The Masters – April 2009 – “What Could Have Been”
The winner of the Masters this past Sunday, Ángel Cabrera, finally deserved the title of Masters Champion. Having been in contention with his stellar game in the first three rounds and playing steadily through Sunday’s opening holes, he was almost out of the running a few holes later when he dropped from -12 to -9 with bogies, but never conceded. . the competition. He rallied to -12 under par and took every opportunity to stay in the game by making birdies when he needed to. He just serves to enforce the old adage that “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Even after tying Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry for a playoff, he almost got blocked when he hit behind a tree on the first playoff hole, #18. Chad and Kenny Perry were out on the street in great shape, but Masters Sunday nerves got the better of them. Both blasted what would normally be routine iron shots onto the green to the left and right, respectively, leaving the door wide open for Angel. He seized the moment to first hit a lucky shot that hit a tree and into the fairway, leaving him with a clear shot to the green. He seized another chance again by hitting an excellent lob wedge in an extreme pressure situation that put him on the green in three with a putt of about 12′, which he converted, to tie Kenny Perry’s par save and move on to the next hole of tie-breaker. .
Chad wasn’t so lucky and couldn’t save himself, so he left Kenny Perry and his all-day playing partner, Angel Cabrera, to face off once again, only this time on the 10th hole. The 10th hole was the hole decisive of the Masters. Kenny hits his tee shot into the left trap while Angel hits safely down the middle of the fairway. He wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. His second shot was safe on the green as Kenny had taken him out of the trap to the left of the green, leaving him with a very difficult approach chip to get close enough to save par, which he needed to keep his Masters hopes alive. . He stayed within 25 feet and narrowly missed to the right, while Angel easily converted both of his putts for par and the win. Congratulations to Angel for his incredible victory, but I must admit I was very disappointed with how things turned out.
If I had written this Masters, it would have been something like that.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had teed off and both started at -4. Phil’s rally in the front nine was reminiscent of Nicklaus’ charge at the 86′ Masters and my all-time favorite Masters to date. This year’s Masters was a harrowing close second goal because Phil, Tiger or Kenny weren’t victorious in the end. When Phil turned the front on 30 or minus 10, I thought this was far from over and he might be one of the greatest teachers ever. From the time he’d tuned in, when Phil and Tiger first played, to the very end, he couldn’t take his eyes off the TV screen.
The consistent and stellar play from Angel, Kenny, Tiger and Phil was riveting. The two best players in the world went toe-to-toe and caught the leaders having been 7 shots behind when they teed off on Sunday morning. After Phil’s 30 up front, I knew Tiger had to make his move if he wanted to catch Phil, who was now at -10. He accomplished this by eagle on the 13th hole following Phil’s double bogie on the 12th when he had made a mental error by not using enough club to carry the creek and land on a safe part of the green.
Tiger and Phil still had a chance, but they also lost potential eagles on the 15th, leaving them with more work ahead of them if they wanted a taste of victory. Phil and Tiger had at one point hit -11 and -10 respectively and were both standing on the doorstep of victory when they failed at the end. Tiger bogied the last two holes in untypical Tiger fashion and Phil didn’t do much better. At the time I was hoping that Kenny Perry, who has been playing some of the best golf of his life for the past two years or more, could become the oldest player to win a Major let alone the Masters. The -14 of him stopped from him at the end of the 16th hole had almost sewn him up.
A par on one of the last two holes would have ensured victory. He hadn’t bogieed in the previous 22 holes, so why start now? But from the start now he did it with two consecutive bogies to finish -12 tied with Cabrera and Campbell and the playoff loomed ahead. Kenny’s constant game had come to an end and the pressure of Masters Sunday finally took its toll. He almost handed the victory over to Angel, who seemed calmer than the rest and just happy to be out there in contention not succumbing as much to the pressures of the day.
Well, as we know, Angel Cabrera wins, but it wouldn’t have been a thing if Tiger, Phil and Kenny had tied for a tiebreaker on that fateful Masters Sunday afternoon. I guess we’ll never know what the outcome would have been, but it sure is nice to dream of a Masters playoff scenario that almost was.
Happy golf everyone!