Masters 2022 — Tiger Woods has spent a lifetime preparing for this kind of pain

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods and his rebuilt leg held up for another day at the Masters, overcoming a disastrous front nine to make the cut and enter the weekend nine shots off the lead. To watch him Friday, in pain yet still stoic, was to watch someone battle … the course, the wind, himself. Across the country in California, a retired golf pro recognized this show of grit and thought of his old friend Earl Woods.

“He’d be so proud,” Joe Grohman said on Friday. “For the physical ailments Tiger has come through, and all the other nonsense, Earl would be out of his mind right now.”

Most everyone who follows golf knows the story of Earl Woods, the Green Beret and combat veteran who raised the best golfer in the world. Even though Earl has been dead for almost 16 years, the people who knew him couldn’t help but think of him as they watched Tiger play Augusta National this week. Earl would have loved the struggle, understanding in his bones that a wounded middle-aged man completing two rounds of golf shows more greatness than running away from a field in those vanished days of youth and wonder.

Long ago Earl and Grohman bonded over brutal days on the range, meeting at the Seal Beach Navy Golf Course near the Woods’ home in Cypress, California. One day while hitting balls, Earl turned to the head pro.

“Joe, you ever met my son before?” he asked.

Tiger stood far down the range, all by himself and refusing to look up, as Earl explained to his friend, “When he’s on tour, he’s gonna have to play through distractions.”

Earl liked to make noise to try and throw Tiger off, to get in his head, and not long after meeting Tiger, Joe asked him, “Does he really do that every shot?”

“I don’t know,” Tiger replied. “I haven’t heard anything in two years.”

That’s when Joe knew. They were dealing with a once in a generation player.

Earl and Tiger spent every day together at the Navy course, playing rounds and hitting balls, and Grohman was their…