When I like to make a salient point, I will no doubt invoke the "Here's the Thing..." clause. So, with that in mind, "Here's the Thing...."
Trevor Immelman won the 72nd Masters with a "thrilling" 3-over 75 that was "good enough" in blustery conditions at Augusta National.
Now, there is nothing wrong with young Trevor having the ability to play the round that he needed to capture his first Major and only his second PGA Tour victory (the other being the 2006 Cialis Western Open).
But, Here's the Thing...
No one, not even Tiger Woods, was going to run down Trevor Immelman from behind to win the Masters. Under the leadership of former Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson, the Masters was transformed into the US Open Lite.
A "second cut" ("rough" for the rest of us) was installed at The National. That, along with a variety of strategically placed trees and added yardage, has combined to take all the air out of this event. On Sunday at the 2008 Masters, there were two, count ‘em, two rounds in the 60's: a 69 by Heath Slocum to move him up to a tie for 33rd and a 68 by Miguel Angel Jimenez to earn him a return trip in '09 (top 16 and ties are automatically invited back for the next year) with a tie for eighth.
Ironically, while Immelman had three rounds in the 60s (68-68-69) prior to his Sunday 75, Jimenez, also known as "The Mechanic" in Europe, had engineered three rounds in the 70s (77-70-72) until authoring his Sunday field best 68.
But, Here's the Thing...
No one, respective families excluded, came to Augusta to see Immelman or Jimenez. Fans have come to Augusta for years to see the fireworks that this course used to offer the best players in the world. Echoes and roars would reverberate through the Georgia Pines in the former nursery that Bobby Jones and Allister Mackenzie turned into a golf cathedral. The elevation changes alone remind one of a roller coaster, complete with all the ups and downs and the anticipation of something exciting about to happen. Now, the only sound you hear is the, "Pfffffttttt" of air coming out of the balloon.
I will sound like I'm a fossil when I say this, but I want the "old Augusta" back. I want to see lead changes and wild scoring swings. I want to know that the person who dons a green jacket at the end on Sunday has earned it by "playing a round of golf" and not just surviving 18 beautifully manicured holes, whether that player is Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Zach Johnson or Trevor Immelman.
I want to hear the roars as I watch birdies and eagles and daring shot making that brings back the risk/reward factor. I want players to determine who wins the Masters, not committees, not the weather, not course set-ups that dictate that a hole can only be played one way. Speaking of which, I want to see course set-ups, for the weekend especially, that encourage players to go low and bring more of the field into play on the weekend.
There is no doubt that 2008 Masters Champion Trevor Immelman is a great story, having come back from health concerns and surgery in December to become the first South African player since Gary Player to win the Masters, fittingly on the 30th anniversary of Player's last of three Masters conquests in 1978.
But, Here's the Thing...,
When Player won his final green jacket in '78, he posted seven birdies in his final 10 holes to rally from seven strokes back and shoot an 8-under par 64 to defeat Rod Funseth, Tom Watson and Hubert Green by one.
Augusta National has always been about more than just the numbers. Since it is the first major on the calendar, it sets the tone for the rest of the season and for many, kicks off the golf year (no offense to the West Coast or Florida Swing). Current Augusta National Chairman Billy Payne has shown that he does indeed have the pulse to take an "old school" entity and institution like The National and bring it into the modern era. Now can he return The Masters to the status it once held as the one tournament that avid golf fans would love to win and even more importantly wanted to watch and attend? Payne can do that by bringing back the golf course that MacKenzie and Jones first brought into play, by letting the players play the game to the highest level and in the end, may the best man win.
In '78, Player's final 18 was one of the greatest final round charges ever made at Augusta National, a round that is still talked about to this day and one of the many defining moments in Player's career.
Thirty years from now, what will we be saying about Trevor Immelman's final round 75? Certainly it was "good enough" to win The Masters, but Here's the Thing... in this era of bomb and gouge, graphite and titanium, over the top fitness and exceptional agronomy, when did "good enough" qualify to win a Major?
