he was four strokes behind overnight leader Chris DiMarco. By the time he got to sign his card after the third round, Woods, who shot 65 for a 54-hole total of 205, had moved three shots ahead of DiMarco. That round of 65 matched Woods's career low at Augusta, and featured a record-equalling stretch of seven successive birdies.

Their respective fortunes on the 10th hole yesterday morning in the third round pretty much summed up the contrast between Woods and DiMarco. When Woods hit his drive in the gathering gloom on Saturday the ball picked up some mud. He was actually standing over the ball, preparing to strike, when the siren sounded. It allowed Woods to mark his ball and, having cleaned off the mud, hit an approach shot that set up a birdie.

Quite simply, Woods - who returned to world number one, leapfrogging Vijay Singh - had continued exactly where he had left off, as he had birdied the last three holes of the front nine before play was suspended.

In some contrast, DiMarco, who had negotiated the whims and nuances of Augusta National for 44 holes without dropping a shot to par, suffered a double-bogey six on the 10th, after hitting his approach shot into a bush. By the time he reached the recorder's tent, DiMarco had taken 41 shots to cover the back nine and slipped to three shots behind Woods.

DiMarco, who had led after each of the first two rounds and was tied with Mickelson entering the final round a year ago, was playing one group behind Woods Sunday morning. He said he wasn't unnerved by all the red numbers (indicating birdies) Woods was putting up on the scoreboards around the course.

"You expect that from him," said DiMarco. "You expect him to do those kind of things . . . all the good things that were happening the first two and a half days weren't happening and a couple of bad things did."

Woods had mainly good things happen. The birdie streak that had started at the seventh on Saturday evening continued as he completed his third round yesterday, adding further birdies at the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th holes that brought him from pursuer to leader. His birdie on the 13th - in the third round - tied the record of seven consecutive birdies first set by Steve Pate in 1999.

"What can you say? It's the Tiger we know," remarked Thomas Bjorn. "I've seen Tiger play the best golf of his life, probably, in Pebble Beach in 2000 (at the US Open), and I know what he is capable of doing."

Woods had a chance to establish an even bigger lead after 54 holes, but he suffered bogeys at the 14th and 15th holes (where he put his second shot into the pond that guards the green).

Bjorn, who started the final round four shots behind Woods in third, suffered a double-bogey seven on the second in his final round, effectively short-circuiting his championship challenge.

Prior to going out for his final round, Woods remarked of the transformation that saw him move out of the pack - he had opened with a first-round 74 - to the front. "It was a nice, nice turnaround. Realistically I didn't think Chris would play a back nine like he did, but that happens here. Like I said, anything can happen. You've just got to keep plugging along and worry about your own problems."

In the final round, Woods started out with two straight birdies - from seven feet on the first and 12 feet on the second - to move four clear of DiMarco as it all developed into a head-to-head. But Woods three-putted the fifth for bogey, to drop back to 12-under and a three-shot advantage over DiMarco, who was refusing to buckle under pressure. Woods, though, drove into trees on the par-five eighth and failed to make a birdie.

For Darren Clarke, the only Irish player to survive the midway cut, a third-round 69 moved him into the middle of the field and he was level par for his final round through 15 holes and up to tied-19th position.