AUGUSTA, Ga. — Dwyane Wade stands just off the ninth green at Augusta National Golf Club, a subtle smile gracing his face. Sunglasses cover his eyes. A green quarter zip and black blazer shroud the former Miami Heat guard from the wind whipping across the course on Saturday afternoon as temperatures dip into the high-40s.
Only in a gallery like this can a man with three NBA titles and 13 All-Star appearances blend into the background. Only in a gallery like this, can you fail to find a single viewing window to catch a glimpse of a player nearly 16 shots off the lead at the Masters.
This crowd just off the ninth green — Wade and his father, Dwyane Wade Sr., included — have one thing on their mind: Where is Tiger Woods?
"It's like watching him (Woods) in his natural habitat," Wade said, his voice jumping with excitement. "I've seen him on TV, but never like this."
That Wade is here to watch Woods labor through the fairways during Saturday's third round is almost poetic. The two were together the day before Woods crashed in Los Angeles and suffered severe lower body injuries feet shortly after shooting an episode for Woods' series "A round with Tiger: Celebrity Playing Lessons."
The pair talked last year during the NBA Finals, Wade said, but not much more than that. Their friendship? That dates back further and is another story entirely.
Wade was 25, he said, when he attended Tiger Jam — an annual charity event held in Las Vegas that includes, golf, high-stakes poker and music performances. Part of the festivities included a demonstration and Q&A session between Woods and participants. Wade, who didn't pick up golf until four years ago, had one.
"Can I be good at golf," he queried.
"Hell no," Woods chided.
"I'm a weekend warrior (on the course)," Wade quips on Saturday when asked how good he is these days. "Nah man, I'm not going to to beat anybody until I stop working."
There's a noticeable limp in Woods' gait as he works his way around the course. His left leg moves largely with his usual stride. That right leg though, the one he shattered in the crash, is almost dragging along. It slogs step to step. It's painful to watch.
Still, fans clamber for a look.
Woods trudged down the fairway at the par-4 2nd earlier in the day. A gray-haired man pushing at least 65 and donning that sacred green jacket — the one reserved for Masters winners and millionaire members — speed walks around the back of the first green, through the pine straw next to the ninth tee and down the left side of the fairway.
Running isn't allowed at the Masters, but even this green-jacketed man who, in theory, is well versed in this commandment temps fate for a chance to see Woods in action.
"Obviously, he has an aura about him and his record speaks for itself," English golfer Tyrell Hatton said on Wednesday. "We're lucky that he is playing this week."
Heading for the turn at Augusta National
Woods isn't so much robotic in his movement as he is simply filled with metal, a product of a decade-worth of surgeries and operations. You have to squint hard to see remnants of that confident strut that's carried him to five Masters crowns.
The 15-time major champion is 3-over when he rounds the bend on nine and heads toward his ball situated at the bottom of the towering slope that leads to the green.
The mass of fluorescent polo shirts and Masters apparel straight out of a Vineyard Vines catalog erupts as Woods comes into view. Wade, too, nods along with the gallery.
Aiken native Kevin Kisner, Woods' third round playing partner, hits first. His 138-yard shot from the pine straw on the right side of the fairway smacks down on the front of the green and skips twice toward the hole.
"It pays to be tall," Wade jokes of being able to see slightly over the crowd.
But as gathered swath of Woods admirers grows in size, even he has to leap up to get a visual of Kisner's ball nestling 10-feet from the pin.
"Hop! Hop!" Wade yells as Kisner's shot slows. "There you go. Great shot. OK, Kisner."
Woods is a few yards ahead of Kisner on the right edge of the fairway. He has 121 yards to the pin. He promptly sends his second shot 143 yards as the ball comes to rest in the fringe off the back right portion of the green.
"Did he go over?" Wade asks his dad.
"You're never over if you're Tiger," his father responds.
Woods clutches his club in his right hand and heads toward the steep face of well-manicured bermudagrass separating him from Wade and the other patrons swarming the ninth green.
These are the hills that give Woods' surgically repaired right leg trouble. The slant only runs about 100 yards. It might as well be Everest for the man who was nearly forced to amputate that aforementioned extremity 14 months ago.
Wade dives into an anecdote about how he only recently dedicated himself to golf. He hasn't played as much as he would like, working as a minority owner of the Utah Jazz gives him plenty of responsibilities.
Both he and Dwyane Sr., who picked up the game a year ago, have become avid golf fans. Wade said he ran into world No. 1 and 54-hole leader Scottie Scheffler's parents last year. He's also connected with Utah native Tony Finau.
"You can become a fan of all the golfers and their stories," Wade told The State. "You play it now and you appreciate it soooo much more."
Tiger Woods has 'Won our hearts' at the Masters
Woods reaches the green and surveys his 66-foot putt. He heads to the front, crouching, but not in the way he used to bend and twist to spy putts pre-accident, pre-back problems and, frankly, pre-turning 46.
"I fight each and every day," Woods said after his round. "Each and every day is a challenge. Each and every day presents its own different challenges for all of us. I wake up and start the fight all over again."
Woods staggers his feet as he hunches over. His left leg is out front, while the right rears back. Woods rests his left arm on his front knee as he tries to judge the break.
It's one of those scattered moments throughout his 6-over 78 on Saturday that remind you of the three months he spent in a hospital bed, the countless hours of grueling rehabilitation he endured and the borderline unhinged persistence needed just to step on the course this week.
Wade looks on with fascination. He reaches his right hand to his chin and smiles. He's waited for this moment, to watch Woods send home another legendary putt at Augusta.
But this isn't the Woods of old, at least not at present. He misses the 66-footer. He does the same with his 6-foot par putt. The wind, the cold, the 45 holes Woods has already walked over the last two-plus days, it's all wearing on the worn ex-champ.
Mercifully, he taps in for bogey.
"He's already won," Wade said. "He's won our hearts (by playing this week) and he's proven something to himself."
Woods plods off toward the back-nine, a stretch he later finishes 3-over by way of bogeys on 16 and 17 and a double bogey on 18. Wade and his dad remain in place, at least momentarily.
The future basketball hall of famer is the main attraction in most every public setting. Here at the Masters, though, Wade can hide in plain sight. Here, he is the Tiger-crazed patron hoping for a glimpse of the legend fighting a bad back and sharp leg pain in pursuit of a title.
Here, at the ninth hole at Augusta National, Wade can watch a wounded yet prideful predator in his natural habitat.
