So, kids, anything happen this weekend that you'd like to talk about?
Blogging this will be fraught with peril.... I'm not sure that my snarky musings are a good fit for the big stage, but let's have at it...
The Big Picture - We'll go with an experienced pen to kick this off, the great Mike Bamberger:
AUGUSTA, Ga. — In 1986, Jack Nicklaus, at age 46, won his record 18th major championship, on the fabled course here. On that same Sunday, 33 years ago and insuburban Southern California, Tiger Woods, age 10, watched the Masters for the first time. Eleven years later, as golf’s ultimate prodigy, he won the tournament. It was his first Masters win and his first major title. On Sunday, he won it again, his fifth Masters win and his 15th major title. In ’86, Big Jack turned back the hands of time, for a final time, as it turned out. Ever since, 18 has been golf’s holy number every which way to Sunday. Tiger’s victory on Sunday, at age 43, was completely different. This was the first major victory of his reconfigured life.
Or, as Brooks Koepka put it, “I think 18 is a whole lot closer than people think.”
Time will tell. In the meantime, there is only one person who can win the Grand Slam this year. And there is only one person who has won majors where the next two majors will be played, Bethpage Black for the PGA Championship in May and Pebble Beach for the U.S. Open in June.
It depends upon the meaning of reconfigured.... and also the meaning of win. Mike's got some good bits here as well:
The kids on Tour – Justin and Jordan and Xander and what’s-his-name – all grew up Tiger. They worship Tiger. But they’re not like Tiger. They’re all about team. Go Team!Tiger doesn’t use the word we, not in public. Yes, there’s a small, tight team around him: his agent, Mark Steinberg; his caddie, Joe LaCava; his wingman, Rob McNamara; his girlfriend, Erica Herman; his equipment whisperer, Mike Taylor. A few others, largely unknown, trained professionals who tend to his contracts, his body, his head, his estate, his boat, his foundation. On it goes. But it all begins with Tiger’s otherworldly desire, a desire, and a veins-in-the-neck intensity, that brings to mind not Jack Nicklaus in his 40s, but Tom Brady, in his.
Woods didn’t go into a time-warp here. What he did was more astounding, really. He did the work and then played the rounds. You can start the clock two years ago, when he had fusion back surgery. All the before-sunrise trips to the gym since then. The ice baths. The range sessions, now more efficient than they have ever been before. The gratitude training, or the lessons in mindfulness, or whatever you want to call it. (Notah would know.) Yes, we’re talking about something that typically starts in grade school, the ability to say, and mean, sentences that begin with these three words: I’m grateful for . . . whatever.
And this as well:
“I’m excited about show and tell at school,” Woods said Sunday night. It’s the most charming thing Woods has ever said at a press conference. His kids, Sam and Charlie, go to a school, the Benjamin School in South Florida, that three generations of the Nicklaus family has essentially populated and funded for decades. You may know that the Masters winner gets to wear his green coat in public for a year, until the time comes to defend the title. The last time Woods won the Masters, in 2005, he and his then-wife, Elin, were practically newlyweds and they had no children. Now they have two, and those kids are of show-and-tell age.
He is at his best talking about his kids as, of course, is every parent. Making him more relatable than he's ever been.
Doug Ferguson goes with the man in red angle for his lede:
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Tiger Woods blazing to victory in his Sunday red at the Masters, a scene once so familiar, was never more stunning.
It was only two years ago at Augusta National that Woods needed a nerve block just to hobble upstairs to the Champions Dinner, unsure he would ever play another round of golf. He had a fourth back surgery with hopes of simply playing with his two children, not chasing Jack Nicklaus in history.
And now it’s all pieced back together — his life, his back, even golf.
A fallen hero, a crippled star, Woods is a Masters champion again.
And the pretenders that wore red on Sunday, Reed and Rahm most notably, had the good sense to go another direction on this Sunday.
There Will be Blood - This version of Tiger doesn't seem likely to run and hide from the field, as Dylan Dethier chronicles:
Tiger Woods won the 2019 Masters, but here’s who lost it—plus their level of heartbreak
Click through for the non-speaking walk-ons such as DJ..... when he was suddenly tied for the lead late in the proceedings, I truned to Employee No. 2 and said, "I wasn't even sure that DJ had made the cut." As for Patrick Cantlay, he looked as shocked to have the outright lead as the rest of us...
Brooks Koepka
When he might have won: On No. 12 tee, down two but holding strong. On No. 16, tied for the lead. On No. 18, staring at a short birdie putt to post 13 under, the eventual winning score.
The moment he lost: Technically it was when that birdie putt slipped past the hole on18, but really it was that miscalculated iron shot that ended up in Rae’s Creek on 12. He needed an eagle at 13 just to get those two shots back; that proved too big a deficit to overcome.
How bad was it? 5 out of 10. Koepka owned a share of the lead on the back nine on Sunday; for him to miss opportunities at 17 and 18 will stick with him. Still, this was an eloquent Koepka. I mean, have you ever heard the guy like this?
“That was probably the coolest back nine in a major championship I’ve ever been a part of, or just in golf in general. I think with so many guys going up and down, the lead’s kind of changing hands, depending what hole you’re on.
“I don’t know how it looked on TV, but it was amazing to be a part of. It was quite fun. And I mean, I watch the leaderboard all the time to see where guys are at and what they are doing, and to see Tiger, what he did down the stretch was impressive. And we already knew he was back, but I think he put the exclamation point on it.”
I think Dylan is slightly overstating the trauma here... He's won enough of these in the last two years and he obviously intends to be a factor going forward.
But of course there is that one guy that couldn't have gotten much sleep last night:
Francesco Molinari
When he might have won: For a while, Francesco Molinari’s demeanor, his putting stroke and his ability to fix any mistake felt like a steady climb towards inevitable victory and reminded viewers that eventually, the machines will overtake us all.
Assume the position, Frankie!
The moment he lost: A slight tear in the fabric of the universe came at No. 12, where the wind swirls and confounds the mind and body. Molinari said afterwards that his error was executional; in his words, “I think we picked the right shot and just didn’t hit it hard enough, as simple as that.” Still, that was only enough to give up his two-shot lead. The dagger came at 15, where Woods found the green in two and Molanari found it in six due to a tree branch/pond duo.
How bad was it? 7 out of 10. It wasn’t good! The back nine is supposed to yield fireworks, but all Molinari could find was heartbreak and double bogeys.
In the end, we were all winners. You could hear it in the post-round remarks: Koepka, Molinari, Fowler and Schauffele were among those who expressed their gratitude just to be there for Woods’ final re-arrival. Now that he’s won, there’s only one option: Dethroning him once again.
Dylan's grading on a curve, no? This seems about as devastating as it gets.... Short only of a Scott Hoch or Doug Sanders perhaps, but a solid 9-9.5 in my humble opinion.
The inevitable parallels will be drawn to 1986, which I think a highly imperfect analogy. Tiger was the far more relevant golfer this year, and had himself in that final group (admittedly, only because they played in threes), but in this sense it's comparable. Playing the role of Seve was Francesco, and we'll assign Brooksie the role of the Shark.
We'll take our first look at this week Tour Confidential panel on this subject:
5. Tiger wasn’t the only story on this Masters Sunday, it just feels that way. Francesco Molinari, who has been praised for his unflappability, took a two-shot lead into the final round but crumbled down the stretch, with double bogeys at 12 and 15. He finished two back of Woods at 11 under. What does this finish mean for Molinari’s rep as a cold-blooded closer?Wall: I’m not worried about Molinari. He had a strong track record before this week and didn’t crumble when he laid the sod over the wedge shot on 15, going one under over his last three holes. I still think he adds to his major haul before his career is over. He just happened to run into a Tiger buzzsaw on Sunday.Zak: I disagree with Wall’s assessment of “buzzsaw Tiger.” 70 doesn’t scream buzzsaw to me. Molinari showed pretty early that he was shakier than normal off the tee AND with the irons. He saved himself scrambling for the front nine and it finally cracked on 12. I’d say that reputation is a little damaged.
Would you like to hear my tail of woe? We had my cousin's son as a guest to watch Saturday's coverage, and he stayed overnight but had to be back at work in the afternoon. With the last group on No. 11, I used the Pause Live TV and ran him to the train station, which took exactly eight minutes.
When I returned we resumed watching. With Tiger's group on the 11th green, suddenly the TV displayed a Live TV logo and we saw Tiger on the Hogan bridge heading towards the 12th green. So, thank you Cablevision for your inept technology, but because of that I missed that moment when the crowds, excuse me, patrons, all groan simultaneously....
Back to the best response, which comes from Mikey Bams:
Bamberger: He is a human being. He is my favorite elite player in the game today. He is a man and a gent.
He is all that, and you just bever know in this game. But one also has a sense that he might not have many, or even any, chances like this in the future.
Joel Beall has this interesting take as well:
Masters 2019: When the world wants you to lose
It's hardly a Ryder Cup crowd, but still.... How about this from the legend:
The patrons at the Masters are the most well-behaved, respectful gallery in sports, an etiquette mandated five decades ago by Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones.
"It is appropriate for spectators to applaud successful strokes in proportion to difficulty but excessive demonstrations by a player or his partisans are not proper because of the possible effect upon other competitors," Jones wrote.
Those words remain true, but the trouble with Jones' directives of the past is that they could not possibly fathom the present.
And the guys all accepted their fate graciously.... In this sense, it was 1986 all over again.
The Caddie - Joe LaCava is an experienced hand, and already has an 18th hole flag in his man cave.... But some interesting thoughts from the day:
4. He, jokingly, denied Tiger a read on that 18-inch putt for birdie on 16.
That 8-iron Tiger hit into the green on the par-3 16th was absolutely pure. It hit thegreen, and started rolling back towards the hole. Everyone, including Tiger, looked like they thought it was going in. But it missed the cup, leaving Tiger about 18-inches for birdie.
"He said 'Take a look.' I said, 'Take a look? It's a foot and a half,'" said LaCava, laughing.
"He said, 'Left center,' I said 'Go for it.'"
The putt, obviously, went in.
It takes a lot of chutspah to say no to God....
8. The advice he gave Tiger on the first tee played out throughout the round.
"On the first tee I told him, 'Intense but loose,'" said LaCava. "Don't carry the weight of the world." It's a delicate balance, to make sure you're fired up enough to hit the big shots, but you don't want to be so overwhelmed by the moment that you tighten up and lose your ability to swing the golf club as you know how to.
"I think he did that," said LaCava. "I thought he was pretty loose. But I didn't want him to lose the intensity. At the same time, this isn't the end all. Not ‘Let’s just have fun no matter what happens'—don’t get me wrong. But be loose."
Is he effing with us?
The Burning Issue of the Day - Seriously, what's up with the gum?
Until Sunday in Augusta, Woods had never won a major coming from behind. And now the 2019 Masters champion has won his first major chewing gum from beginning to end.“Well, I’m chomping on this gum because I usually get hungry, I keep eating so much, and it curbs my appetite a little bit, which is nice,” Woods said. “Most of the time, most of the issues I have at tournaments, I lose so much weight, as you all know.”
A quibbler might point out that chewing gum should help with him lose weight instead. So the appetite curbing mentioned only makes a little sense.
Maybe Tiger is obsessed with pimento cheese sandwiches and this kept him from veering off the fairways to the concession stands? Maybe he wanted better-than-most breath? Or maybe it just calmed him down a bit.”
That makes as little sense as Joe rocking the Saquon Barkley shirt....
The Early Start - It changed everything, no? Most importantly, if not for the risk of violent weather, which did hit as predicted, Tiger would have been in the penultimate group. Dave Shedloski takes on its effects:
Amen Corner usually is quiet on Sunday morning. That’s because players don’t arrive there until the afternoon. This time, the final round really did begin (for some) on the back nine.
We get it...though the Masters itself doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday, and that's a very different thing.
It's a strange piece because he talks about guys like Rory and Jordan, but who really cares about how their day differed.
But the biggest weather-related effect was the leader Molinari being paired with his chaser in red... That alt-history is fascinating, but unknowable.
The Ultimate Question - No one wnats to answer it, but it's unavoidable:
First, those Tour Confidential guys:
3. Woods now trails Jack Nicklaus’ major haul by just three. The race is officially back on! Will Tiger get to 18?
Wall: I don’t think so. He’s proven he can win again on golf’s biggest stage, but the quality level is better than ever in professional golf. If players suddenly start fretting over a tee time with Tiger as they did during Big Cat’s prime? Maybe it happens. But these kids are fearless. I don’t see him catching Jack.
Zak: Dammit, I really didn’t want to be asked this question, but I see the point. No, the answer is no. Because PGA’s are hard as hell, U.S. Opens are harder and British Opens are just a wild card. Three more majors in his 40s would be absolutely incredible. But currently, yeah, I’m still drunk on the juice and considering it.
Marksbury: I like the way a player put it in our Anonymous Pro Masters Survey: Never bet against the GOAT. Let’s say Tiger has three good years left and two so-so ones. That’s 20 major championships. The idea of three more seems feasible, especially when five of those future attempts will be at Augusta. With his newfound health and confidence, I’m not going to be the naysayer here.
Someone has to be... Tiger won those first fourteen by being demonstrably better than everyone else, but that's of course no longer the case. To tie or break Jack's major total, it requires the post-fusion Tiger to have Phil's (to break it) or Ernie's career (to tie). Just think about what a big ask that is....
Brian Wacker takes it on here as well:
“This puts 18 [majors] into real reach,” Fowler said. “I thought the first one would be thehardest.”
It doesn’t seem so implausible now. Next is the PGA Championship in May at Bethpage Black, where he won the U.S. Open in 2002, and after that the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he romped by a record 15 in 2000. Though he’s never played Royal Portrush, site of the Open Championship in July, he does own three claret jugs.
Actually, it does seem plenty implausible to me.... Think about everything that had to go right for Tiger to win this one... does it seem likely that can happen repeatedly going forward.
I really think that caution needs to be preached here... we should get greedy and anticipate Tiger's march to 18. Rather, just focus on the increased frisson this provides in the march to Number 16. How great is that?
I'll leave you there with a promise that we'll have more to mull over in the next few days.... What a great week, one I never saw coming.
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