A Masters moment worth savoring

Right from the start, it was a Masters final round unlike any other.

Through 15 years of covering Augusta National for golf's rite of early April, I had established a Sunday routine, arriving early and watching the out-of-contention players. As morning drifted into afternoon, the excitement of the final round would build.

The lead group traditionally would tee off between 2:30 and 2:40 p.m., but wasn't the case for the 2019 Masters.

A threat of severe weather Sunday afternoon prompted Augusta National officials to start the final round as early as feasible, sending players off the first and 10th tee and in threesomes beginning at 7:30 p.m. The lead group of Francesco Molinari, Tony Finau, Tiger Woods teed off at 9:20 a.m. Had the players been in pairs, as is the Sunday tradition, Woods would not have been in the final group, which certainly would have affected the drama of the final round, if not the outcome.

The back nine was in full bloom by noon. So much for building momentum toward late Sunday afternoon.

By now, most golf fans know what happened. Woods, two shots behind Molinari to start the final round, fashioned a 2-under-par 70 to win his fifth green jacket, but first since 2005. Years of painful rehabilitation from back and knee surgeries had culminated in an improbable victory, the first of his 15 major championships in which he came from behind to win.

With or without Woods, early or late afternoon, the Masters delivered, as it almost always does in the final round.

All of the Augusta National patrons wondered if Woods still had the game to win again. He had made a run at the previous two majors, the British Open and PGA Championship, but there was a lot of younger talent in contention.

He had gotten to within one stroke of the leader at the turn, but it...