AUGUSTA, Ga. – Patrick Reed and Rory McIlroy meet again, this time for a green jacket instead of a gold Ryder Cup trophy.

Reed seized control of the Masters on a wet Saturday at Augusta National with a pair of eagles on the back nine and a 5-under 67 that gave him a three-shot lead. McIlroy, who chipped in for eagle on the front nine to briefly tie for the lead, made an 18-foot birdie on the final hole for a 65 to nudge a little closer.

This is not match play as it was for their singles match in Ryder Cup at Hazeltine.

It sure feels like it.

And it sounded about as loud, too, especially with players taking advantage of greens slightly softened by the rain.

Reed ran off three straight birdies around the turn, and he stretched his lead to as many as five shots with his eagles.

He made a 15-foot eagle putt on the 13th, and then he showed he was not in the mood to play it safe on the 15th. From just under 270 yards, as the rain made the air heavy, Reed hit 3-wood just over the water and short of the bunker, and his chip from 80 feet slammed against the pin and dropped. Reed pumped his fist, the kind of emotion he typically saves for the Ryder Cup.

He narrowly missed a 10-foot birdie putt at the end and was at 14-under 202.

McIlroy can only hope he didn’t use up all his luck.

A chip that likely would have gone off the green at the par-5 eighth banged into the pin and dropped for eagle. He managed to find his second shot among the azaleas on the 13th to escape with par. And he got into the final group, an ideal position as he goes after the final leg of the career Grand Slam.

“There’s a lot more players in this tournament than just Patrick and I,” McIlroy said. “It won’t be quite as intense, but we’ll still be feeling it. Patrick is going for his first (major), and I’m going for … something else.”

He paused to smile when he heard a few chuckles. That “something else” is a collection of four majors that only five other players can claim.

“It’s going to be good fun,” McIlroy said.

On Sunday, golf will not be just a game. #themasters pic.twitter.com/2U8Tm3Uzgc

— Masters Tournament (@TheMasters) April 8, 2018

Rickie Fowler made eagle on the par-5 second and was 5 under through eight holes. He cooled until the end of his round, when a pair of birdies over the last two holes gave him a 65 and left him five shots behind. Jon Rahm of Spain also chipped in for eagle on No. 8 and saved par on the 13th after hitting into the creek in his round of 65. He was at 8-under 208.

Tiger Woods had to significantly lower his goal this week. He shot 72, was 18 shots behind and now hopes to finish the tournament under par.

So many others who started the third round with a chance didn’t do nearly enough to stay even remotely close to Reed. Justin Thomas (70), Jordan Spieth (71) and Dustin Johnson (71) all are at least nine shots behind. Adam Hadwin (72) of Abbotsford, B.C., was tied for 21st at even par.

Reed and McIlroy are linked so indelibly to that singles match at Hazeltine in 2016 when they produced the highest quality of golf amid ear-splitting cheers, making big putts on top of the other. Reed prevailed on the 18th hole in a rare U.S. victory at the Ryder Cup.

Now it’s about stroke play. Now it’s about history of their own, not a trophy they share.

“All the pressure is on him,” McIlroy said. “He went to Augusta State. He’s got a lot of support here. I’m hoping to come in and spoil the party.”

McIlroy has plenty on him, too.

The Masters is where he threw away a four-shot lead in the final round, and now it’s the missing piece of a career slam.

“Hopefully, all I did learn seven years ago, I can put into practice,” McIlroy said. “I’ve been waiting for this chance.”

Reed doesn’t have a major. He doesn’t have experience of a big stage, a big crowd and enormous pressure. That came from Hazeltine and a match described as “one of the best we ever played.”

“The biggest thing I can pull from it is going head-to-head with Rory and I was able to put together a good round,” he said.

But he shrugged off any other comparisons, starting with the decorum outside the ropes at Augusta National compared with a flag-waving crowd at the Ryder Cup.

Reed also doesn’t buy into the idea that the pressure is all on him.

“I am leading,” he said. “At the same time, he’s going for the career Grand Slam.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Adam Hadwin is one of those rare Canadians who never played hockey.

Like all Canadians, he was rocked by a tragic bus crash that claimed 15 lives in his home country.

Hadwin, a native of Saskatchewan who now lives near Vancouver, shot an even-par 72 Saturday in the third round of the Masters after learning of the catastrophic wreck involving the Humboldt Broncos, a junior hockey team on its way to a playoff game.

“It shows you how short life is,” Hadwin said minutes after walking off the course, just as the rain started falling again on a grey, overcast day in Georgia. “You need to appreciate every moment. You need to appreciate the people around you.”

A tractor-trailer truck slammed into a bus carrying the Broncos, a wreck of such devastating proportions that a doctor compared it to an airstrike . The impact was especially profound in a vast but close-knit country united by its love of hockey.

“We obviously don’t have that many people,” Hadwin said. “When something like this happens, a lot of people are enveloped in that hockey world. It touched a lot of people, a lot of friends of people. It’s difficult.”

Hadwin, who was born in the western Canada town of Moose Jaw, did not play hockey growing up. He said his small size – even now, at age 30, he’s just 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds – prompted his parents to steer him away from the rough, fast-paced game.

“I’m actually not considered Canadian,” he quipped. “But they still accept me sometimes.”

As a youngster, Hadwin stuck mostly to baseball and soccer. He didn’t get serious about golf until he was a teenager, taking lessons from his father, who is a teaching professional. He went on to play U.S. college golf at Louisville, earning his spot on the PGA Tour in 2015.

But Hadwin certainly understands the place that hockey holds in Canada, and how much the country is impacted by a crash that also left 14 people injured. The staggering toll is even more poignant on a team where the players are between 16 and 20 years of age, presumably with most of their lives still in front of them.

“It puts hockey into perspective,” said Hadwin, a Vancouver Canucks fan who is playing the Masters for the second time. “It puts golf into perspective.”

Other sports joined the hockey world in a state of mourning .

“Obviously this is something that transcends just one nation and one sport,” said John Axford, a reliever for the Toronto Blue Jays, who were in Texas to play the Rangers. “There are people all over the world that are feeling for these kids and their families and their friends and the entire community of Humboldt. It’s hard to talk about, in all honesty.”

Axford remembered plenty of long bus rides playing youth baseball and as he moved through the minor leagues. Even in the majors, teams need buses to get between the hotels and the stadiums while on the road.

“I was thinking about it last night on the bus on the way home from the game,” Axford said. “As an athlete, you spend a lot of time travelling to and from events, and when you start playing in higher leagues, you’re taking longer bus trips. That bus becomes a second home, a second locker room, a second place for you and your teammates and your brothers in arms there to learn, about each other, about the game, to talk, to laugh, to just enjoy life.

“It really hits home.”

LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. – Seven Canadians earned status on Friday at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying School event at the Wigwam Resort’s Gold Course.

Vancouver’s David Rose finished T4 at 6 under par, good for status through the first eight events of the season (subject to the second re-shuffle).

Jamie Sadlowski (St. Paul, AB), the two-time World Long Drive champion, finished T9 despite some up-and-down rounds. He opened with a 3-over-par 75, followed with a 5-under-par 67 and then posted another 3-over-par 75. However, he closed out the event with another 5-under-par 67 on Friday. He is exempt for the first four events, subject to the first re-shuffle.

James Seymour, Wil Bateman, Patrick Williams, Luke Moser and Team Canada graduate Blair Hamilton captured conditional status by finishing inside the top 40.

Michael McGowan (Southern Pines, NC) made a short birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Evan Bowser (Dearborn, MI) to claim medallist honours.

Despite an even-par 72 in his final round, McGowan was able to emerge from a crowded leaderboard to gain a spot in the playoff and then end it on the first extra hole.

McGowan posted the first 8-under-par of the two and then had to await the last group which included Bowser before beginning the playoff.

“Yeah, there were a few first-tee jitters before the playoff. Thankfully I had about 15-20 feet for eagle on the hole which kind of calmed me down,” said McGowan. “It was still kind of an up and down day for me kind of like the first three days.  I missed a lot of greens and made some great up and downs but also missed some. It’s golf.”

With the conclusion of the third of five Mackenzie Tour Q-Schools, two more remain on the schedule. The fourth will be staged at The Club at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland, FL from April 24-27 followed by the fifth at Crown Isle Resort Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, BC from May 1-4. The season kicks off May 31-June 3 with the Freedom 55 Financial Open at the Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver.

Almost everyone who has picked up a golf club knows the feeling.

Shanking shot after shot into the woods. Approach shots continuously landing in the drink. Repeatedly trying to get your ball out of the bunker from hell.

Many a weekend hacker could relate to what Sergio Garcia went through during his disastrous turn on the 15th hole in his opening round at the Masters. The defending champion put five balls into the water on the par-5 hole and took a whopping 13 on the scorecard.

“I think that was a very, very unique situation yesterday where we witnessed one of the best players in the world kind of looking like a 30-handicapper for a minute there,” said former PGA Tour player Ian Leggatt.

Clearing hurdles that the golf gods put in place can be a stiff challenge on the local nine-hole track or in the bright spotlight at Augusta.

Either way, when emotions and stress levels run high, decision-making and performance can be affected. Dr. Adrienne Leslie-Toogood, a sport psychologist with Canadian Sport Centre Manitoba, said it’s important to back away a little when things start to go sideways.

Her advice for Garcia in that situation would be to get the mind and body in tune.

“If he’s able to breathe and calm his body down, then he’ll be able to think more rationally and slow things down on the course,” she said Friday from Winnipeg. “So I would definitely just tell him to breathe and calm your body down. We want to buy him some time to let him think of different options.”

Canadian women’s team head coach Tristan Mullally also preaches a mindset of re-evaluation over persistence.

“Good players naturally go to try and make up for their mistake,” he said from Westover, Ont. “That can lead to trying to hit the same perfect shot again and again.”

After Garcia’s first shot went in the water, he took a sand wedge from inside 100 yards and watched four more balls get wet. The Spaniard said he didn’t miss his shots – the ball just simply didn’t stop on the green.

Make no mistake: this wasn’t a duffer’s display with balls being sprayed in every direction. Garcia was burned by a pool table-fast green and just a little too much spin.

“Even the best players, having a mistake like that, there’s a little bit of shock,” Mullally said. “Their natural instinct and why they’re probably so good in the first place is to hit the next shot closer and move on.

“In an attempt to hit it really close, the margin for error is smaller especially at a place like Augusta.”

There comes a point for many players – whether you’re a top pro or just playing a casual round – where you simply have to try a different club or change the approach.

But as Leslie-Toogood notes, armchair quarterbacks aren’t living in that moment on the course.

“It just happens so quickly and he’s in such a different place as he’s processing it,” said Leslie-Toogood, who has worked with Golf Canada for years. “It’s not until later when he reflects back and realizes what other people are seeing, because we can see it very differently when we’re from afar.”

When Garcia eventually got a ball to stick, he hit the 10-foot putt for a rare octuple bogey.

“I think great players are guilty of the same things as an amateur,” Mullally said. “Sometimes the situation can take over and decisions get harder.”

Leggatt, a native of Cambridge, Ont., who won the Tucson Open in 2002, said players avoid laying up on that hole because they know the pitch shot can be very difficult.

“Sergio didn’t really hit any bad shots into that green,” he said from Richmond Hill, Ont. “It’s just the severity of it and being able to pick and choose the right type of shot you need to hit on that particular hole is going to be the most important (thing). But it was all set up by ultimately hitting that second shot in the water and then having to play that pitch shot into the green.

“It’s probably the most difficult shot on the whole golf course.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The Masters is living up to its hype with some of the biggest names and hottest games in contention going into the weekend.

Except for two guys who generated so much of the buzz.

Tiger Woods hit another shot into Rae’s Creek, didn’t make a birdie until the 13th hole and wound up with a 3-over 75, leaving him 13 shots behind Patrick Reed. Woods was more concerned with sticking around for the weekend than chasing a green jacket.

Phil Mickelson matched his worst score ever at Augusta National with a 79 to make the cut on the number, leaving him 14 shots behind.

Even without them, the show is just getting started.

Reed, who has never seriously contended on a big stage outside of the Ryder Cup, had birdies on half of the holes he played Friday. That was more than enough to atone for the few times he got out of position, and his 6-under 66 put him atop the leaderboard for the first time in a major.

“I kept myself out of trouble and allowed my putter to do the work,” Reed said.

He was two shots ahead of Marc Leishman, who boldly took on a high risk when he hooked a hooded 5-iron around the trees and barely over the water on the par-5 15th to about 6 feet for an eagle.

Reed was at 9-under 135. He was partnered with Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., for the day. Hadwin shot a 3-over 75 to tie for 18th at even par. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., missed the cut.

Right behind? Five major champions, for starters.

Henrik Stenson (70) was four shots behind. Rory McIlroy (71) is off to his best 36-hole start in seven years and is looking as poised as ever to capture the fourth leg of the career Grand Slam. Jordan Spieth lost his two-shot lead on the first hole and was on the verge of getting left behind until he made a key par putt to close out the front nine with a 40, and then salvaged a 74 to join McIlroy just five shots behind.

Looming was Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world, who made a 45-foot par putt on the 16th to atone for several birdie putts in the 10-foot range he missed. Johnson had a 68 and was six shots behind, along with PGA champion Justin Thomas, who had a 67.

Eleven of the 17 players still under par at the halfway point can be found among the top 20 in the world.

Reed, who led Augusta State to a pair of NCAA titles, opened with a 25-foot birdie putt and zoomed into the lead after two more short birdie putts. He ran off three straight birdies again at the end of the front nine, holing a 15-foot birdie at No. 9 to stretch his lead.

He is the only player in the field to make birdie on every par 5 both rounds.

“The par 5s are huge around here to be able to pick up ground on,” Reed said. “You’re not going to shoot a low score if you don’t.”

For everyone else, it was about jockeying for position.

Spieth was happy to be near the top after the way he started – a tee shot into the trees on the right and a three putts for a double bogey, and then a drive to the left and three more putts for a bogey. Just like that he was behind, and it kept getting worse. He made bogey from the middle of the fairway on No. 7. He three-putted from long range on the par-5 eighth. And he was headed for a 41 on the front nine until he made a 10-foot par putt.

“I’m still in this golf tournament,” Spieth said. “With the way the back nine was playing today, the wheels could have come off there. But I made some nice par saves and was able to grind out some phenomenal second-shot iron shots and good two-putt birdies.”

Mickelson won the Mexico Championship last month, and at age 47 and with three green jackets, there was talk he could become the oldest Masters champion. Those hopes faded when he bounced around in the trees at No. 9 and made triple bogey and hit into Rae’s Creek on No. 12 for a double bogey.

He bogeyed his final hole for a 79, the second time in three years he posted that number.

Woods made bogey on the opening hole with a sand wedge from the fairway. He really came undone when his second shot to the fifth bounded over the green and into a grove of magnolia trees. He took a penalty drop to clear room through the branches, put that in the bunker and made double bogey.

Very little went right except for a pair of birdies on the par 5s on the back nine. Looking at the white leaderboards only made him feel worse. The cut is for the top 50 and ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead. Woods kept seeing Reed make birdies, and he knew he was well outside the 10 shots.

“I was hoping to keep it within 10. I didn’t know what my position was, but I think I’m in,” he said after his round. He was tied for 40th.

No one has ever rallied from more than eight shots behind after 36 holes to win the Masters.

“I’m going to have to shoot a special weekend and I need help,” Woods said. “I’m not in control of my own destiny.”

Leishman seized on his moment with the best shot of the day. His tee shot on the 15th was too far left, leaving trees between him and the flag. Instead of laying up from 210 yards, he closed with the face of a 5-iron, aimed toward the right bunker and tried to hook it some 30 yards.

He hooked it about 40.

The ball narrowly cleared the mound at the front of the green, caught the slope and settled 6 feet away for an eagle.

“We’re not here to lay up,” Leishman said. “It’s a major. You’re going to have to take some chances at some point during the week if you want to win, and that was a time where I thought I had to take a chance. I’ve been hitting that shot well on the range and I thought it was a prime opportunity to give it a test. And it came off.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Given Jordan Spieth’s past experiences at Augusta National, there was no reason to panic.

It was the front nine. It was the second round. It was nowhere near the worst he’s been through at the Masters.

So Spieth remained calm despite losing a two-shot lead on the first two holes. He excused it as typical “punches” from a daunting golf course in difficult conditions. He responded by making two birdies over the final six holes, helping him recover from the inauspicious start.

He finished with a 2-over 74 that left him 4 under for the tournament.

“I’ve taken a lot of punches on this golf course, and in tournaments in general,” Spieth said. “I told (caddy) Michael (Greller), ‘Look, when this course plays tough, I’m good for a double here or some bogeys there. Let’s make these the only ones.”’

Spieth began the day at 6 under. He squandered that before more than half the field teed off.

The 2015 Masters champion pushed his tee shot at the par-4 first way right. He failed to get his second shot back to the fairway and then left his third one short of the green. He missed an 11-footer for bogey.

He pulled his second tee shot left and then missed a 5-footer for par.

It opened the door for everyone else on the leaderboard. It also could have been a devastating start for Spieth.

But he took it in stride, chatting with his caddy and talking to himself to not get overly frustrated.

The rough start probably should have been expected given what Spieth endured at Augusta National just two years ago.

Spieth had a commanding lead at the turn in 2016 before stumbling on Nos. 10 and 11, both par 4s. He bogeyed both, and really unraveled at the par-3 12th.

Spieth’s tee shot came up short, landed on a downslope and hopped into Rae’s Creek. He then took a drop and hit a fat wedge that also splashed. Spieth settled for a quadruple-bogey 7 and lost his lead to Danny Willett.

Spieth recovered with by making two birdies over the last six holes, but it wasn’t enough. He finished second, three shots back of Willett.

Compared to that, this was nothing.

“I’m not going to downgrade my skill level, but I’m also not going to downgrade my ability to take punches and fight back on this course,” he said. “Good starts are really nice out here. Bad starts are tough to come back from. If I look at it one way, I mean, in 2016, I went bogey, bogey, quad and then was able to rebound from that.

“So what’s the first couple holes on a Friday start mean? It doesn’t really mean much to me. It means let’s figure out what was wrong and fix it. But it’s not going to affect the outcome of this tournament off of those two holes. I’m still in a great position.”

Spieth credited a par save at No. 9 with turning around his day.

After his tee shot landed in a foot in the right rough, he flew the green with his second shot. He putted from the fringe to 6 feet and then drained it, flashing the kind of putter prowess that carried him (10 putts) on the back nine in the opening round Thursday.

“I thought that my two-putt save on No. 9 was really, really big,” he said. “When that went in, I thought, ‘OK, forget about everything that’s happened here. Let’s try and shoot 2 under on the back nine.’ And that was the goal, and, you know, I almost did one better there.”

Spieth’s 15-foot birdie putt on No. 18 burned the edge.

And now he’s headed into the weekend feeling confident he’s got a shot at slipping on a second green jacket.

“To come back from 3 over through two holes and only shoot 2 over with a limited number of (good) looks, it’s not so bad,” he said. “I’m still in this golf tournament. With the way the back nine was playing today, the wheels could have come off there. But I made some nice par saves and was able to grind out some phenomenal second-shot iron shots and good two-putt birdies.”

Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum phoned in from Augusta National on Thursday to chat all things Masters with Bob McCown from Sportsnet Prime Time.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot an impressive 3-under 69 on Thursday in the first round of the Masters to enter into a seven-way tie for fourth, three shots back of leader Jordan Spieth.

Here are three things to know before he tees off at 2 p.m. Eastern time for the second round at Augusta National.

BACK NINE HIGHS AND LOWS

Aside from a birdie on the par-4 No. 9, Hadwin was at even par through the front nine in the first round at historic Augusta National. The back nine, however, was more eventful. He birdied the 10th and 12th holes, then bogeyed the par-4 No. 14, but followed it up with back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16. A bogey on 18 dropped him into the tie for fourth. Had he made that shot, he would have been in a three-way tie for second with Americans Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar.

HEART IN VANCOUVER

Despite playing in the first major PGA event of the season, Hadwin was focused on the last game in Vancouver for Canucks superstars Henrik and Daniel Sedin. The Swedish twins announced their retirement earlier in the week.

“If it werent for this tournament called The Masters, I would be there to send off the Sedins. Guess this view will have to do! Congrats on an incredible career on the ice and for being even better people off of it! The city of Van was lucky to have you!” tweeted Hadwin late Thursday, adding a photo of the game on his laptop computer.

If it werent for this tournament called The Masters, I would be there to send off the Sedins. Guess this view will have to do! Congrats on an incredible career on the ice and for being even better people off of it! The city of Van was lucky to have you! pic.twitter.com/r5MY4DXTj4

— adam hadwin (@ahadwingolf) April 6, 2018

SECOND TIME’S THE CHARM

This is Hadwin’s second consecutive year at the Masters. Last season he finished tied for 36th at 6-over par. His best round was the fourth where he fired a 2-under 70 to move up the standings. On Friday he’s playing with Patrick Reed, who missed last year’s cut, and Charley Hoffman, who tied for 22nd at 2 over.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Canada’s Adam Hadwin is off to a fast start at the Augusta National, and after one round is in a good position to top his finish from last year.

The 30-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., shot an impressive 3-under 69 on Thursday in the first round of the Masters to enter into a seven-way tie for fourth, three shots back of leader Jordan Spieth. Hadwin made his first appearance at Augsta National last year, finishing tied for 36th.

Hadwin could have been in a tie for second with Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar but he bogeyed on the par-4 18th hole to fall back into the pack.

Thanks to three top-10 finishes, Hadwin has already earned more than US$1.1 million this season. His best result was a tie for third at the CareerBuilder Challenge in January. Hadwin also finished in the Top 30 of the FedEx Cup standings last season.

Mike Weir, who is celebrating the 15th anniversary of his 2003 Masters victory this year, makes up the other half of this week’s Canadian contingent. He shot a 4-over 76 on Thursday to tie for 62nd.

@ahadwingolf opens strong with a 3-under 69 to sit 1 off the lead at #TheMasters ????

A post shared by RBC Canadian Open (@rbccanadianopen) on Apr 5, 2018 at 4:06pm PDT

Weir, from Bright’s Grove, Ont., was an assistant captain at last September’s Presidents Cup, where Hadwin was a member of the International team. Weir told The Canadian Press in January that he was impressed with Hadwin’s attention to detail, work ethic and “inner fire.”

“He wants to be great,” said Weir at the time.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The new, more social, Tiger Woods was only occasionally seen Wednesday as he made his way around the front nine of Augusta National in the final tune up for a Masters green jacket that suddenly seems very much in reach.

There weren’t many trips down memory lane with playing partner Fred Couples and no long conversations with the firefighter from Massachusetts, who had to look up occasionally at the grey skies and wonder what bolt of lightning would strike him next as he played alongside the greatest golfer of his time.

It was Woods as he might have been 10 years ago, deep in concentration and fixating so much on the smallest details that he walked off a section of the sixth green to measure just which spot he needed to land his ball on when play finally begins for real.

Woods had his game face on, and for his legions of fans that’s probably a good thing. He had a few smiles with Couples, but if the next smile out of him comes when he’s being fitted for a green jacket on Sunday, well, that’s all right with them.

The feel-good Tiger probably can’t win one of those, anyway, no matter how good his game has recently become. That’s probably why a practice round on Tuesday that included Phil Mickelson for the first time anyone can remember didn’t exactly disintegrate into a love fest.

The old Tiger playing with a touch of arrogance and a chip on his shoulder most certainly can.

That’s a bit shocking considering the path Woods has taken in recent years. Back problems, personal problems and drug problems have combined to keep him mostly on the sidelines as a new generation of golfers has taken flight.

Indeed, it’s hard to figure out just where Woods is. His swing is fine, his back feels good, and he’s been back in contention on Sunday in the last few tournaments of his latest comeback.

But he’s less than a year out of rehab, where he went after being busted for DUI in the early morning hours last May on a Florida highway. Woods was so out of it that he told police he was driving to California, and toxicology tests later revealed five different drugs in his system.

And it’s got to be hard to get the killer instinct back when you’re suddenly trying to be friends with guys you made your life’s mission to beat.

“I walked past Tiger on the range just before he came in and spoke to you guys, and I said, ‘I never thought I would see the day, Tiger and Phil playing a practice round at Augusta,”’ Rory McIlroy said. “So we had a bit of a laugh about that.”

That it took Woods until he was in his 40s to be able to relate to most of his fellow players – and some of his fans – isn’t all that surprising for anyone who has read the exhaustive new biography “Tiger Woods” that details his great successes and biggest lows.

The book describes him as a product of his parents, who were determined to raise a champion but also raised a loner who found his only solace on the golf course.

“Even the most basic human civilities – a simple hello or thank you – routinely went missing from his vocabulary,” authors Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian wrote. “A nod was too much to expect.”

There were a few nods on Wednesday, though they were perfunctory at best. On the seventh hole, Woods actually mouthed “thank you” to fans who cheered him on the way to the tee box, and earlier on the driving range he signed a few autographs.

Most importantly, though, the driver was finding the fairway and the putts were going where he wanted. In the practice round a day earlier, Woods had made eagle on both the par-5s on the back nine.

If he hasn’t exactly been fan friendly, it doesn’t seem to matter to those who continue to watch him in numbers no other player can come close. He’s a legend with flaws, but a legend nonetheless and any mention he might be nearby always gets fans rushing to whatever hole he’s playing.

Woods fit in fine Wednesday in a curious practice round pairing with the 58-year-old Couples and Matt Parziale, the amateur golfer and professional firefighter who squeezes in amateur tournaments between shifts at the firehouse in Brockton, Massachusetts. Parziale won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship to get a spot in the Masters at the age of 30.

Woods complimented Parziale’s game, and said nice things to a Masters representative about his caddie father after the round. But this was clearly a day to fine tune his game, a day to get ready for his first Masters in three years.

There were a few smiles at the end of nine holes, but the real smiles can wait until Sunday.