The winner of the Masters this past Sunday, Ángel Cabrera, finally deserved the title of Masters Champion. Having been in contention with his stellar play in the first three rounds and playing steadily through the opening holes on Sunday, he was nearly out of the race a few holes later when he dropped from -12 to -9 bogied, but never conceded. . the competition. He rallied to -12 under par and took every opportunity to stay in the game making birdies when he needed it. He only serves to enforce the old adage that “Slow and steady wins the race.”
Even after tying with Chad Campbell and Kenny Perry for a playoff, he almost got blocked when he hit behind a tree on the first hole of the playoff, #18. Chad and Kenny Perry were out on the fairway in great shape, but the Masters Sunday nerves got the better of them. They both pushed what would normally be routine iron shots onto the green to the left and right, respectively, leaving the door open for Ángel. He seized the moment to first hit a lucky shot that hit a tree and into the fairway, leaving him with a clear shot to the green. He seized another opportunity by executing an excellent lob wedge in an extreme pressure situation that put him on the green in three with a putt of approximately 12′, which he converted, to tie Kenny Perry’s par save and move to the next hole of tie-breaker. .
Chad was not so lucky and couldn’t save himself, so he left Kenny Perry and his playing partner all day, Angel Cabrera, to face off once more, only this time on the 10th hole. decisive of the Masters. Kenny hits his tee shot into the left trap while Angel hits safely down the center of the fairway. He was not going to make the same mistake again. His second shot was safe on the green as Kenny had pulled him out of the trap to the left of the green, leaving him with a very difficult approach chip to get close enough to save par, which he needed to keep his Masters hopes alive. . He stayed to about 25 feet and narrowly missed to the right, while Angel easily converted his two putts for par and the win. Congratulations to Ángel on his incredible win, but I must admit I was very disappointed in how things turned out.
If I had written this Masters, it would have been something like this.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson had teeed off earlier and both started at -4. Phil’s rally on the front nine was reminiscent of Nicklaus’s charge at the 86′ Masters and my favorite Masters to date of all time. This year’s Masters was a harrowing close second because Phil, Tiger or Kenny didn’t come out victorious in the end. When Phil turned the front at 30 or minus 10, I thought this was far from over and he could be one of the greatest teachers ever. From the time he’d tuned in, when Phil and Tiger first played, to the very end, he couldn’t take his eyes off the TV screen.
The consistent, stellar play by Angel, Kenny, Tiger and Phil was mesmerizing. The two best players in the world went head to head and caught the leaders having been 7 shots behind when they teeed off on Sunday morning. After Phil’s 30 up front, I knew Tiger had to make his move if he wanted to catch Phil, who was now at -10. He accomplished this by eagleing the 13th hole after Phil’s double bogie of 12th when he had made a mental mistake by not using enough club to carry the stream and land on a safe part of the green.
Tiger and Phil still had a chance, but they also lost potential eagles at 15, leaving them with more work to do if they were to taste victory. Phil and Tiger had at one point reached -11 and -10 respectively and were both standing on the doorstep of victory when they missed at the end. Tiger bogied the last two holes in un-Tiger fashion and Phil didn’t do much better. At the time, he hoped that Kenny Perry, who has been playing some of the best golf of his life for the past two years or more, could become the oldest player to win a Major, let alone a Masters. The -14 of him standing up from him at the end of the 16th hole had almost sewn him up.
A par on one of the last two holes would have ensured victory. He hadn’t gotten a bogie in the previous 22 holes, so why start now? But from the start now he did it with two consecutive bogies to finish at -12 tied with Cabrera and Campbell and the playoff loomed ahead. Kenny’s constant play had come to an end and the pressure of Sunday’s Masters finally took its toll on him. He almost handed the win over to Angel, who seemed calmer than the rest and just happy to be there in the fray without succumbing to the pressures of the day as much.
Well, as we know, Angel Cabrera wins, but it wouldn’t have been a thing if Tiger, Phil and Kenny had tied for a tiebreaker on that fateful Masters Sunday afternoon. I guess we’ll never know what the outcome would have been, but it sure is nice to dream of a Masters playoff scenario that almost was.
Happy golfing everyone!