Lessons Learned from the 2008 Masters

You remember the Masters don’t you? Not the quiet recent incarnations, but the raucaus roar-followed-by-roar Sunday back nine versions?

The Masters used to be a lot more fun. A Sunday “charge” was not defined by a player managing even par. Players actually made eagles and birdies to gain ground on guys choking on their leads. It was great!

Today, there are really two majors: the Open Championship and the U.S. Open. The latter just happens to be held three times each year with the first and last being called, respectively, the Masters and the PGA Championship.

The Masters has always been a championship where players can make birdie on a hole or they can make bogey with only slight differences in how they actually play the hole. The greens can defend themselves. The course doesn’t need 505-yard par fours.

I love the Masters. I hope they decide to bring it back some day. Hey Billy Payne… come on ease our pain! (Or one of these days we’ll probably find ourselves doing yard work on Masters Sunday.)

I watched the whole painful thing Sunday. Trevor Immelman played great and richly deserved his title. He only made two bogeys over the first three rounds (and three including a double on Sunday). He’s been an under-rated player for years. Two years ago, he always seemed to be in contention, then an illness and injury put a damper on his 2007 campaign. Maybe this win will jump start him to further success.

There was some really good play on Sunday (Jimenez’ 68 on a gusty day stood out). There was also some bad play (Flesch and Casey went south in a hurry). Here’s some of the things I learned from this year’s Masters.

Number Five: Long Range Forecasts are not Exactly Reliable
As of just eight days before the start of the Masters, most of the weather forecasts were still calling for a mostly dry championship week. Hard rains over the weekend prior the championship, however, led to a soft course all week. Yes, those greens were “receptive.”

Imagine how difficult conditions would have been on Sunday with all that wind, if the course would have been dry and firm. Scores might have resembled those shot on Sunday at the 2004 U.S. Open at Shinnecock.

Number Four: Putting Reigns Supreme
Just as it does in your Saturday scramble, putting makes a big difference on the PGA Tour. Tiger showed up with a putter that just wasn’t on. Trevor took 112 putts (28 putts per round average). Tiger had 120 putts (30 putts per round avg). Eight strokes from his 283 total would have given him 275, good enough for a five-stroke win. Brandt came in at 113, while Cink used 117.

In fact, Tiger’s 1.67 putts per green was over the field average of 1.65. You have to go all the way down to Nick Watney at T11 to find a player that putted worse.

Naturally, players have to hit greens and avoid big trouble, but a hot putter can give players a leg up on the field.

Number Three: Parity Still Exists on Tour (Sort Of)
Immelman and Cink put together a terrific week. Snedeker, Flesch, and Casey had three good days before falling apart (to varying degrees) on Sunday. Mickelson had his blowup on Saturday, ending the rampant talk that he was going to take the Masters over the weekend. But in reality, any one of them could have won on Sunday.

Immelman was a deserving champion. His driving was out of this world. He hit amazing shots from the field, putted extremely well, and aside from that pull on 16 Sunday made very few mistakes.

Here’s the scary part… Tiger Wood’s putting was mediocre for him (1.67 ppg), his sand play was atrocious (16.67% sand saves), and he was still within three shots of Immelman at the end. There’s a reason he has nearly an 8,000-point lead in FedEx Cup Points.

The point is, when Tiger is not entirely “on” tournaments are pretty open in terms of who has a chance to win. Amazingly, an “off” week does not often take Tiger out of the competition. Pretty much everyone else has to play very well to get in contention. Woods putts poorly at the Masters (arguably the most important part of the game) and still comes in second. The other top players (Mickelson, Furyk, etc.) can do this to an extent (which is why they generally turn up toward the top of leaderboards), but only Tiger seems to be able to consistently put himself in position to win when his game is not quite up to par.

Number Two: Bomb and Gouge is Overrated
Surprise, surprise! Hitting the fairway can be important. Sound like a U.S. Open to you?

Immelman led the field in driving accuracy. He was second in greens hit in regulation and third in total putts. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

By hitting fairways, he gave himself better lies (the divot on the 18th on Sunday notwithstanding) and better angles into the greens, which he hit more than almost everyone. Finally, having better shots into greens allowed him to stiff some shots, which had the pleasant effect of also helping lower his putt count. That kind of trifecta will put you in position to win.

Number One: Modern Medicine is Pretty Darn Good
On December 18, 2007, Trevor Immelman had a benign tumor removed from his diaphragm (that’s pretty much in the middle of your chest, by the way). Scary stuff! Less than four months later, he’s the Masters champion.

Trevor’s closest pursuer on Sunday (along with many golf fans, sponsors, the media, and the Tour itself) now hopes he has a similarly quick and successful recovery. In case you’ve been stuck under a rock the last two days and missed the news, Tiger’s out for 4-6 weeks rehabbing from a third surgery on his left knee. This will give PGA Tour players a chance to narrow Tiger’s lead in FedEx Cup points over the next several weeks. As Tiger hits the physical therapy, we’ll be wondering if he can bounce back with a win at Torrey Pines the way he did in 2003 following his second surgery on that left knee.

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