Blown chances and spectacular finishes highlight the best
tournament in the world
Tiger Woods had a rough day putting in the final round of the
Masters, but I guarantee he feels a lot better today than Rocco
Mediate.
Blown chances and spectacular finishes highlight the best tournament in the world
Tiger Woods had a rough day putting in the final round of the Masters, but I guarantee he feels a lot better today than Rocco Mediate.
Twenty years from now Mediate’s score of 10 on the par-3 12th hole will be more legendary than Phil Mickelson’s second win at Augusta by a long margin.
At the time Mediate walked up to the tee box on the unassuming 155-yard hole, his name graced the bottom of the first page of the leader board at 1-under par. It’s simple math. If he lands on the green at 12, its just two putts for a par, and then he has the reachable par-5 13th and 15th holes still in front of him. With an accessible pin at 16, the dream of putting on a green, 44 regular sports jacket at the end of the day is still a possibility.
But there’s a reason why holes 11, 12 and 13 are known as Augusta’s “Amen Corner.” Because people would often say Amen when they made it through that stretch of holes without making a big number.
Maybe Mediate should have said a prayer before he teed off at 12. Instead, he hit three balls into Rae’s Creek on short hole – two from in front of the green, one from the bunker behind it – and made a 10.
When he walked to the 13th tee his tournament was over. He was plus 6 with no shot of winning. Talk about Rocco hitting rock bottom.
On another note, I’m tired of the constant comparisons to Jack Nicklaus. This week those comparisons focused on the fact that third-place finisher Fred Couples’ could have broken the Bear’s record of being the oldest Masters winner in history. Had Couples won he would have bested the old bear by several months.
Then there was talk about Ben Crenshaw, who at age 54, would have shattered the Nicklaus record.
Then there is the standard talk about Tiger Woods’ quest to shatter all of Jack’s golden records.
Bottom line, their will never be another Jack Nicklaus.
Just to put things into perspective Jack Nicklaus made 37 cuts at the Masters. That would be like Tiger Woods playing in every single Masters from age 20 to 57 without ever missing a single cut!
Crenshaw, who was 1-under after the second round, closed with rounds of 78-79 to finish at 300 –dead last in the tournament.
Still the talk was how Crenshaw was able to compete and make the cut at age 54. Have we all forgotten the 1998 Masters? In 1998, Nicklaus, who was then 58 at the time and competing after having hip-replacement surgery several months earlier, not only made the cut – but finished sixth in the tournament. And who did he beat that year? The 22-year-old defending champion Tiger Woods.
Now for the Couples comparison.
When Couples knocked his shot stiff at 14, he had a chance to get within a stroke of Mickelson and make a game of it. Instead, he three-putted and was never a factor again in the tournament.
When Nicklaus was given the green light in 1986 to go for his record sixth title at age 46, he responded by shooting a record-setting 30 on the back nine at Augusta that, amazingly, included a bogey at the 12th.
One last thought on golf’s first Major.
The PGA Tour should follow in Major League baseball’s footsteps and force the players on Tour to use woodenheaded drivers and fairway woods. If it did, Augusta National wouldn’t have had to be lengthened up like it was for this year’s Masters.
Major League baseball realizes that if it allowed the use of aluminum bats in guys like Barry Bonds would get even more of an advantage than he ever got from using steroids. Instead of breaking Ruth and Aaron’s record, the Giants slugger would be trying to reach 1,000 homeruns this year if aluminum bats were allowed in the Majors.
And that’s exactly what titanium, aluminum and all of these other high-tech, lightweight metals that are used to make club heads is doing on Tour – giving the players an unfair advantage so that they can make a mockery out of the game.
Then again, how else are these guys expected to catch Nicklaus?
