Thought for the Day
Always drink upstream from the herd
Magnificent, monumental Masters
It’s just as well that all major championships aren’t as exciting as this year’s Masters because I don’t think my heart could cope. The tournament was the very definition of sporting drama as new and different but equally exciting scenarios rolled across our screens in rapid succession and if you wrote the events of Sunday at Augusta as a film script you would be laughed out of every big studio for having far too fanciful an imagination.
We had the great but faded champion storming back to reassert his alpha credentials as Tiger Woods – impossibly adrift at the beginning of the day – put on one of his patented charges over the front nine. Sadly, of course, as has been the way for 18 months now, he still remembers what it’s like to be Tiger but not for 18 or 72 holes.
Then we had the young guns, trying to emphasise what has become ever more apparent over the last decade, that the old cliché of golfers not reaching their prime until well into their 30s is deader than a dodo – these days they hit the ground running in their nappies and by the time they reach their 20s they’re battle-hardened veterans. Jason Day and Luke Donald auditioned for those parts.
Thrown into this mix were a couple of horny-handed veterans who have been there and got the T-shirt – Geoff Ogilvy and Angel Cabrera, alongside KJ Choi, who has come close a few times before in majors and was auditioning for the Rocky Balboa part as the underdog who finally overcomes all the odds. And then came the serial under-achiever, Adam Scott, who has finally found a consistent way to get the ball into the hole and in consequence reminded us why everyone, especially Butch Harmon, predicted that he would dominate the game when in fact his career has been one of massive disappointment for someone who strikes the ball as purely as any of his peers.
And then at the death we witnessed one of the greatest finishes to a major championship there has ever been, as the eventual victor – a modest, self-effacing and extremely likeable walking 1-iron called Charl Schwartzel – birdied the final four holes to deny Scott and Day the chance of a playoff. Yes, the 15th is a good birdie opportunity, as is 16 on Masters Sunday, with that pin position at the bottom of the green so everything funnels down towards it, but 17 and 18 are not meant to be treated in quite such a cavalier fashion. Schwarzel played them all superbly and when he most needed calm nerves a steady hand and a smooth putting stroke, they were there. We have had relative unknowns win majors in recent years and immediately slip back to semi-obscurity – Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton and Trevor Immelman (who has, though, been plagued by injury) but none of them showed the fortitude and guts of Schwarzel, who was in a dogfight from his opening drive to final putt.
But of course, putting even these remarkable stories into the shade was the disintegration of Rory McIlroy. With the exception of Doug Sanders and Jean Van de Velde in the 1970 and 1999 Opens, it is true that no-one remembers who came second. But the 2011 Masters will always be recalled for the man who finished tied-15th and the collapse of his putting stroke and equilibrium was almost too painful to watch. Greg Norman handled a similar meltdown in 1996 with extraordinary grace and dignity but by then he had thrown away majors so often, or had them snatched from him, that he was able to put some kind of perspective to yet another soul-crushing disappointment. Rory has not, and even though many of us feared that a four-stroke margin going into the last day was not a comfortable buffer but a millstone, to have our concerns so brutally realised was something I hope I never see again. Before the young wannabe walked to the first tee, a friend texted me to ask: ‘Will McIlroy hold on to win?’ and I replied: ‘No, he’s not a finisher.’
Never have I wanted so much to be proved wrong.
To his eternal credit he fronted up for an interview and said that he needs to remember that he led the event for 63 holes, but of course, they don’t hand out green jackets on the 10th tee. Let us hope that in a few weeks or months’ time (it certainly won’t be days), those words will be something from which he can draw real comfort and solace.
A few random Masters thoughts
With the notable exception of Tiger Woods, no Americans were in the mix on the last day – I don’t count Bo Van Pelt, who never seriously threatened.
Be honest, how many of you watched Sky Sports for the first two days but then switched to the Beeb in order to escape the adverts, and Sky’s relentless, tedious, exasperating self-promotion. But at least they ditched that voice singing ‘Georgia’ over the picture of the Masters flag every time they went to and from a commercial break.
Monty was a good addition to the Sky commentary team – he must have enjoyed watching and analysing the event far more than he ever enjoyed playing in it.
For only the second time since the modern four majors were created, with the birth of the Masters in 1934, no American holds one of the big four championships – the other time it happened was 1994 when the winners were Olazabal, Els, Price and Price.
Quote of the Week
(Before the 1999 Ryder Cup) The only thing that scares me is the Americans’ dress sense.
Mark James