This incredible flop shot on Augusta’s 7th hole was Tiger Woods at his very best

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Hit a good drive and you’ll have a wedge into it, but the approach into Augusta National‘s 7th green is never a mere formality.

The narrow, elevated green with its trio of bunkers isn’t simply picturesque, it demands a level of prevision that makes every birdie well-earned.

On Saturday, the hole was placed in what is perhaps the most difficult spot on the the green: flush with the front edge, guarded by the natural contours of the green on either side and beyond the hole.

Misjudge the distance of your approach and you’ll be short-sided from the front bunker on your subsequent shot, or worse yet, get hung up too far beyond the hole. That’s the fate Adam Scott suffered during his third round. From 36 feet from beyond the hole, his steeply-breaking putt tricked to 28 feet to the left of it.

When Tiger Woods played the hole about three hours later, he striped a drive down the middle of the fairway, but clearly struggling with injury in the colder weather, badly chunked his wedge from 101 yards out.

It was undoubtedly the worst shot of his week so far, but as Tiger often does, he recovered with what will quite possibly be his best shot of the week.

Twenty-two yards short to an elevated green and just five yards of room to work with as the wind whipped from behind him, Tiger opened his wedge wide and swung full. The combination sent the ball soaring into the air and landed softly on the green, leaving him with a tap-in par

Tiger Woods may not be at his best, physically, this week — and playing in the cold is a particular challenge for the 2019 champion — but him playing at all remains a victory. It’s the little moments like this where we get new glimpses of Tiger at his very best.

Luke Kerr-Dineen

Golf.com Contributor

Luke Kerr-Dineen is the Director of Service Journalism at GOLF Magazine and GOLF.com. In his role he oversees the brand’s game improvement content spanning instruction, equipment, health and fitness, across all of GOLF’s multimedia platforms.

An alumni of the International Junior Golf Academy and the University of South Carolina–Beaufort golf team, where he helped them to No. 1 in the national NAIA rankings, Luke moved to New York in 2012 to pursue his Masters degree in Journalism from Columbia University and in 2017 was named News Media Alliance’s “Rising Star.” His work has also appeared in USA Today, Golf Digest, Newsweek and The Daily Beast.