Charl Schwartzel of South Africa won the 2011 Masters yesterday…haha…what? Seriously, I know this guy has had a good record in Europe and all, but he was the only player in the field that I had not previously heard of. He played great and won, but to be honest he kind of bored me.
If I had told you previously that Tiger could silence his doubters at the Masters this week with anything short of a win, you would have told me that I was crazy. That said, Tiger did just that. Shooting a blistering 31 on the front nine, Tiger was firing on all cylinders and making putts. When he made eagle of the par 5 8th and unleashed his classic fist pump, Tiger was back. He was charging at a major, making eagles, the crowd was behind him, and his world was restored to order. He relished in it. You could see how much he loved it on his face.
Which is exactly why he will be fine — I’d expect him to win a major this year. He was in fact leader in the clubhouse when he finished.
Also, it was a great day for Australian golf. Props to Adam Scott and Jason Day; the Aussie’s will capture a Masters soon enough. As for Rory McIlroy, he’ll be fine. This one will be appropriately chalked up to learning experience and life will go on. He’s got too much game not to win one of these shortly.
That was an exciting finish to a Masters, but a bit anti-climatic with a no name taking it home. I was hoping for at least a playoff between a few of the guys at the top. Can you remember a major that had so many people in contention on the final day like that?
I was rooting for a playoff as well. The good news was that everybody was making birdies coming in, which made it exciting.
I wanted a 6 person playoff, that would have been nutty.
Tiger just missed two putts on the back. He did seem to have his “swag” back.
He did miss a couple of short ones on the back, but he made everything on the front. He was driving it straight and firing at pins all day. He’s a stud.
Definitely was one of the more dramatic Masters Sunday, but the tournament flat-lined when Tiger didn’t finish strong and McIlroy collapsed. I know that you think Tiger is coming back strong this year, but let’s see him perform well on another course (after all Augusta is his bitch).
On a side note, I did enjoy the fact that Mickelson became Mr. Irrelevant at the Masters this week.
None of the remaining major venues are places where Tiger has established a significant track record. I don’t know much about Congressional (US Open). I was at the last British Open at Royal St. George’s, which was won by Ben Curtis. The course is super quirky and lends itself to similarly quirky potential winners. I think the PGA at Atlanta Athletic club could be a decent fit for Tiger, although David Toms won the last major there and he’s a shortish hitter.
I don’t think one should ever discount a golfer who has won multiple majors (Watson nearly won the British at the age of 92 or something like that). I don’t even need to see Tiger win a tournament to feel confident that he can win a major…just would like to see him back in the hunt to win tournaments on a regular basis.
I think you’ll see that from here on out. The new swing is obviously starting to click a bit.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m actually routing for Tiger to come back stronger than ever….if only to shut the ever obnoxious Johnny Miller’s trap and make him eat his words.
I’m not sure he’ll ever dominate to the extent that he has, but he’ll get to 18 majors that’s for sure.