Weekend Wrap - Masters Edition

For some reason Bob Marley's Redemption Song has been the soundtrack of my mind since about 7:30 last night:

But my hand was made strong

By the hand of the Almighty

We forward in this generation

Triumphantly

OK, where were we?  Mike Bamberger has been around long enough to have seen that which a few years back made Sergio himself say that he didn't have the right stuff to win a major:

AUGUSTA, Ga. —Eight p.m. The day's last light. Sergio Garcia, back on the practice green for the second time this day, but not for more putting work. This time, in a wooden 

high-back chair with a green cushion. The winner's throne. Stewart Hagestad, accepting the silver cup as low amateur, with the grace that is supposed to typify the game, turned to Garcia, who is 37, and said, "You were my hero growing up." The new winner—finally getting his first major championship—grinned like a man who knew that the rest of his life was now going to be a lot easier. 

We've watched him grow up, or many of us have. In 1999, Garcia was the low amateur here. Another Spaniard, Jose Maria Olazabal, won the second of his two Masters titles. Olazabal followed Seve Ballesteros, another Spaniard, who won green jackets in 1980 and 1983. Those two men were Garcia's heroes when he was growing up. It's an extraordinary thing. The Masters has been played 81 times. Five times it has been won by a Spaniard, golfing artistas who play the game in a way that is absolutely mesmerizing.

That's true enough, but somehow Sergio has always been a far more tortured soul than his two countrymen, and this one is all the sweeter because it seemed apparent that his time had passed.  He also seemed to have made his peace with that fact, and perhaps that's what allowed him to stay out of his own way...

For what is essentially a generic game piece, Mike captures quite a bit on the two protagonists:

But by quarter-after-six, it was obvious that the winner would come of the last twosome.

One (Sergio) needed it more than the other. He's an old 37. He's done everything you could do in the game, with one notable exception. He's won all over the world. He's led a glamorous life. He's been on winning Ryder Cup teams. But he plays in an era where majors have been venerated as never before, and his resume—his golfing life—was incomplete.

Rose is already a first-ballot Hall of Famer. He's 36, and he was, like his Sunday playing partner, a teenage wunderkind. We've watched Rose grow up too, though not as intensely as we have watched Garcia. (For one thing, it's hard to feel an emotional connection to a player who plays such technically exemplary golf.) Rose was playing with house money on Sunday, with his Olympic gold medal from last summer in Rio and his 2013 U.S. Open victory at Merion. The stakes were high for him, of course. Huge. But not life-changing.

Give the eerie parallels in their careers, it's amazing how different they are.  A hole-out here, a scissor kick there, both great ball-strikers whose putters betray them with some frequency.  But while I have no problem with Mike's characterization of Rose as a technocrat, he's also just a nice guy...  I do think he needed this a bit more than Mike lets on, as he's not a guy that's won all that much...  Rio is way over-valued given the weakness of its field, and a bit of time has lapsed since Merion.  

Michael Rosenberg had this on Sergio's belief in himself:

Well, what did fans know? They hadn't seen Garcia at peace lately, thanks to his engagement to Angela Akins, or the notes of encouragement that Akins asked their friends and family to send him. They hadn't seen the Post-Its on the bathroom mirror in the house they rented in Augusta this week, with inspirational quotes from Buddha and Audrey Hepburn and one that read: Don't forget to be amazing.

Audrey Hepburn?  But, we can all agree, he didn't forget to be amazing....  Especially on the 13th hole where, let's admit it, we all thought he'd come undun....

For Garcia, the answer was in the pine straw. There was a time – OK, a decade or two –

when doubt would have beaten him straight-up. But this is a different time. He felt it all week. Augusta National does not set up that well for Garcia's game – he prefers a fade, and the course calls for hitting a lot of draws, which is why he ended up in the pine straw in the first place. But Augusta is ideal for Garcia's new mental approach. Garcia now understands that bad breaks happen. What matters is what you do next. That kind of thinking is what wins the Masters.

Wait a sec, buddy...  I have it on good authority that the answer is in the dirt... He's not the only one that thought that ANGC doesn't set up that well for him, as I always thought he'd win an Open Championship or three.  

Of course the Tour Confidential panel was convened last evening, and were asked whether Sergio won or Justin lost:

Shane Bacon: I think the biggest takeaway for me was how Sergio didn't let the mistakes and the loose shots get to him. He should have birdied the 8th, had a great look at 9 and after back-to-back bogeys on 10 and 11 it all looked lost. But Sergio hung in, made that insane par on 13 and from there it was great shot after great shot. Ten years ago Sergio Garcia isn't winning this Masters. Heck, two years ago he isn't winning this Masters. But Garcia is a happier and more content guy than he has ever been and his resolve was the difference. 

Josh Sens: I'm with Shane. On the one hand, you could say that Rose failed to deliver the knockout punch when he had Sergio on the ropes. But the real take-away is the resolve Garcia showed. When his tee shot found the hazard on the 13th, who among us didn't think he was done? I wonder whether Rose himself even suffered the slightest mental letup at that moment, thinking that Garcia was a goner.

As is often the case, it's a bit of each....  Not that Rose lost it, but they each gave the other guy opportunities.  There's little doubt that Sergio's all-world par on No. 13 was necessary for him to stay in it, but it was likely insufficient had Rose made the birdie one expects from the fairway.

The eagle on 15 was huge... excuse me, YUUUUGE, but Rose's bogey on 17 was also a big factor....

Let me just ask at this point am I the only one uncomfortable with how we resolve ties, especially at Augusta?  There's this amazing adrenaline rush as you come up No. 18, and then in this case a huge letdown from missed putts.  Then they cool their jets for fifteen minutes and then get sent out to the tightest tee shot on the course... It's gotta be very hard on them to maintain their game face.

I did like this question:

2. Aside from Rose, who's kicking himself most about an opportunity missed to win the Masters?

Bacon: I think you have to say Phil Mickelson. He's 46 and you can't think he will have a lot more shots at winning a fourth green jacket.

Sens: Phil might be kicking himself, but if that's the case, then Spieth should be in full-blown self-flagellation mode. He survived two disastrous holes in the first two days and scraped right back into contention to start the final round. Sure, as he said in his post-round interview, he gets to keep coming back for the next 50 years. But Sunday still got away from him in a big way.

Let's face it, we all expected more form that penultimate group, but it's always surprising when Spieth loses because of a balky putter....  And would you have dreamed that Rickie could cough up an ugly 76 and that Jordan would rinse one on No. 12?  I know, he had to be aggressive, but c'mon...

But there's also this guy:

Bamberger: Dustin Johnson. The way he's been playing, shooting 10 under this week would have been almost easy.

Well, we never know, but it is a shame that we didn't have the chance to find out...  We were with a friend on Friday that has had a need for walking socks, you know, the ones with sticky things on the bottom for traction and intends to send DJ a pair.

 This was also an astute question, so much so that I don't need to excerpt the answers...

3. Garcia said on Saturday night that the seven-foot par putt he made at the 18th to close the third round wasn't that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, but it got him in the final twosome with his friend Rose versus drawing Jordan Spieth, an Augusta favorite. How important was that in settling Sergio's nerves?

Yes, and we all benefited from the great vibe from that pairing.  I found it very reminiscent of the Scott-Cabrera playoff in 2013.  

It's a particularly good week for questions (Rahm v. Pieters, most notably), and they go out a good one, to wit, with the proverbial monkey shed, will Sergio win another:

Bacon: It took him 37 years to get the first one so sure, I like him at the 2054 Open Championship! Honestly, who knows … I'm sure Garcia will be in contention five to 10 more times in majors, and if the putts drop, or his opponent hits a tree in the playoff hole, he could prevail. 

Bamberger: I don't know and he doesn't care.

You'd think he would become more dangerous going forward, but it will be some time before he cares....  I think a windy Open Championship is right up his alley, but it's remains golf, so none of us know anything...

Loose Ends - Masters-related trivialities....

Twitter has been unduly harsh to Justin Rose over his sunglasses, such as this:

Aren't you going to feel badly, Mr. Jones?

As it turns out, Rose wears those large shades to protect himself from severe allergies. I

played 9 holes with him on the Monday after the 2014 Masters, and he explained to me that protecting his eyes from pollen was essential to avoiding a debilitating reaction to allergies. (Alas, he sneezed and coughed his way through those 9 holes of golf.) 

And just in case you think Rose's shades look cool (!), they're the Adidas Kumacross 2.0s, which sell on Amazon for as low as $77.

Wouldn't You? - Sergio Garcia is considering wearing his green jacket at his wedding

Do we think this is genuine?

Sergio had taken the high road and tweeted a welcome to him when he signed with TaylorMade....  I guess it's good when they act like mature adults, though the blogging thereof is less fun.

Joel Beall had five takeaways from the event, though color me unconvinced on this one:

Hope for Rory

But, for a man that’s had a mixed history at the Masters, McIlroy should leave the 2017 event with hope. For the first time in his career, he was able to avoid the big numbers, and displayed a scrambling ability that, frankly, he’s never had. 

“Coming off the course yesterday I was frustrated. But today I am encouraged. I feel more comfortable around the place,” McIlroy said. “I feel like every time I tee up here I have a really good chance to win. I prepared well. I came a couple of times beforehand and that is something I will keep doing in the future.” 

It was a tad jarring to see Rory so off with his iron game, showing zero semblance of distance control. For years, some observers chalked it up to his equipment. Now, it’s a display that will fuel the fire around a possible looper change. Still, though he leaves without a green jacket, he does leave with hope, not only for a future Masters bid, but for a successful finish to the season.

Really?  I find that the back door Top Tens are all blurring together....  I find it interesting that he links to the players dishing on his looper, because I did hear him ask J.P. "What happened there?" after air-mailing a green earlier in the week.

But it doesn't seem like he plays these greens all that well, though admittedly he didn't get much airtime on the weekend.  But logically this is only going to get harder for him as the years roll by, and he gets tired of being asked about the career slam.

I'll leave things there for now, but I'm sure there will be more in the coming days....