WGC-Mexico Championship, Round 2: Leaderboard, tee times, TV times

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods and Fred Couples spent months discussing their Monday practice round at Augusta National. The patrons had been waiting so much longer. When Woods teed off at 2:55 p.m. Monday, it was the first time he’d played Augusta National in public since the final round three years ago. He played Sunday of the 2015 Masters in the third-to-last group, shooting a 73 alongside Rory McIlroy. This latest round was an informal nine-hole affair, as Woods, Couples and Justin Thomas breezed around the first nine in little more than two hours. The pent-up anticipation for Woods’ return, which has only increased in intensity with his promising play, was obvious from the roars he received for both the impressive, like his long chip-in from behind the second green, and the mundane. Woods was greeted by cheers each time he appeared on a tee box. Patrons even applauded when he asked caddie Joe LaCava for another ball on the fourth tee. “There’s no other tournament you hear roars in a practice round,� said Thomas, one of the young stars many are hoping will challenge Woods in an intergenerational tussle on Sunday’s second nine. Woods spent the two weeks since his last start visiting Augusta National and preparing in his backyard practice facility. There are four greens there. Three are meant to mimic geographic regions: the Northeast, his native California and his adopted home state of Florida. Only one is modeled after a specific course. “The Augusta green is a little elevated with sharp aprons, a deep bunker and it’s always the fastest green in the facility. It’s firm and they mow the aprons around them extremely tight,� said his former Stanford teammate, Notah Begay. “That way, when he gets to Augusta it feels extremely normal for him.� There’s little doubt he’d feel that way even without a dedicated practice area. No tournament has more defined Woods’ career, and he has impacted the event in a way few others have. His 12-shot victory in his first Masters as a professional led to dramatic changes to Alister Mackenzie’s masterpiece. He completed the Tiger Slam here in 2001, won again in 2002 and then hit what may be the most memorable shot of his career, the chip-in from behind the 16th green that helped him hold off a gritty Chris DiMarco. Only Jack Nicklaus has won the Masters more times. Woods has proven his ability to contend here even when in the midst of his deepest struggles, but he arrives at Augusta National this year showing his best form in five years. He contended at both the Valspar Championship and the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. He’s displayed strong iron play, a good short game and swing speed that’s comparable to the kids he’s now competing against. Most courses are quiet this early in the week, but for some patrons Masters Monday is their Sunday. It’s their first time seeing a course they’ve admired for years, and they’re uncertain if they’ll ever be able to return. They were lined 10 deep on some holes. With cell phones banned from the grounds, point-and-shoot cameras, many of them saved for this single week each year, were raised in the air each time Woods approached. Patrons formed a human wall across many fairways as they stopped in the cross-walks to watch Woods’ pre-tournament preparations. This is Augusta National, though, and the enthusiasm for Woods caused some to occasionally cross the line of staid decorum that is expected on these stately Southern grounds. Patrons were gently made aware of their transgressions by security guards in red hats and white shirts. Turns out it’s impermissible to prop another patron on your shoulders. Running isn’t allowed, and the shouts and some of the shouts and screams heard at other events are frowned upon here. The excitement surrounding Woods is understandable, though. He’s finished outside the top 25 just once in 18 appearances as a professional, even when his game was in much worse shape. His last Masters start came just weeks after he shot 82 in Phoenix and took a self-imposed exile from the game. He started the final round in fifth place before fading to 17th. He finished fourth in 2010, even though he hadn’t played an event since the previous November because of his personal scandal. Woods’ play Monday reminded Couples of the better days. “He hit a few drives there that were well worth it, whether you paid for (admission) or whether you’re in the tournament like me,� Couples said. “Today wasn’t any different than it was 10 years ago when I played with him. “I think he’ll be a factor this week. I don’t know why he wouldn’t be.�  

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The last two winners on the PGA TOUR – Rory McIlroy and Seamus Power – have both represented Ireland in the Olympics. They were almost college teammates, as well. And not at a school that’s necessarily top of mind when you think of American powerhouses. East Tennessee State in Johnson City, Tennessee, competes in the small Southern Conference and in the Football Championship Subdivision (more commonly referred to as Division I-AA). Golf may be the school’s strongest sport, thanks in part to a pipeline from Great Britain and Ireland that included Power. The Buccaneers, led by Irishman Keith Nolan, finished third in the 1996 NCAA Championship – ahead of a Tiger Woods-led Stanford team – and twice played in the NCAA Championship during Power’s tenure. Power, who won his second PGA TOUR title Sunday at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship, almost was preceded on campus by McIlroy, who won THE CJ CUP in South Carolina a week earlier to ascend to No. 1 in the world. McIlroy signed a letter of intent to play golf for the Buccaneers beginning with the 2005-06 season. “The youthful McIlroy brings an extensive and successful resume to Johnson City,” reads the news release from November 2004, which is still available online. McIlroy opted to stay in Ireland and play amateur golf, however, but ETSU’s coach at the time, Fred Warren, kept the signed letter of intent and had it framed. “I signed a letter of intent to play for ETSU, did my SAT, did everything like that so I (was) fully ready to come over and play college golf,” McIlroy said in 2015. “But at that point I knew that I really wanted to turn pro earlier than the four years he was going to be here. I had no intention of graduating at all, so I thought it was just better to play that full time amateur golf in Ireland. … By the time I was probably just getting out of college I had just won my first major, so sort of it was a good decision in the end.” The Ireland-to-ETSU connection actually was started by John Paul Fitzgerald, who played for the Buccaneers and became McIlroy’s caddie for several years. Next was Nolan, who finished T9 in that 1996 NCAA Championship and represented Great Britain & Ireland in the following year’s Walker Cup. Warren watched Power play at the 2005 European Boys’ Team Championship at Monticello Golf Club in Italy. If it had not been for the interest from East Tennessee State, Power was considering taking an accounting course at a university in Ireland, according to a New York Times article. Power still had doubts about attending ETSU even as he was on his flight bound for the States. “Where am I going?” Power told the Times. “I didn’t have a telephone. I didn’t have many dollars. If I land over here, and if something as simple as my coach isn’t at the airport to pick me up, I have no idea what I’m going to do.” According to a 2016 profile on PGATOUR.COM, Power’s scholarship actually became available after McIlroy decided to not attend East Tennessee. McIlroy played amateur golf until turning pro after the 2007 Walker Cup. Power started at ETSU in the fall of 2006 and graduated with an accounting degree in 2011. He also was a two-time conference champion. He spent several years on the mini-tours before playing his first full Korn Ferry Tour season in 2015. He was a PGA TOUR rookie for the 2017 season, but failed to make the FedExCup Playoffs in three of his first four seasons. He started 2021 ranked 429th in the world but has now risen to a career-best 32nd in the OWGR. He also is fifth in this season’s FedExCup.

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