As Tiger Woods was finishing his final holes at the Masters, Earl Woods was walking toward the 18th green to meet his son.

``No major is complete until we hug,'' he said.

The hug came soon after Tiger sank his final putt. He walked toward the scorer's tent and gave his father, and then his mother, a long embrace. It was a hug President Clinton would call ``the best shot he saw all week'' when he called Tiger Sunday evening.

``I said `We did it. I love you, and I'm so proud,' and I told him to let it out,'' Mr. Woods recalled afterward.

After the embrace, Woods said his father also asked him about a possible ball movement at No. 15 that could have resulted in a penalty shot, which it didn't.

The mix of emotion, pride and technical golf talk is emblematic of the close relationship that has existed between father and son. Sunday's victory is just the latest stop from the path to golfing greatness Mr. Woods has carved out for his son.

From an early age, the former Green Beret trained his son to become ``the first African-American intuitive golfer.'' He started Tiger's public golf career at age 2, when he putted with Bob Hope on The Mike Douglas Show and CBS News.

On Wednesday, Mr. Woods told a disbelieving disbelieving PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem his son would win the Masters this year.

``I have predicted this, and I knew this would happen a long time ago,'' Mr. Woods said.

(He later added that he had no idea his son could win by so many strokes, saying, ``I may be a dreamer, but I'm not one who fantasizes.'')

The win meant something more to Mr. Woods because he almost didn't live to see it. He had bypass surgery in February, and describes the operation as a near-death event from which he needs time to recover. He arrived at the course only when his son was at the 15th hole because he had been at home, napping to conserve his energy.

After he arrived at the course, he first went to the scorer's tent at No. 18 to wait for Tiger. Seeing there were three holes left, he moved near the course's practice green and quietly watched his son's progress on a television monitor at the base of a CBS camera crane.

As his son played the 16th hole, a reporter asked him about the importance of breaking the course record.

``The main thing is that he survives,'' Mr. Woods said. ``I could care less about the records.''

He was proud of the way his son executing a game plan on a difficult course under tense circumstances.

``The course didn't give him anything,'' he said. ``He just went out there and brought the course to its knees and beat it.''

He moved back to the scorer's tent when his son resumed playing No. 18.

Seeing the victory was great because ``it's a wonderful thing to see someone achieve their dream,'' Mr. Woods said.

His son's victory did not fulfill his own dreams, he said.

``My dream is for Tiger to be a good person, and I am perfectly happy for him to be a good person,'' Mr. Woods said. ``He is a better person than he is a golfer.''