2008 Masters Live Blog

14:17:02: Tiger misreads his putt from just off the green poorly on the first. This may not bode well for Woods today as he’s had trouble reading greens all week at Augusta.

What does bode well for Woods today is that none of the four guys ahead of him have won a major. Trevor’s average final round score at Augusta is north of 76, and 74+ in all majors. The winds are blowing and Tiger, arguably, controls his ball better than anyone on Tour. But if he keeps putting like a spaz (yeah), it’s not gonna happen. Odd fact: the last four times Tiger’s played with Stewart Cink in the last round, he’s won.

Prediction: Woods has about a 20-33% chance of winning. There’s a lot in his favor, but he’s still six strokes down, too, so we’re not about to get carried away here. Immelman has the best chance. Snedeker will falter but not embarrass himself. Flesch will have the worst day of the three, and Casey will play solidly and perhaps finish second.

Load this page and follow along as we live blog the final round of the 2008 Masters.

14:32:17: We’re live, and Trevor has laid up short of the first green after a poor drive, and Brandt has pushed his second shot well to the right. Cink has bumped Tiger with a great birdie at the first.

14:37:26: Tiger’s close to the second, but dumps his approach in the bunker. IIRC, he can splash out and let the slope carry the ball down to the hole. Immelman and Shaggy (Brandt’s taken over the title from Appleby, who just dumped a ball in the creek at 12) both have loooong par putts at the first.

14:42:20: Tiger’s ball fails to come off the slope behind the pin on two, leaving a long birdie putt. Cink looks to go ahead of him. Immelman and Shaggy have already bogeyed the first. Tiger’s backs off of his 25 footer due to some wind, then misses high and right yet again.

14:46:19: Nantz tells us that of 74 major starts by the four players ahead of Tiger, the best finish is a T5 by Immelman at Augusta… and that’s it. No top fours from anyone in 74 tries.

14:49:05: Tiger takes driver and plays perfectly up the left side of the third. Immelman finds the heart of the second fairway. Shaggy finds the center as well. Both have won the U.S. Public Links, but no former Publinks champ has ever won The Masters. Is today the first?

14:52:59: “Hello Friends.”

14:56:07: Casey fails to birdie 2, as does Flesch. Immelperson (we don’t want to be sexist) and Shaggy have a go at the green. Shaggy has 259 and hits a pretty good shot to the front right portion of the green. He’ll likely two-putt for a birdie. Immelperson, from 15 yards closer, misses pretty well to the right in the front of the bunker.

14:59:51: Scoring averages by round: 74.18, 73.56, 72.58, 74.61 (despite the players missing the cut having, well, missed the cut). Tiger’s birdie putt from twelve feet at the third misses low and left. Tiger may have his A game this week, but his putting rates about a C- at this point. Cink holes out for par and is still ahead of Tiggy.

15:03:16: Oosterhuis calls Immelperson’s bunker shot “not great.” He puts it to ten feet. I disagree and think it’s pretty well done. Tiger on the fourth waits several moments for the wind, then dumps his ball in the front bunker anyway. You know what I said about Tiger’s A game before? Make that a B+. Tiger can’t afford to make bogeys today – it’s that simple.

15:05:58: Shaggy bangs his long eagle putt home to jump into a share of the lead at -10! Immelperson must make his long putt to re-take the lead alone. He misses the same way Tiger did and taps in the return three footer for par.

15:08:36: Tiger blasts out to near tap-in range at four. Casey at the bat puts the ball to four feet from the left rough on three. He moves to -8. Notice how most of the Nike guys this week seem to be using Scotty Cameron putters? Cink lips out at the fourth and stays at -6. Shaggy blows the ball into the bunker at the third with his driver.

15:10:33: Tiger misses his par putt and has one just as long coming back, which he makes. He falls to -4 and now trails two players by six and, heck, trails his playing partner by two!

15:14:19: Shaggy plays back to the fairway from a buried lie on the third. Immelperson looks to play a low skipper back to the flag. He hits the ball as fat as the woman who is singing “it’s over” in Tiger Woods’ ear and comes up well short.

15:16:10: Steve Flesch underclubs by three and lands short of the bunker on the fourth. Tiger yanks his tee shot left on the fifth. Shaggy leaves his birdie attempt from 80 yards about 35 feet short. Tiger, from a blind spot on the fifth, nearly hits a glorious shot but instead finds himself just short of the green to a tough pin. Casey leaves his ball in the bunker at the fourth. Flesch puts the ball to four feet from the fairway. You know, on the par three. Casey’s third rolls out to 15 feet. He would later miss and double bogey the hole. Flesch would coax his home for par.

15:21:14: Shaggy lips out his lengthy par putt on the fourth. A bogey at the short hole is a bad thing. He has yet to make a par, and gets back to -9 where he began the day. Immelperson leads alone again.

15:23:10: Cink, who is beating Tiger, is not shown on the fifth until we see a LONG par attempt. What gives, CBS? Tiger’s lengthy putt up a waist-high slope with ten feet of break… stops a quarter turn shy of falling into the cup. Ouch.

15:24:18: Immelperson yanks the ball way long and left at the fourth. “Nearly on the fifth tee” says Feherty. Cink rolls home his bogey putt and falls back to -5. Shaggy finds the far left side of the green, pin high, at the fourth.

15:29:23: Only 4 of 45 players are under part today, and two of them are in already. One (Cink) in the last four pairings. Padraig Harrington is quietly -2 on the day through six.

15:30:40: Tiger sticks it to about five feet on the sixth. It’s playing 175 downhill, and Tiger hits a punchy 8-iron. Immelperson (I need a shorter nickname for him) puts it to five feet on four from the fifth tee. Flesch finds a nice spot on the fifth green from trouble. Shaggy blows his long putt six feet by at the fourth. Flesch just misses his birdie putt and cleans up for par.

15:33:35: Tiger must make this birdie putt at six. He does. He’s now -5 and five shots back. Graphic: Tiger has 13 majors. The rest of the top 7 on the leaderboard have 13 PGA Tour wins combined.

15:34:38: Shaggy and Immelperson drop their par putts. Casey drops a shot at the fourth to fall back to -5. Cink, for par at the sixth, makes his putt. He stays -1 on the day.

15:37:23: Tiger drives well off the seventh – we get a good camera angle. Immelperson drives off the fifth and finds the fairway. Shaggy joins him soon thereafter before making a quick trip to the Mystery Van to bang Velma and grab some Scooby Snacks.

15:42:08: Immelperson has 171 to the fifth. He somehow gets the ball to bounce forward at the fifth and has a six footer for birdie. He still doesn’t smile. Shaggy, from a yard or two closer, nearly matches and puts it to 15 feet on the proper level. Tiger from 148 at the seventh sucks the ball well off the front of the green. Kostis said the ideal shot is long and left to let it funnel back.

15:46:34: Paul Casey grounds his club and the ball moves. This is the second time after Michael Thompson had the same happen to him on the 15th on Friday. Casey assesses himself a one-stroke penalty. Tiger over-reads his chip shot and leaves himself a tap-in. Casey taps in for what is now a bogey at the sixth. He hasn’t made par since the second. Shaggy misses his birdie putt.

15:48:55: Immelperson makes his birdie putt at five and gets back to -11. Steve Flesch has all pars so far.

15:51:23: Tiger tees off at the eighth from the front of the tee box. Every hole seems to have the tees up today: are the greencoats trying to encourage a little scoring today? Tiger blasts it over the bunker, up the right side.

15:52:45: We’re reminded that Immelperson likes Gary Player. A lot. Gary Player somehow appears to remind us that he’s travelled 328 million miles, has hit more golf balls, and has done more pushups than everyone in the history of humanity combined. Immelperson hits to 20 feet. Flesch goes way left at seven and into the trees. Shaggy, weak from his rendezvous with Velma, leaves the ball well short and right.

15:57:31: Steve Flesch is hitting the woods well today. As in the pine trees. He banks one off the trees into the opposite treeline at seven. Shaggy leaves a big breaker seven or eight feet short. Immelperson misses a quick putt right and taps in for par. Barring something drastic (by Tiger and/or Immelperson), I think another South African will take home a green jacket.

16:02:28: Shaggy gags on his short putt and falls back to -8. Immelperson is still at -11. Flesch makes a lengthy bogey putt to fall back to -7. Tiger doesn’t even come close to reaching the eighth green, but leaves a good angle to the back left pin. That hole is playing long into the wind today.

16:03:59: Friend: “Glad we haven’t seen Phil in at least an hour.”

16:05:45: Kostis: “Mentally this gets tougher now for Immelperson. For Shaggy, it’s physically more difficult now. He’s got to hit great shots.” Immelperson’s tee shot looks hooked left, but finds the fairway and kicks down. Hello, 40-yard-wide fairways! Cink, from 65 yards at eight, puts the ball to 15 feet. Tiger can’t get inside Stewart and starts to get that “cinking” feeling. He looks exhausted by a week of near misses.

16:10:25: Tiger over-reads yet another mid-length putt and taps in for par. You can’t win the grand slam if you can’t win the first one. Immelperson looks uncomfortable at the seventh, and skips the ball up to four feet. Kostis: “Lucky break there.” Immelperson just won the Masters. Do we need to keep live blogging? 😛

16:16:46: Shaggy blasts out and misses his par putt on seven to fall back to -7. Immelperson flat out yanks his four footer left and stays at -11. I had all but given him the putt and written a sentence about how boring the back nine will be today. He still leads by four, but that would have virtually cemented his win very early on Sunday.

16:20:31: Immelperson finds the bunker at eight. Tiger, from way down the fairway at the ninth, puts the ball beyond the pin and tries to pull it back. It stays on the knob, less than a foot from rolling back tight to the cup. Flesch birdies to go back to -8. Shaggy, from the tee, bounces his Bridgestone off someone’s noggin left of the fairway.

16:25:05: Odds of TIger making his putt on nine: 1 in 100. Odds of a normal person: 1 in 50. That’s how bad Tiger’s putting is this week. 🙂 Predictably, he over-reads the putt and misses high. You know those 30s people used to shoot on the back nine? Tiger needs one. Faldo says Tiger needs to get to -10. Immelperson reaches the top of the hill from the bunker.

16:27:23: Tiger now has 104 putts through 63 holes (1.65 putts per green). YOW. Horrible.

16:29:58: Immelperson with an abnormally lengthy third shot into 8, and leaves himself with a lengthy putt of about 100+ feet. Tiger smashes his drive on 10 with a nice draw, but looks disappointed for some reason.

16:33:47: Shaggy lacks spin and goes just a tad long at eight. Flesch at 10 finds the proper distance and faces a tricky 25 footer for birdie. He misses low.

16:35:37: Immelperson has almost the reverse of the Rory Sabbatini putt. He knocks it eight feet by the cup. Not a bad effort, but not a good one either. BTW, I’m glad Rory isn’t around for the weekend. Shouldn’t have won the par three contest and then talked about how the curse was silly. Ha!

16:36:42: Tiger, from the middle of the tenth fairway from 216, puts the ball in the back face of the bunker. If it doesn’t roll down, he may have an impossible up and in for par. The 30 he needs isn’t off to a good start.

16:38:35: Immelperson gives one back to the field and doesn’t touch the cup with his par attempt at the eighth. He falls back to -10 and leads Flesch by only two shots.

16:40:20: Why are the volunteers wearing bright yellow hard hats? I mean, really, they look like they escaped from a Village People music video or something.

16:43:01: Paul Casey: out of it after a +5 front nine. Cink from the pine needles left of the tenth, pops it to the top of the green. Tiger’s in the flat of the bunker blasts long and will face a 15+ footer with break for par. He and Cink will likely both drop a shot.

16:47:21: Immelperson yanks one from the right rough on the ninth into the front left bunker. That’ll be a testy up and down to stay at -9. Nantz chimes in with his four hundredth Gary Player reference. He’s now referred to Gary Player more times than everyone except Gary Player himself. Tiger and Cink bogey the 10th. Friend: “Stick a fork in him, he’s toast.”

16:51:31: Immelperso blasts out to seven feet. Shaggy wraps his par putt around the cup and falls back to -6, finishing with 39 on the front nine. Nantz thinks that Phil Mickelson, at -3, still has a shot if he can “do something.” He’s on the fifteenth! I’m surprised Nantz doesn’t still think his pal Fred Couples has a shot at this point.

16:57:24: Ian Backer-Finch after Tiger finds the middle of the 11th fairway: “That’s ideal there.” Wow, the insight! Thank goodness we have these commentators to let us in on these kinds of things. The middle of the fairway is “ideal.” Got to remember that one… But hey, at least it’s not Bobby Clampett talking about “impact dynamics.”

17:00:11: After nine, Immelperson -10, Lefty Uno -8, Shaggy -6, Tiggy -4, Lefty Deux -3. Nobody is under par in the last eight pairings.

17:05:26: Shaggy and Immelperson both find the front of the tenth green. We see Phil miss a birdie putt at 15 and then miss a par putt at 16. None of the final 20 players are under par today.

17:06:31: Tiger, 198 to the 11th. Friend: “If Tiger birdies this hole he wins the toonamint. It’s true. Cuz there’s no way he’s gonna birdie this hole.” Tiger and Cink have to wait for the blowers to blow debris off the green. Tiger finds the very front of the green.

17:10:28: Immelperson leaves himself a tap-in par at the 10th. Flesch from the 11th tee finds the fairway. Shaggy, +3 at this point and from further above the hole than Immelperson, coaxes his putt to a few feet for a second par.

17:13:13: Shaggy begins composing his post-round interview. “They said whoever beat Tiger would win this week. Where’s my green jacket?”

17:16:41: Tiger can’t make a five foot putt, but he can hole it from 75 feet at the 11th green. My friend’s face goes just a little bit green. The sad thing is, while CBS was in commercial, we saw the putt and the leaderboard on DirecTV’s Masters Mix. Shame on CBS for playing it like it was live. Even Cink had already made his par putt by the time CBS came back from commercial.

17:19:37: Tiger flies the green at 12, Flesch misses just right (above the pin) on 11, and IBF says that both shots are just fine. Aren’t they both straight down hill? Huh?

17:21:15: Friend has an obsession with Immelperson looking constipated. I agree he’s not smiling much. IBF talks about the Hogan bridge. Zzzzzzzzzzz.

17:24:25: IBF “checks things out” by putting around the greens in the morning. Tiger’s chip runs six feet past the cup. He holes the par putt easily. Flesch at the 11th makes his par putt. IBF tells us that Casey made bogey to move to +6 on the day.

17:28:43: Flesch underclubs by about two clubs and deposits a Titleist into Rae’s Creek in front of the twelfth. Tiger flails one way to the right on the 13th and the ball settles on the backside of a huge tree. Shaggy short right on 11.

17:31:46: Immelperson misses the 11th green way right of the 11th green. He’ll have a long chip through the fringe, to a green sloping away and towards water. The corner of the bunker almost comes into play.

17:36:51: Tiger punches out to about 100 yards, then we cut to Flesch making double bogey at the 12th. Shaggy chips way, way long at the 11th. Immelperson leaves his ball in the fringe above the 11th green. Another foot or two of speed and he’d have been set.

17:40:32: Tiger with 97 yards into the 13th to a tricky front left pin, four paces from the edge. Kostis: “We have seen 16 balls in the water. He needs to throw it about 20 feet past the pin. It’ll come back.” Tiger throws it well past the pin and it nearly goes in the hole coming back. He has a five footer up the hill for birdie.

17:42:54: Immelperson makes the tricky downhiller at the 11th. On the 12th tee he yanks his tee shot into the pine straw on the back of the green. His feet will be well above his ball and he’ll do very well to make par. He won’t have to, though, as Tiger misses his five-footer for birdie at the 12th. Immelman at 11 and Tiger at 13 amounts to a two-stroke swing.

17:49:06: From the pine straw behind and left of 12… Immelperson catches it a bit fat and leaves it behind the green but in the short grass. If Immelperson had bogeyed and Tiger had birdied 13, given Trev a four at the 12th, he’d be leading Tiger by only two. Instead, it’s likely going to be four.

17:52:12: IBF: “Lots of little stamens there.” WTF? Shaggy holes a long, long putt on 12 for birdie. Tiger misses right on 14 and his ball winds its way to about 75 feet away. Maybe he can make that length of putt.

17:53:38: Immelperson leaves his par attempt a bit short. There’s some chicken left on that bone. It’s four feet. He makes it to fall back to -9. The top three are +2, +2, +3 today and Tiger is only even par. The top three have the par fives on the back to play, though, and Tiger is past his first. Cink is +2 also.

17:58:40: Tiger leaves his par putt six feet short, then misses the par putt left. He falls back to +4 and is +1 for the day. Some charge, huh?

18:01:02: I don’t know much, but I know I ain’t buyin’ gas at Exxon Mobil anymore. If you’re one of a few people who can advertise during the Masters, why wouldn’t you produce more than one commercial?

18:06:58: Shaggy hits it into the creek from 199 on the 13th, repeating his performance there yesterday. Tiger’s standing in the 15th fairway with a wood in his hands, waiting for Boo Weekley to make his seven and get out of the way.

18:10:01: Tiger waits for the wind to settle down, then drops it right of the green and fairly deep. It’ll be a tough up and down from there, but at least he’s nearby. Shaggy misses his par putt by a football field, and Immelperson has only two feet for birdie to get back to -10. He has a five shot lead with five to go.

18:18:03: Tiger misses his 15-foot birdie putt at the 15th. He’s made one putt today and missed several short ones. His 68 is currently a 73. The five shots between 68 and 73would put him just one back of Immelperson. Tiger has birdied two holes today, and neither was a par five.

18:23:20: Tiger puts his ball to six feet on the 16th. Can you say “too little, too late”? Besides, he’ll probably miss the putt anyway.

18:27:04: Immelperson taps to a foot from behind the 14th, and Steve Flesch misses his par putt to drop a shot at the 15th. Tiger predictably misses his birdie putt at the 16th and Snedeker misses his par putt. Immelperson leads by six, with everyone around him having gone backwards (Cink is at least even on the day). Woods is in a four-way tie for second now. What did I say several hours ago about getting one closer to Jack’s 19?

18:29:38: This Masters is even more boring than last year. At least people were bogeying all over themselves last year. This year, there’s not even any competition. The only ones excited by this Masters are the Immelpeople.

18:32:13: As Immelperson drives off 15, I wonder how things had gone if his ball had found the hazard on 15 yesterday.

18:35:45: Predictably, Immelperson lays up at 15. He could dunk three in the water and still have a lead. Tiger’s putt from super long range on the 17th comes up several feet short.

18:40:22: Immelperson puts the ball to 20 feet on the back of the green at 15, his last real challenge. Cakewalk. As Immelperson just misses his birdie bid, Friend and I spot someone in the grandstands sleeping. We agree: yawn. Shaggy birdies to snag second place alone just as Tiger drives left into the trees at 18.

18:49:05: Immelperson yanks his ball left on 16 into the water. Lundquist, still shaking from Tiger’s chip in 2005, thinks he’s in the bunker. The only thing that could make this Masters interesting is if he were to do that two more times. Or hit a bird with his third shot and withdraw out of angst at having killed it. Immelperson will have shot a final-round 75 and won the Masters by three.

18:53:34: Tiger, from the left trees (with a clear shot), lands the ball beautifully on 18 and it rolls back to about fifteen feet. That’s 60 feet inside and 14½ feet outside of his “make” zones, but he rolls it in anyway. Tiger’s four rounds: 72, 71, 68, 72. He finishes -5 and Tiger will, indeed, creep closer to Jack’s record 19 second-place finishes.

18:57:14: Tiger is second alone, three back now, after Immelperson misses his bogey putt and Shaggy three-putts from the back fringe for bogey. He falls to -4, leaving Tiger second alone in second at -5. Immelperson is -8.

19:05:00: Of all the South Africans in the field, and Tim Clark’s recent runs, and Retief’s string of second- or third-place finishes, who’d have thought Trevor Immelman – shooting a final-round 75 – would win The Masters by three? Seriously? Be honest. Even Gary Player didn’t think so, and Gary Player knows everything.

19:05:50: Immelman drops his approach on 17 into the front bunker. He’ll probably get up and down, no big deal. I think we’re seeing a mini-choke here, but with six shots to play with, he can have a mini-choke and still win by three.

19:12:09: Immelperson makes his three footer for par and heads to the 18th with a lead he could protect playing left-handed.

19:13:51: Immelperson finds the fairway at the 18th and issues a visible sigh of relief. He could use his putter from here on in and win by two. I think it’s a non-Nike putter, so it’s not like it would fall apart or something.

19:19:01: Shaggy hits a good recovery from the right “second cut” to about 25 feet. Immelperson from the heart of the fairway (and the heart of a big divot) puts it a foot inside of Shaggy’s ball. After impact he said “get lucky.” No luck needed today, Trevor: nobody mounted anything near a challenge.

19:22:20: Walking up 18, Trevor still can’t smile. Instead, he grimaces. Is he capable of smiling? He could four putt and still win. From 20 feet. SMILE.

19:24:21: Shaggy gives Immelman a read, who still looks like he’s constipated. Maybe he is. Pimento cheese sandwiches aren’t for everyone. Trevor Immelman from 20 feet: just misses. He’ll tap in. Still no smile.

19:25:33: Jack: 19, Tiger: 5.

19:25:40: Trevor Immelman, your 2008 Masters Champion, finally smiles. And that’s all she wrote.