Unlike past Masters, this year's tournament was won and lost on Augusta National's tees instead of on its greens by Eric Alpenfels

Courtesy of CBS

By Eric Alpenfels
One of GOLF MAGAZINE's Top 100 Teachers

THE MASTERS used to be little more than a short-game competition, but the new-look Augusta National, with 300 additional yards and some strategically placed trees, required players to be as dexterous with the driver as with the putter. The key to Tiger Woods's victory was his controlled driving during the final nine, while his would-be challengers, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh, self-destructed with wayward tee shots. Els lost his chance at victory when he uncorked a snap hook into the woods at 13 (above) that led to a triple-bogey 8. Singh yanked his drive at 14 and made bogey, and then on the 15th, the easiest hole on the course, he pulled another tee shot and was blocked by trees. That forced him to lay up to the right side of the fairway, giving him the most difficult angle to the flagstick and, two splashed chips later, he had a quadruple-bogey 9.

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BACK TO THE FUTURE Some onlookers thought the National's extra distance robbed the Masters of its usual Sunday excitement because there was a dearth of birdies and eagles, but I think the tournament was more thrilling than ever. How often do you see the world's third- and seventh-ranked players (Els and Singh, respectively) implode down the stretch with dreaded others? I found it much more compelling to watch players mull a plethora of options on each swing rather than simply go full bore everywhere except around the greens.

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD Another thing I loved about the revamped course was that it forced players to think. The pros had to develop new game plans and then follow them under the suffocating pressure of the final round. Els lost his chance at victory because he failed to execute his plan. During the practice rounds he had determined that he needed to favor the right side of the 13th fairway and hit a slight draw with a three-wood, instead of busting a hard hook around the corner as he'd done in previous Masters. Caught up in the moment on Sunday, Els took his old, aggressive line but couldn't pull off the shot on the longer, more exacting hole. "It was a crazy error," he said. "I told myself before this week, Don't go left like in previous years. I guess I didn't listen to myself."

OUT OF THE WOODS Unlike Els, Woods was able to summon a draw when needed, hitting one of his best shots of the final round on the par-4 5th hole. After pulling his drive into the trees, Woods was 185 yards from the flag on a sidehill lie with his ball in scruffy grass. He stayed balanced over the ball and rotated his arms perfectly, hitting a low, stinging four-iron that drew perfectly to the front fringe, 70 feet short of the flagstick. Woods went on to make bogey, an acceptable outcome given the way his opponents were unable to recover from their mistakes.

Eric Alpenfels is the director of the Pinehurst (N.C.) Company Golf
Institute and one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers.

Issue date: April 22, 2002