The simple fact of the matter is that in this day of bomb and gouge, young guns and drivable par-4s on the PGA Tour, the only thing that moves the needle is Tiger Woods.
Toss in a side of Phil Mickelson and present it on the platter of a major championship and you have all the ingredients for must-watch stew. Put all that together and serve it on a Sunday, say at Augusta and you've now concocted what could be one of the greatest major championship Sundays in the history of the sport.
Yes, I am aware that Angel Cabrera is now a two-time major championship winner with his semi-dramatic playoff victory over Kenny Perry at Augusta National in the final round of the Masters. Cabrera, Perry and even Chad Campbell put themselves in a position to jostle for the title. Woods, as well as Mickelson, had seemingly left themselves out of the proposition by being seven shots out of the lead when final round action began. For either one of these two former multiple Masters Champions to don the Green Jacket at the end of the day would take a superstar effort. The funny things is, even as far back as they were, no one I spoke with was really counting them out simply based on the fact that they're Tiger and Phil.
It's Easter Sunday at The Masters and the weather is beautiful, the course conditions ideal and the hole locations set up for a variety of risk/reward. Add to the mix that the Woods/Mickelson pairing goes off an hour before the leaders and you have one of the best warm-up acts in the history of the game standing toe-to-toe and heating up the grounds with action.
After scrambling pars at No. 1, both Woods and Philly Mick birdie No. 2 and you can just feel that it's "on." Lefty follows up the birdie at No. 2 with another at No.3 and then two more birdies at No. 5 and No. 6.
Now there is a buzz going and everyone on the golf course knows that the dynamic duo have got something cooking. Woods, who admitted that the warm-up session prior to his round was one of his worst ever, could not sustain the momentum and following the birdie at No. 2 had a run of five straight pars heading to the eighth hole.
Mickelson kept the after-burners on and was now five-under through seven holes heading to the eighth tee. Woods, however, does know drama and certainly not wanting to be outdone by the Number 2 golfer in the world rankings, Number One stepped up and drilled an eagle putt at No. 8 that let everyone know that he was still in the mix. Mickelson could not get his own eagle to drop and settled for birdie, his sixth on the outward nine.
The Heavyweight bout front nine ended with each player securing pars on No.9, so heading to the tenth tee box, the scoring from the judges showed Woods with a 3-under par 33 and Philly Mick with a record-tying front nine of 6-under par 30.
The 6-under par 30 on the first nine holes of Augusta National on Sunday shows just what kind of firepower Phil Mickelson has at his disposal when he's "on." It also reflects what the Masters can and should be about, in my opinion.
There should be scoring swings, there should be a buzz on the course, there should be vibrations echoing through the pines. The event should be decided by the players, whose talent and skill delivered them to this venue for the first major of the year. In short, it was riveting and that's what it should be.
Philly Mick's front-nine 30 tied the record held by three others who are:
KJ Choi in the second round in 2004. Choi finished the Masters that year in third place. Greg Norman in the final round in 1988. Norman finished tied for fifth.
Johnny Miller in the third round in 1975. Miller tied for second.
On the second nine at Augusta National, a place where the tournament is said to begin on Sunday, for Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, all the momentum built over the previous two hours would begin to sputter.
Following pars by both players on Nos. 10 & 11, both men stepped to the 12th tee. Woods came away with a par and remained 3-under on his round so far and 7-under for the tournament with two reachable par fives in front of him. Mickelson stepped to the 12th tee and made a critical mistake. Not only did Lefty not find the elusive putting surface on No. 12, he didn't stay dry, with his ball ending up in the water fronting the green.
The double-bogey five was a stunner and was certainly the speed bump in the round. Both Woods and Mickelson had eagle chances on both 13 and 15, with Mickelson having one at No.15 inside 10 feet but neither could convert and again would "settle" for birdies.
Woods added a birdie at the par-3 16th, Mickelson a par and suddenly, it looked as if Tiger would bring home his first major championship win of his career when coming from behind. In his brief presser with CBS's Bill Macatee, Tiger said he thought that the number for the day he had to get to and post was -11 under.
Standing on the 17th tee, following his birdie at No. 16, he was -6 under on his round and -10 for the tournament. Woods then bogeyed 17 and 18 to finish his day at 4-under par 68, tied for 6th with John Merrick and Steve Stricker at 8-under for the event. Mickelson also bogeyed 18 to post a +1 over par 37 coming in and a 5-under par 67 to finish solo 5th at 9-under par.
Both men had their chances coming in and if either could have posted -11, it would have been interesting to see how the players left on the course near the top of the leaderboard would have responded. As it was, it was well worth the price of admission for the patrons who had the chance to witness a piece of history.
After the round Mickelson talked at length about what went right and wrong on the day. The tee ball at No.12 was the product of the only bad swing on the day for Philly Mick. The short eagle miss at No.15 was an indecisive stroke, one brought on by he and his caddy, Bones, reading the putt one way and then seeing Tiger miss his eagle attempt and compensating for what they saw Tiger's putt do. Long story short, not a good stroke.
The short birdie miss at No. 17 that was then followed up by a bogey on No. 18.
As for Tiger it was a frustrating week. Ball striking wasn't great, but it wasn't bad either. It was one of those weeks where if you're ball striking was where it was and your putter got hot, the tournament would have a completely different hue to it. As it was some mediocre swings were combined with a balky putter and the result was a top-10 finish in the season's first major. Still that's not what Tiger plays for. But keep in mind this is only his fourth start back from reconstructive knee surgery and two bone breaks. I would imagine there are things to build from this experience and that the frustration of this Masters will be left on the range at Isleworth as the preparation builds towards The Players in May and the US Open in June.
Yes, you're Tiger Woods and yes you're frustrated that things didn't go the way you planned, but that is the game of golf and most of what makes it great. You didn't play nearly good enough and for most of the day you were in the mix and except for a few swings, could have come away with your fifth green jacket.
For his efforts this week, Kenny Perry is rewarded with the fact that this was his Masters to lose so much more than it was Angel Cabrera's to win.
Perry spent most of the day in front, going out in even par 36 and then seemingly taking hold of the Masters with birdies at Nos. 12, 15 and a beauty inside of six inches on No. 16. However, two things happened on the inward nine holes at Augusta National that doomed Perry's chances of becoming the oldest major champion in the history of the game. The Kentuckian bogeyed Nos. 17 & 18 and Angel Cabrera would not go away. Cabrera would fight back from a 1-over 37 in the final round with birdies on Nos. 13, 15 and 16 to come in at 3-under 34 and finish regulation in 1-under par 71, good enough for a tie atop the leaderboard with Chad Campbell, who shot a 3-under par 69 on Sunday to secure his spot in the sudden death playoff, and Perry who would finish his round bogey-bogey.
While hosting the coverage of the John Deere Classic last year for the PGA Tour Network on Sirius 209 and XM 146, I was there when Kenny Perry, who won that event in a playoff, had a similar chip to the one he missed on No.17 Sunday afternoon at Augusta National. Following the round, he spoke candidly about the skull shot at 17 and how the same thing had happened at the JDC. It is little consolation that the 2009 Masters would be his first top ten at Augusta National and that he would be back in 2010 by virtue of his finish.
Eighteen of the last 19 Masters winners have come from the final pairing and in the end, this Masters was no exception. Angel Cabrera used the Nicklaus method to secure his second major championship, by hanging around the lead and not letting the tournament get away from him. This was the 14th playoff in Masters history and the first three-man playoff since 1987 (Larry Mize, Greg Norman & Seve Ballesteros). The 39-year old Argentinean was rewarded for his efforts with the Green Jacket and a standing invitation to be part of the first major championship event of each professional golf season for the rest of his life.
Next up is the PGA's version of their major championship, The Players from the TPC at Sawgrass, where Sergio Garcia is the defending champion. The major championship golf season is underway.
