One of my favorite childhood memories was watching The Masters every year with my Dad. We would watch the rebroadcast on Thursday and Friday nights, the wrap up show after those telecasts and then watch the live weekend coverage. The old saying "The Masters doesn't start until the back 9 on Sunday" was always true as players shuffled up and down the leaderboard with the difficult stretch of holes 10-12, birdie and eagle opportunities at holes 13 & 15, one last water shot at hole 16 and a very challenging finish at 18.
In the mid 2000's, the magic and drama that made The Masters had started to fade. The course changes and conditions turned the greatest theater in golf into a mini-U.S. Open with players struggling to make pars and playing more conservatively. While The Masters was still a great event, the roars and the Sunday charges from someone back in the pack were all but gone.
This past weekend we saw The Masters of old and it was as good or better than all those years my Dad and I were glued to the TV set. Starting on Saturday afternoon, there was a one hour stretch of golf that is the best golf action I have seen in quite a while. Mickelson's eagle-eagle-birdie stretch on 13-15 temporarily vaulted him to the top and Anthony Kim started to make things interesting on Sunday getting hot on this same stretch.
Sunday afternoon showed us that Augusta National can hold its own even when set up for scoring opportunities. When the tournament is on the line, nerves and your current position on the leaderboard start to take over. For example, Fred Couples has a fantastic start yesterday turning in 3-under par 33 but after a bogey on the 11th hole, feels like he now has to play a more aggressive shot at 12 if he's going to have any chance to get back in the mix. This leads to double bogey.
K.J. Choi, who looked like a machine for the first 12 holes, hears the roar on 12 from Mickelson's birdie then pulls his second shot on 13 into the back left bunker. From there he makes bogey and for the first time starts to look a little shaky coming in.
Even though Mickelson had a three shot lead with only two to play, Lee Westwood's birdie on 17 put pressure on Phil to not only hole the 6-footer he had left for par on 17, but forces him to hit quality shots on 18 to finish it off. How many times have we seen people drive it in the trees right or bunker left on 18? If you've watched The Masters on a regular basis, the answer is a lot.
All in all, a great weekend of golf. Very happy for Phil and his family after the last year they have endured together. Kudos to the committee for setting the course up with scoring opportunities again.