It’s been a great golf season for me so far. Charles Howell III has a win and is right in the middle of The FedEx Cup race and Zach Johnson outlasted the world’s best to win a green jacket. Johnson has been one of my favorites since I realized how similar our respective golf swings are, even if his has paid off a little more. It was truly great to see the Iowa native hold on in such a huge tournament. You could tell he was blown away by everything, and that was refreshing.
Overall, I’ve heard a lot of negatives about the 2007 Masters. The course was a lot tougher than usual, and there weren’t as many birdies or eagles throughout the four days of competition. Also, some fans get a little bent out of shape when Tiger or Phil don’t win every major championship. All this aside, this year’s Masters was still pretty damn good!
Seeing Zach Johnson with his family after he finished his round was a priceless moment for a soon-to-be father like myself, but there were other things that stuck out to me as well. I’ll do my best to cover the most notable stories from the PGA Tour season’s first major championship.
Augusta National Fought Back
Last week, I predicted the winning score at Augusta would be -11 (277). Wow, I was only off by 12 strokes! I’m not the only one that predicted something in the 270s, however. Before the tournament began, I’m not sure anyone was even close to predicting the winning score. The course was nastier than ever this past week, whether anyone liked it or not.
After the first two rounds, I was still on the fence with my opinions about the course difficulty. The Masters is always exciting because of Amen Corner followed by the risky par-five 15th hole. It was slightly different at the 2007 Masters. Not only were holes 11 and 12 playing over par, the 13th and 15th were also right around par (if not slighly over most of the week).
The U.S. Open is undoubtedly my favorite major championship, and I love seeing guys struggle for pars in that event. Some fans, including myself, seemed to think the new setup at Augusta resembles a U.S. Open setup a little too much. The rough at Augusta is getting taller and taller each year, and it may eventually be identical to most U.S. Open venues. That isn’t currently the situation, but you never know.
In the end, Augusta National is still one of the most beautiful courses in the world, and the winning scores could have been -10 with a little more rain the previous week. After the first two days of play, I jumped to conclusions a little. Sure, the course was a little too tough and boring for some fans this year, but we may not see those conditions again for another 20 years. If the next couple years go the same way, then changes will have to be made to bring a little more excitement back. Until then, I’m calling this year’s conditions a fluke.
The winning score was a lot higher than most people guessed, but there were all types of golfers in the top 10. There were short hitters like Zach Johnson, Jerry Kelly, etc. And there were big bombers like Tiger, Retief Goosen, and Stuart Appleby. At Augusta, it still comes down to hitting greens in regulation and taking advantage of key opportunities. Zach Johnson did that better than anyone else, and that’s why he won his first green jacket. The tournament was still very exciting to watch, regardless of course difficulty or the high winning score.
Tiger Tamed Himself
Did Tiger really hold a solo lead in the final round of a major championship and lose it? Woods didn’t go into the final round in the lead, so his 12 out of 12 streak is still alive. On the other hand, who cares about the streak after watching the most dominating golfer of all-time crumble under the pressure like never before? He still shot a final-round 72, but that’s crumble city by his standards. It was great!
Tiger has struggled in the past, but he always seems to turn it on over the last few holes. That wasn’t the case last week. Woods didn’t hit many clutch shots at 17 and 18 all week, and that cost him the tournament. When Tiger took the solo lead in the final round, I felt a big sigh of relief around the world. I’m sure a lot of fans turned the channel at the same time because they knew the best of the best couldn’t possibly lose his lead. That’s what made things even sweeter for a fan like myself.
Contrary to what some believe, I don’t dislike Tiger Woods at all. I’m not planning on being the president of his fan club anytime soon, but I don’t have a problem with him. It’s just nice to see him show off his human side every once in awhile. All I hear every week in the golf world is Tiger this and Tiger that. It’s awesome when a quiet guy from Iowa sticks it to the world’s best. It’s even better when he comes from behind in the final round to do it. That made my week. Actually, that made my year! It was a breath of fresh air.
It Wasn’t Easy for Ernie and Sergio
I already mentioned how bad my winning score prediction was. What I didn’t tell you yet was that I picked Ernie Els to win this year. Els missed the cut. The Big Easy has had his good moments in 2007, but his lackluster finish at The Masters was awful. Not only did he miss the cut, he missed it after shooting rounds of 78 and 76. That’s unbelievable for a guy who always seems to play well at the season’s first major. Maybe next year (or not).
Sergio Garcia is another disappointment. I’ve been a fan of Sergio for six or seven years, but it’s getting old in a hurry. I couldn’t care less about him spitting in the cup, but it’s getting pretty painful watching his performance in major championships. Garcia either contends and chokes down the stretch or misses the cut completely. For once, maybe it would be nice to see him walk away with a sturdy top-10 finish without ever contending. Or even better, how about winning one Sergio?
The Sunday performance of Phil Mickelson was bad, but at least he made it to the weekend. The biggest disappointment of the week was the play of Ernie Els and Sergio Garcia. If they don’t play better at the U.S. Open, I might lose complete faith in both of them.
The Goose Survived in Style
Going into The Masters, I figured Retief Goosen would be the South African to struggle. What I failed to remember is just how great a putter The Goose is on lightning-fast greens. The easy-going South African finished in a tie for second and had a great chance to win his first green jacket, but he almost didn’t even make it to the weekend. Zach Johnson three-putted from three feet at the 16th hole on Friday, then finished with two more bogeys to give all golfers at +8 (including Goose) a shot on the weekend.
To say Retief Goosen made the most of his second chance is a huge understatement. Goosen went out early on Saturday and shot the day’s only round under par (70). He moved up about 40 spots on the leaderboard. During the final round, The Goose held the solo lead for a few holes before a so-so finish left him on the outside looking in.
All in all, it was great to see Retief at the top of the leaderboard in a major championship. I hope this snaps him out of his recent funk because he is fun to watch when he is at the top of his game. Unfortunately for Goosen, he doesn’t always play as well in regular events compared to his great play in big events. Here’s to hoping he starts playing well in all events. It would be nice to see him win another major championship at Southern Hills later this year.
The Final Say
Like I mentioned above, I thoroughly enjoyed this year’s Masters! There weren’t as many eagles and birdies as I would have liked, but that’s not a big deal to me. The course was still fair, and great shots were still rewarded. There was also a great mix of talent, and that adds a lot of to major championships. The 2007 Masters gets a B+ from me.
It will be interesting to see the fallout from this year’s Masters. It’s not every day Tiger loses a final-round lead at any event, much less a major championship. It will also be interesting to see how Zach Johnson handles himself the rest of the year. Whether he thinks it or not, winning the green jacket will definitely change his life. I hope he backs it up by winning a couple more events. Johnson’s game should fit the U.S. Open as well, so keep that in mind when making those predictions.
Now it’s your turn to tell me what you thought about this week’s article. How would you grade the 2007 Masters? Also, give reasons for your grade. Finally, what was your favorite storyline from this year’s Masters? If you have anything to add, please comment below or discuss it in the forum. Thanks for reading this week’s Thrash Talk, and now it’s time to gear up for The Players Championship!
Photo Credits: © Masters.org.
Tiger didn’t crumble. He simply never had his game the entire week. A crumble is a different thing entirely – Norman in ’96 or something.
As for Augusta, shouldn’t the fact that only one top professional golfer was able to shoot under par (and not even in the 60s) on moving day tell you something? You can’t blame the weather for the hard greens. Augusta has had hoses and sprinklers for a few years now… 🙂
While I’m probably closer to your opinion of Tiger than Erik’s, it isn’t sweet to watch anyone struggle so, especially the world’s best. This was nothing like the DiMarco/Woods duel when both players were at their very best, going head to head, and hitting quality shots on a very difficult golf course.
There are Yankees fans and then fans who root for whomever is playing the Yankees. We’re sort of the latter when it comes to Woods, I guess. But I don’t find it very satisfying to see him lose when he’s not close to displaying his remarkable talents.
I also don’t think he “crumbled.” He was more mechanically or physicially challenged than mentally so… which is what “crumbled” implies to me.
The course was fair only because everyone had to play the same setup. But the fact is, the way it’s laid out now and the way it was conditioned the first three days, the green jackets took away the ability of the world’s best players to display their awesome talent and our ability to enjoy them.
Great article Cody! I also feel that this year’s Masters was a solid B+ or A-, sure the course played tough but it wasn’t overly ridiculous like say the US Open at Shinnecock was it? The players were tested to the max, what’s wrong with that? I think there were still good scores to be had if a player shot well. After everyone’s round they all commented that the course was playing fair, there were hardly any negative comments by the players, had it been so difficult and unfair we would have heard from a few players for sure.
Being an Iowa native myself I am super happy with the result, obviously going into it I didn’t expect Zach to do well so I would never have picked him, but once he started showing up toward to the top of the leader board on the weekend I was super pumped for him. I hope he continues his good play and has some success in the remaining majors this year. I think his confidence is going to soar now and he may very well turn into a completely different player. He’s definitely going to be a staple at future President’s and Ryder Cup events!!!
And we have. I only added three comments there, but among the others: Davis Love II, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, and Gary Player added comments. So too did many other players.
That’s surprising, given that players typically won’t say bad things about Augusta National both a) out of deference to Augusta, Bobby Jones, and all things holy in the game of golf, and b) complaining about a course on which you’re competing is typically not advisable from a “positive outlook” or a “sports psychology” perspective. That only makes the many complaints that did surface all the more surprising.
Jason wrote:
Actually a surprisingly large number of players complained including Stenson, Crenshaw and others. Surprising because they usually hold their tongue trying to be gracious to their hosts and respectful to the genteel nature of the event.
Here are some snippets from a post-Masters, pre-Heritage interview Davis Love III gave that I find very telling:
I couldn’t agree with Davis more. They have taken the fun out of it because they’re trying to protect par instead of setting a stage for risk and reward, for greatness and for failure. What we had this week was pure grind. While that has its place (see U.S. Open), it doesn’t belong at Augusta National.
I’m very conflicted. Obviously the tournament committee watered the greens Saturday night to give the players a better chance to hold the greens. The committee also showed some good sense by moving the tee up a bit on 15 and on 17 by moving the pin away from it’s traditional difficult Sunday position and by placing it in a more accessible spot. These subtle changes helped to create a typical topsy-turvy Sunday Masters finish with lots of leaderboard movement. The champion and those making the biggest moves produced rounds of 3 under par. Not a super-low round but a great score under final round major championship pressure. If Tiger could have produced a similar great round……..but he did not.
Here is my conflict: Why didn’t they move the tee up on 15 even further to give EVERYONE a chance at reaching it in 2? Why didn’t they make these changes earlier? I really think there would have been a lot more buzz for Sunday’s finish if Saturday had been less of a demolition derby.
The biggest gripes I have about the recent changes to the course involve 2 things which I think relate to the discussion of “Masters Aftermath”:
1. The Rough-with funky buried elephant hump greens, adding this “first and second cut” has taken away from one of the elements that made the Masters stand out from the other majors. The need for excruciatingly accurate iron shots.
Most every golf fan is intimately familiar with the Augusta National course since it is the only host for this event. Because of this, most every golf fan knows where you can and can’t hit it on most of the greens. That was the fun of watching. I didn’t care where a player drove it. I wanted to see if the player could hit that iron shot into that little 3 square foot area that represented the ONLY place that would enable him to get the ball close for a birdie try. If he didn’t, he’d have everything he could handle to make par. This separated the Masters from the other majors where the premium is more on keeping the ball in play. The addition of this rough has put too much of an emphasis on driving FOR THIS EVENT.
2. The changes to #15-Remember all the controversy when Chip Beck laid up from a hanging lie and eventually lost to Bernhard Langer? How about when Seve dunked it after hearing the roar for Jack on 16? This hole was even more of a risk-reward than 13! Not anymore. I agree that the 3rd shot in has a chance of spinning back into the water if not hit with the proper distance/spin combo. But I don’t find that nearly as exciting as waiting to see if a long iron, hybrid, or fairway wood is going to come to rest on the surface or run long leaving a tough up and down.
Zach Johnson played some inspired final round major championship golf and is a deserving champion. I just think the golf course if set up differently is a theater that can provide a lot more drama than it did this week.
You can add Geoff Ogilvy, Robert Allenby, and Nick O’Hern to that list.
The only thing I have to say is that I feel like they’ve focused too much on keeping long hitters from easily reaching greens. Lengthening holes and putting hazards in front of greens makes it so that shorter hitters like a Corey Pavin style player can’t reach it in two without hitting a fairway wood, which means it will roll off the back because the hazards in front of the green keep them from running their shot onto the green for a putting opportunity. I’d rather see them focus on making the course maybe narrower, leaving the risk/reward in place of taking a chance on bombing a driver off the tee. If they hit it straight then they are rewarding for a good shot however if it doesn’t go straight, the rough will make it tough to get a par or possibly a bogie. I think it’s much more entertaining to watch golfers be rewarded with below par scores for precisely hit golf shots rather than playing great golf all day to barely scrape by with pars. I feel as beat up after watching it as the players look.