Tiger Woods hit his approach shot on the 451-yard, par-4 4th hole at Sherwood Country Club 179 yards and left. It needed to go 192 and straight. It came to rest about 10 yards behind a tree with a low, curving trunk during Saturday’s third round of the Zozo Championship.
Option one for Woods. Under the trunk. But the hole was cut a few yards from the rough in front of him. It would be difficult to get it close.
Option two for Woods. Over the tree. It wasn’t tall. But it was a short distance from Woods. He would need to lob it over. Quickly.
Option three for Woods. And maybe only for Woods, the tournament’s defending champion, an 82-time winner on the PGA Tour and a 15-time major champion.
Through.
Woods swung. To be fair, he appeared to try to go over an opening on the left side of the tree. It did. But then it had to come down. It did. Through perhaps a gap only big enough to fit his ball.
It landed 22 inches from the hole.
“Tiger playing over the tree, through it,” announcer Dan Hicks said on the NBC broadcast. “Oh my goodness.”
“He tried to go over it, I think, and it did go right through it,” analyst Paul Azinger said.
“That’s awesome,” Azinger added.
The fans at the homes near the 4th cheered. “Come on” one fan yelled.
Woods made the par putt.
