Man, what a rich, full, and yeasty Masters 2009 delivered! One feels bad for Kenny Perry, who had it won--and the record for oldest Masters winner ever locked up at age 48--but who after a brilliant shot on the 16th hole finished bogey-bogey to drop into a tie with Chad Campbell and Angel Cabrera. Cabrera got it done in the playoff, proving that if you start the final round at the Masters in the lead, you can get away with shooting a mere one-under par even though...
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson are doing their level best to light the joint up and charge from... well, yes, seven shots back to make a run at the green jacket!
For a while, it looked as if Mickelson was going to do something sort of insane. After he and Tiger locked eyes and exchanged a firm handshake on the first tee, Phil shot a 30 on the front nine, tying a Masters record. For his part, Tiger bombed in an eagle putt to stay in the conversation.
The stage was set for the leaders to melt down and leave the stage to Woods and Mickelson. A back nine duel for the ages!
Not to be. But to their mutual credit, Phil and Tiger knew that merely average rounds--tidy 68s, let's say--weren't gonna make it happen. They both had to go absurdly low. Tiger said -11 was his target, which in the end would have left him a stroke short of a playoff. Mickelson was more aggressive--he correctly estimated that it would take a 64, three shots shy of where he wound up.
Obviously, golf lovers enjoyed the Perry story, the Cabrera story, and even the Chad Campbell story. Campbell may be the best player to have not yet won a major. And Cabrera, a U.S. Open winner who hails from modest means, served up South America's first Masters and redeemed the fraught memory of Roberto De Vicenzo, an Argentine who would have won in 1968 were it not for a botched scorecard.
But c'mon, the action all day was with Phil and Tiger. While Phil roasted the front side, but faltered on the back, Tiger surged, before repeating his recent pattern of dropping shots on the 17th and 18th holes. Fans have been waiting for this pairing since... correct, forever! Mickelson and Woods in a major--and the best major, the one with the greatest potential for theater...both in need of high drama and near-perfect execution to win...it was epic. Too bad they wound up playing for not even second, but who could induce the largest roars to unsettle the actual leaders.
Before the round, I thought that if they both played well and both made charges, feeding off each other, it might change the dynamic of their relationship. They are widely believed to detest each other. Tiger's caddy, Steve Williams, is actually on record for detesting Mickelson. They both played stunning golf, on the game's greatest stage, and after twin bogeys on 18--Phil's to spoil a 66, Tiger's to mess up a 67--they barely had words for each other.
That was disappointing. Neither gave away much in the post-match interview, a loss given the energy of the moment. And it was a Masters moment, one that fans will remember for many years. One hears about tournaments within tournaments all the time, and with both Woods and Mickelson statistically unlikely winners, this tournament within was really more like a micro-major, the subplot that was in many ways more compelling that the main narrative.
One of these days, Woods and Mickelson are going to need to recognize that, like Palmer and Nicklaus, they are forever joined, even if Tiger will have the grander career. They are both very, very good, and they gave us a fantastic show. It would have been nice to witness them acknowledge it, to each other. No, more than nice. Historic. Competition is all well and good, but sportsmanship lasts longer.
I was rooting for Kenny Perry but Cabrera was high on my list of people I would have been happy to see win. I'm an underdog fan so Woods and Mickelson (although I enjoy watching them both) weren't even on my top 10.
Golf's top star has zero personality, followed by Phil, whose not personality plus, then there's a sea of 20 something robots who are just plain boring. The PGA has a problem. Hell I think the LPGA is more exciting, at least you've got some girls with a little flair and some personality.
I hope one day Tiger quits taking himself so seriously and stops acting like such a dork. Mr serious will never do what Palmer or Nicklaus did for golf, because he makes golf look to much like work and not any fun.
PM/TW runs in the front nine were nicely juxtaposed with the tortuise's (Perry) mechanical parring...then overlapped with Cabrero's apparent collapse as the stretch run unfolded.
Perry's drive on the 16th threw in some anti-climax. But his then consecutive bogey's fulfilled our appetite for more...
In the end, didn't mind at all the less polished (thus more human?) Cabrero carry the day.
Even if that were true it would be worth it since their sponsorship of the event allows for 56 minutes of each hour of CBS coverage to be actual golf. You can't beat only 4 min of ad's an hous.
Phil Mickelson and Mr. Cabrera, on the other hand, are wonderful men deserving of our respect.
Tiger appears he couldn't care less... except maybe to grab a little extra motivation. Tiger is chasing Nicklaus and beyond, so Mickelson is just one of the many would-be-greats he has had to pass on the way to the finish line.
Phil Mickelson was asked how he liked playing with Tiger yesterday (as those who were watching will recall) and gave a very cordial reply in keeping with the gentlemanly tradition of the game and certainly of the Masters. To be expected, but I wonder if they aren't really a bit more tolerant of one another than they let on.
His long hitting has always allowed him to play more cautiously than others and keep big numbers of his score cards - now or later he'll need to adapt somewhat and accustom himself to not always being amongst the longest hitters out there. This will take some time, so I'll go out on a limb and predict no major titles for Tiger this year.
Bethpage should be more of a test of the new knee, inasmuch as distance goes. I've been trying to figure out what TW is doing with his swing for a while now. I thought he was looking for a more of a draw as his go-to shot, which would be easier on his body and explain why he's flattened his swing plane with Haney. But early in the comeback, he's been hitting open-stance fades. So if he's fading it with his driver, even at a hookers paradise like Augusta, he's going to lose some distance. He also seems to go to the three wood more and more when he needs a hook.
I did notice a time or two when he seemed to be taking one more iron that Phil on some holes, but I chalk that up to Phil's irons being juiced for loft (I think Tiger continues to play irons that are closer to traditional lofts that many other guys' clubs).
Well, who can be sure? I think if he found himself losing serious distance, he could make some adjustments to his driver shaft and perhaps get Nike to make him a ball that goes a bit more.