Phillin the Love at Augusta

It was quite a fun weekend of golf, even if you aren’t that into the sport. There were plenty of memorable players and shots that made it interesting and fun to watch. The whole time I was waiting for the wheels to fall off for Phil, instead I was pleasantly surprised it was Tiger falling apart on Sunday. There were a lot of fun story lines that kept me from changing the channel, including 50 year old Freddy making a push, Anthony Kim coming out of nowhere, Lee Westwood playing solid, but not quite pulling it out in a major once again, and a lot of great golf shots in between.

Saturday when Phil went on his run of back to back eagles it might have been one of the best three hole stretches I’ve ever seen anyone play. I was home by myself, and when the second one went in from 135 yards out, I was yelling so much my neighbors must have thought I was crazy! It was one of those shots you will always remember. He was so close to hitting three straight eagles, and on his approach I almost expected a third eagle to fall. A foot away was still good enough for a birdie. Phil is always a fan favorite wherever he goes, and the crowd at Augusta was no different than anywhere else he’s played. I thought for awhile that Phil was going to fall apart at some point like he always seems to do. When he started shanking his drives, I kept thinking uh oh here we go, but he kept coming up with miraculous recovery shots over and over again, he was a par saving machine each time. Phil scored low when he needed to on the par 5’s and ended up taking the Masters from a very competitive field. I hope this is a new Phil we are seeing out there, a guy that can keep his composure, and showed that the meltdown in Bethpage is a distant memory. Phil picks up his third green jacket (04’, 06’, and 10’), so it looks like I won’t be betting on him to win again until 12’, since he seems to like those even years.

White men can't jump.

I was really hoping for the 2004 Masters celebration, when he jumped about 1 foot into the air. I’ve declared that to be the smallest celebratory jump in the history of big sporting events. With the year Phil has had with his family, he was destined to win for them. I had my doubts when mother nature threw a twig in his putting line right after he struck the ball on the third hole, but maybe that was just a sign saying that mother nature can’t even stop the big guy!

I really enjoyed the fact that Fred Couples was in the hunt for most of the weekend, and if he hadn’t had the disastrous 14^th hole he could have placed in the top five. There’s something about the living legends that makes you pull for them. Maybe just the hope you’ll get to share one last great moment with them. I hope his back lets him keep playing, because it looks like he’s still got some years left.

I always enjoy the Asian persuasion in the field, and really liked Anthony Kim’s seven under 65 round today. If there was one more day, I might have my money on him, because he looked like he figured this course out! KJ Choi was another fun guy to watch. He faded down the stretch, but made it interesting at the top of the leader board for awhile. People thought it was calming for Tiger to play with KJ, but did you see Tiger out there? He didn’t look all that calm, but hey, I’m just an observer…

I guess I have to talk about Tiger a little, after all he did finish tied for fourth, but like he said after posting his scorecard, “I only enter these tournaments to win.” That statement pretty much summed up the way he acted out there. If it wasn’t perfect, he was mad. I don’t blame Tiger for wearing his emotions on his sleeve, but he was acting like a kid out there at times. He threw a few fits they caught on the mics, and honestly, they were pretty tame from a language standpoint. I think getting upset about him being competitive and expecting more out of himself is stupid. If they caught one minute of an NBA game on a mic, it would be 100 times worse than anything he said over the four rounds. It’s just who he is, it’s not like he’s ever had it rough or ever really had anyone telling him “no, don’t do that”, so how would you expect him to act? Exactly the way he does, right!?! Anyways, the frustration that Tiger continually showed through the weekend threw him off his game, which was painfully obvious on the rushed putt that turned into a bogey. He seemed good on Thursday and Friday, but got overly impatient with himself as the weekend went along. I’m always happy to see him struggle, but one thing I’m scared of was how pissed he was after he came off the course. Does that mean he’s going to be on the course for the next three weeks getting his swing right before he enters his next tourney? If that’s his plan, the field should be worried…