Woosnam’s confidence at the 1991 Masters was buoyed by a couple of sound practice rounds and an opening 72 in which everything came up to scratch with the exception of his putting.
On the Thursday evening, he changed from his Ping putter to a Tad Moore and spent three hours on the practice putting green: “I’d been dribbling the ball up to the hole but suddenly, with that Tad Moore, I started holing the three to six-footers; one after another.
"Today, on the Senior Tour, I use a different putter every five minutes. At that point, though, it was a huge thing for me to switch in mid-tournament.”
He putted sensationally during second and third rounds of 66 and 67 before closing with a 72 in which he shook off José María Olazábal and Tom Watson with a par at the last.
He had been four ahead of Watson, his playing companion, as they teed off at the par-5 13th. Then, though, a 20-minute wait contributed to a miscued second which plopped into Rae's Creek, that infamous body of water that fronts the green.
Initially, Woosnam took the ensuing applause to mean that he had missed the stream. Understandably, he was more than a little affronted when he realised that the cheering had come from Watson supporters who felt that their man was back in with a chance.
Watson walked from that green with an eagle to his six and, when the American made another eagle at the 15th, the two were sharing the lead with Olazábal.
It was a situation which remained unchanged until the 18th.
Woosnam and Watson were able to watch from the tee as Olazábal, in a bid to fade his tee shot away from the bunkers on the left, caught sand before finding another bunker with his second.
When Watson, who had the honour, proceeded to block his drive into trees on the right, Woosnam could not stop himself from contemplating a scenario in which he might win the Masters with a closing par.
Woosnam’s own drive, amid the pressure, went way left but, while his fans held their breath, he was not unhappy with the situation. The only problem attached to the positioning came when spectators proved reluctant to move from their canvas seats to permit him a view of the green.
One way and another, it was a scene to recall what happened to Joyce Wethered when this legendary figure was playing Cecil Leitch in the final of the 1925 British Women’s Amateur championship at Turnberry.
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