Tiger Woods Wins The 2019 Masters (Sort Of)
- Updated: April 5, 2019
This is a guest post by Colin Mieczkowski. The dude loves golf and video games. We thought it would be fun to simulate what will happen down the stretch at the 2019 Masters on the most GOAT game of them all, EA Sports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. The foursome includes Tiger, DJ, Rory and Rickie. We pick up the action on the back nine on Sunday…
The Masters is coming up quicker than me finding my first hazard of the day (which is often), so we decided to do a little Sunday simulation via Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14. The game is a beast, as it has a laser scanned Augusta National, several other courses, and some of golf’s greatest legends such as Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and even a young Tiger Woods.
Since the game doesn’t have every Masters participant this season, we chose four players that are in there, who have high odds for this year’s tourney. So, for this Sunday battle, Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, and Rickie Fowler joined the hunt, as one of them look to grab that coveted Green Jacket.
For the video, we began on the back nine to get right into the nook and crannies of it. However, during the front nine, it was Johnson who grabbed the lead, and it seemed as if he was going to run away with it.
Things changed on the back nine, as the drama of Masters Sunday really started to heat up. Johnson, who had a handsome lead, let Woods and McIlroy climb right back in it with holes running low.
Some highlights from the front nine included a beautiful tee shot from Fowler on the par-3 fourth hole, which landed softly like a pillow. Another huge moment front the first nine was a hole-out pitch from Johnson on the eighth hole.
On the back side of Augusta, Amen Corner wasn’t being very nice to the players, as Fowler’s ball found the water hazard, while the other three players settled for par on “White Dogwood”, the 11th hole. One of the most famous holes on the planet, the 12th, known majestically as “Golden Bell”, gave Johnson, Woods and Fowler a soothing, lotion-like touch, as each nailed their birdie putts.
Meanwhile, poor McIlroy had to settle for par. I guess Golden Bell isn’t a fan of full hair Rory. Luckily for the four-time major champ, he was still well in contention.
Then, we come to one of my personal favorite holes from a pure design standpoint, the 13th known as Azalea, which is the last leg of Amen Corner. If Golden Bell had the “mother’s touch”, then Azalea was playing the role of “big scary monster” as three of the four players hit their ball into the depths of Rae’s Creek.
Woods was the only one who stayed on dry land, so, no towel required. This led to a solid third shot, leaving him with a birdie chance.
Johnson, Fowler, and McIlroy would all drop some painful bogeys, before heading on to the 14th. Woods made his birdie putt which inched him a bit closer to Johnson, who still led by a couple of shots.
The 14th at Augusta has one of the greatest names in the history of sports: “Chinese Fur”. It also has a fun and interesting design in that, there are no hazards on it.
Despite being trapless, the 14th can still be a beast, and in this virtual round, it proved to be a huge turning point. Fowler would settle for par, while Woods and McIlroy would drop bridies, but it was Johnson, who had a jaw-dropping double bogey to fall to -16, tied with Woods, and only a shot ahead of McIlroy.
The exciting 15th hole, known as “Firethorn” indeed brought the heat, as Johnson and McIlroy both let their balls take a vacation to the beach. Fowler would lay up short of the water, while Woods would proceed to reach the green in two, leaving himself with a medium-length putt for eagle.
Despite their misfortunes, Johnson and McIlroy would hit a couple of great bunker shots, that left them with short putts for birdie, which they both would make. Woods missed his eagle putt, and tapped-in for birdie, while Fowler, sadly, would once again settle with par.
At “Red Bud”, the recognizable par-3 16th hole, all four players made the green and all had lengthy putts. Everyone two-putted to move on to the 17th a couple of huge, circumstantial shots took place.
Incredibly, Johnson, McIlroy, and Fowler would miss the green, while Woods barely stayed on the putting surface, as he too, would’ve been off. A big moment ensued, when Johnson holed-out for the second time in the round, with a beautiful pitch that came at the right time.
Woods would make birdie to give himself the solo lead, making Johnson’s shot that much more critical. However, the losing of the lead was still quite cringe-worthy, to say the least.
This means that, yes, Johnson blew a six-shot lead (!!) on Sunday. But, despite this, Johnson wasn’t going to go down without a good claw filled fight with Woods while McIlroy quietly remained a couple of shots back.
As the four club-wielding samurais near the end of their Masters journey, only three had a shot at capturing the Green Jacket, while one was hidden in the shadows trying to finish strong. The tournament was up for grabs as Justin Rose and even a sneaky Dicky Pride were also right in the hunt.
Great approach shots by all four players left them all with good looks at birdie on “Holly”, one of the most iconic finishing holes in the sport. Woods could’ve shut the door with a birdie, but missed, and tapped-in for par.
This left Johnson with a heart-thumping, noise silencing putt for birdie, to tie things back up with Woods, and head into a playoff. The former U.S. Open champion pulled back the putter and released…..He missed the putt! The sea of pixelated fans was stunned at what they just saw but was excited for what was next.
Woods had a short putt, but it wasn’t exactly easy. He took pulled back the flat stick, struck the ball, soft like a butterfly, and made the putt to save par.
Tiger Woods just won the 2019 Masters Tournament (sort of) by completing a monumental comeback against one of golf’s most consistent players. It was a combination of Woods’ resiliency and Johnson’s heart-breaking bogies that led to this historic win.
How will Woods perform at the real Masters? Only time will tell, but we won’t have to wait long folks. When you hear the Masters theme song, and Jim Nantz gushing about the flowers, you know it’s about to go down in the south.
http://gty.im/52634193Colin Mieczkowski is the Founder of the GP Golf Report, as well as a writer for App Trigger, a video game blog on FanSided. He can be followed on Twitter @GhostPandaColin where he talks golf, gaming and his love of Chicago sports (White Sox over Cubs, by the way).
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[…] year, I did a simulation of sorts, using the Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 video game. This is one of the only games in existence to have […]