Woods Finds Cause for Hope Amid Bumps, Pain and Young Upstarts

Tiger Woods ended his 20th Masters in a groove, but like the one in a broken record, not the one he was in 14 years ago when he held all four major trophies concurrently. (Also read: Jordan Spieth Takes First Major With Historic Win)

His physical health and a hole in his game again dominated the conversation after he closed with a 1-over-par 73 at Augusta National Golf Club to finish at 5-under 283, 13 strokes behind the winner, Jordan Spieth.

This time Woods' woods and his right hand were the trouble area. A balky short game had contributed to his career-worst score, an 82, in the second round of the Phoenix Open, and a balky back prompted him to withdraw during the first round of his next event, in San Diego.

On the ninth hole Sunday, Woods was in the trees after another errant drive (he found two fairways in the round). When he struck his shot his club hit a tree root, causing a dislocated bone in his right hand, he said.

Woods dropped the club, writhed in pain and shook his hand as he walked to the green. He walked off with a bogey for a 1-over 37, but used an eagle on the par-5 13th, after finding his first fairway, to play the back nine in par.

On his walk from the 18th green to the scoring house, Woods made eye contact with the fans lining his path.

He looked at the week from a different perspective after missing two months to work on his game (and most of 2014 because of his back). He found a lot to be encouraged about in his tie for 17th, only his second appearance outside the top 10 since the last of his four victories here, in 2005.

"Considering where I was at Torrey and Phoenix, to make the complete swing change and rectify all the faults and come here to a major championship and contend, I'm proud of that part of it," he said. "Just wish I could have made a few more timely putts and moved up the board."

He added, "To make my short game my strength again was pretty sweet."

With the kinks in his short game smoothed out, Woods will have to address his driving before his next start. He found 30 fairways and 46 greens in the four days. If not for Woods' sterling short game, his streak of no missed cuts here would have been in jeopardy.

Asked about his playing schedule, Woods said: "I'm going to practice. Practice some more."

Woods turns 40 in December, and while he has been recovering from back surgery and rediscovering his short game, the next generation has taken over the top of the rankings. The players ranked Nos. 1 and 2, Rory McIlroy and Spieth, average 23 years old.

Spieth, 21, dominated the course like nobody - not even Woods - has in the tournament's history. With a birdie at No. 15, he became the first player to reach 19-under. Spieth's bogey at the 18th allowed Woods to retain a share of the record for the lowest 72-hole total.

"I know when I won in '97, shooting 18-under, I didn't miss a single putt under 10 feet for the week," Woods said.

He added: "If you're going to run away and hide like that, you have to make a lot of putts. And it helped that the conditions were soft; guys were aggressive. We all were very aggressive out there, firing at flags we don't normally fire at. While most of us gave ourselves looks at them, we just didn't make them like he did."

Woods was asked how he felt about the younger players crowding out the older ones. "It's just generations," he said.

In their 20s, Woods added, he and Phil Mickelson were pushing aside the likes of Greg Norman, Nick Price, Seve Ballesteros and Bernhard Langer. "So the roles are reversed," Woods said. "But it's neat to still be a part of it. That's the thing."

© The New York Times 2015