The 2010 Masters Golf Tournament was breathtaking in every since of the word. Each and every year, Augusta National golf course leaves one astonished with her beauty and flawless perfection. This winter, especially in the South, seemed exceptionally long, cold and sometimes miserable. At the beginning of the week, the bulk of the storylines were on whether Tiger Woods would be able to come back and compete at all given the long layoff.
Also in question was what the patrons’ reactions might be to Mr. Woods.
We were greeted by pleasing weather on Thursday and very approachable pin placements. While everyone was watching to see how Matt Kuchar and KJ Choi would react to playing with Tiger and how the galleries would treat him, Tom Watson and Fred Couples would shoot 67 and 66, respectively, to lead the tournament. Couples did it with such a relaxed swagger in his boat shoes to leave many of us thinking that he might just pull it off at 50.
Couples has issues with his back, but, when on, he is surgical with his wedges. At 60-years-old, Watson is certainly showing that age is just a number and his excellent play harkens back to an earlier time when Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, among others, played and competed well into their 50′s and 60′s.
I had a chance to go out to the brand new practice facility Thursday morning ─ which naturally looks like it has been there for 100 years ─ and saw Couples taking warm-ups with his coaches and he looked ready to play. I also saw Stewart Cink give a very nice polite welcome back to Tiger out on the practice putting green. Woods shot a very respectable 68 to put him in the hunt, but, knowing how approachable the pins were, he was disappointed that he left a few strokes on the course.
Pollen was as thick as I can ever remember seeing it. Pine stamens were everywhere and certainly altered a few shots. Naturally, the army of grounds people were able to clean virtually everything up prior to the next round.
Speaking of Tiger, the patrons were extraordinarily hospitable of Tiger all week, treating him much like they always have. However, I felt the galleries on Thursday through Saturday were not quite as large as they were in years past. Bobby Jones himself in the Augusta National Spectator Guide notes that cheering the misfortunes of a player is “most distressing.” Perhaps this is the reason for the hospitality. People certainly were able to separate private life from golf even with those aerial banners flown over the course on Thursday.
He was a little rusty, but Tiger had an outstanding tournament on the whole. Yes, he dropped clubs and cursed a bit upon failing to execute, but that’s who he is. Believe it or not, I felt he was far more jovial than in years past. When I saw him sink an eagle on his approach to No. 7 to get right back in it on Sunday, clearly he was appreciative of the group of patrons who had been following and cheering him on. It clearly meant a lot to him to have people smiling and cheering for him again.
This year, however, was not going to be about Tiger or Freddie Couples, or even Lee Westwood who played so well. It would not be about Tom Watson. This year was about the transition of Phil Mickelson from the excellent player he’s always been to a historically great player.
Legends need moments of greatness. Phil has the talent. He’s always had the talent but for some reason his moments often felt more like you were watching Greg Norman than Arnold Palmer. Prior to his win in 2004, it was his blunders rather than his brilliance that were most often brought up and, even after that first Masters victory, there was the errant drive on the last hole at Winged Foot to lose the US Open. Of course, he won his second Masters in 2006, but it just wasn’t what it was last weekend.
This was the stuff of legend.
Mickelson would announce himself in contention and put himself in the final pairing with Lee Westwood with an absolutely stunning stretch of play on the back nine on Saturday. In the course of three holes (13-15) ─ usually the swing holes ─ he picked up five strokes, two eagles and a birdie, holing a remarkable two on the par 4 14th, which is one of the toughest greens ever constructed.
What made this even more astounding was what else was going on around him at the time. Roars were erupting all over the back nine. Patrons anxiously waited for the changing of the manual scoreboard numbers to see just what had transpired on the other holes. Couples chipped in an eagle on 15, Ricky Barnes chipped in an eagle and Tiger kept pace with several birdies.
My day opened with a tremendous roar behind me as I sat in the top of the grandstands on the 14th fairway. Nathan Green, who had a few minutes ago eagled 13, had dropped in a hole-in-one on 16.
I knew then it was going to be a fun afternoon.
PHIL’S REDEMPTION …
Phil Mickelson has had an extraordinarily difficult year in his family life and had not won this year even being jumped in the world rankings by Steve Stricker. He wasn’t able to do much on the front nine Sunday. The birdie at No. 8 was the lone birdie on his scorecard. He tied Westwood with that birdie and didn’t look back from there.
The real brilliance of the day came with an unreal 6-iron between two trees on the 13th. He had just birdied 12 and had the lead but true to form instead of chipping out and, playing safe, he went for it and was rewarded handsomely. It was one of the most fantastic shots under that kind of pressure I’ve ever witnessed and its right up there with Tiger’s chip on the 16th in 2005. This is a shot we will talk about years from now.
Naturally, having done the hard work, Phil botched the subsequent short eagle putt. But he added a birdie at No. 15 and an exclamation point at No. 18 to finish with a winning score of 272 16-under par, just two strokes off of Tiger Woods’ course record of 270.
In dramatic fashion, Mickelson joined golf royalty with his third green jacket joining just seven other players to win three or more and Jimmy Demaret, Sam Snead, Gary Player and Nick Faldo as three-time champions. Only Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Tiger Woods have won more and, with the way he played this week, you get the feeling Phil plans on winning again.
I hope I’m there to see it.
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