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Top Masters moments Posted: Monday April 08, 2002 12:00 PM
The Masters has always been the best show in golf (not including Jean Van de Velde's finest hour or the occasional John Daly-goes-postal moment). Augusta National is part of the Masters' allure, obviously. It is golf's only true universal element, the one course in the world where every real golfer knows the back nine as well (or maybe better) than his in-laws. In the latter half of the '80s and early part of the '90s, the Masters had a stretch of scintillating finishes that probably won't be topped. The tournament generated excitement because the back nine yielded as many birdies and eagles, it seemed, as bogeys and doubles. With the toughening of the course in recent years, some of that excitement has faded. The Masters has become more U.S. Open-like, more of a survival test, and a little less dramatic. For example, Tiger Woods' record-setting score of 18-under par in 1997 would have been more interesting, don't you think, if Tom Kite had finished second at 16 under instead of 6 under? We're still seeing bogeys and doubles on the back nine, but the birdies and eagles on Sunday seem to be getting rarer -- or is it just me? Take last year's tournament ... please. (Sorry, Henny Youngman.) The key shots were David Duval and Phil Mickelson making bogeys at the 16th hole. What will the course changes mean to this year's finish? Maybe the layout will play tougher and a 34 will qualify as a major back-nine charge on Sunday. Maybe it will play like it did in 1999, when the greens were so firm and difficult to hit that the final round turned into a semi-dull chipping-and-putting contest, which, not surprisingly, was won by José María Olazabal, the world's best chipper and putter. Maybe the changes will make the finish more exciting, as the value of a par at the lengthened 11th and 18th holes increases like a tech-stock mutual fund in the late '90s. Or maybe the changes will be like Bill Clinton's presidency and make no difference whatsoever. But enough about you. Here are the 10 most memorable Masters moments since 1980 (or at least the ones I could think of while churning out this week's column): 10. Curtis Strange, looking as if he's going to rebound from an opening 80 to win, hits it in the drink at the 13th and 15th holes in the final round and watches Bernhard Langer take the '85 tournament. What can you say? It was hard to fault Strange's strategy (well, except for trying to play that shot out of Rae's Creek at the 13th), just his execution. 9. Chip Beck, trailing Langer in 1993, lays up at the 15th, infuriating macho golf fans. Beck, judging his lie, figured he might not carry the pond from 235; and even if he did, he had zero chance of getting the shot to stop on the green. Beck's real mistake? Making bogey after he laid up. Langer wins his second green jacket. 8. Raymond Floyd yanks his second shot into the pond at the 11th, the second playoff hole in 1990, handing a second Masters title to Nick Faldo and officially crowning him the luckiest freakin' player in the world. 7. Faldo hugs Greg Norman on the 18th green after playing an immaculate round while Norman skies to a 78, losing a six-shot lead on the final day. After years of being ticked at Norman for underachieving, fans switch sides and finally start to feel sorry for him. 6. Fred Couples hits a mystery ball in 1992 that inexplicably sticks on the steep bank in front of the 12th green. He chips up for an easy par and coasts to his only green jacket. What's with the magic Velcro effect? Heavy rains earlier in the weekend swelled Rae's Creek well above its normal levels, softening the banks. And, a little known fact, Couples is a practicing voodoo witch doctor. 5. Ian Woosnam, needing a par on the 72nd hole for the win in 1991, struggles up the 18th, then sinks a clutch 7-footer for his first, and only, major title. We all recognized Woosie as the best player in the world for, oh, about nine minutes. 4. Sandy Lyle hits an incomparable 7-iron shot from the fairway bunker at 18 on Sunday, makes the putt for birdie and edges Mark Calcavecchia in 1988. It was a great day for Scotland and a bad day for the champions' dinner the next year, when Lyle ordered up haggis, a delicacy cooked in sheep's stomach that Scots only pretend to like. Of course, if it's not Scottish, it's crap. 3. Scott Hoch misses a 30-inch putt on the first playoff hole in 1989, then loses on the next hole to Faldo. His sometimes-caustic personality and the unfortunate fact that his last name rhymes with choke made Hoch a headline writer's slam dunk and golf's new official poster boy for failure, erasing Ed Sneed's 1979 crash and burn. 2. Jack Nicklaus eagles the 15th, nearly aces the 16th, then rolls in a birdie putt at the 17th en route to a back-nine 30 and a come-from-behind victory in 1986. Figure in Kite, Norman and Seve Ballesteros and, well, it was only the best Masters of our lifetime. 1. Larry Mize chips in to beat Norman on the second playoff hole in 1987. Funny, when Mize hit a hideous shot way right of the 11th green, observers figured the pressure had gotten to him and not only would he have trouble getting up and down, but also there was a chance Mize's chip could run across the green and into the pond. Hole that shot for the win? No one expected it. MailbagThat's funny. Once again, there are no checks in the mail, just these damn letters ... Do you think Phil Mickelson could go the way of Colin Montgomerie and never win a major?
Monty will be glad to hear that you've given up on him, James, which is why he loves America so much. Phil will get at least one major -- and if I wind up being wrong, I'll stick my neck out and guarantee that he'll definitely get one, maybe several, on the Senior tour. Man, you're getting tough in your old age. I thought my question about nice guy Len Mattiace and who would make your all-nice-guy team was a good one. How about reevaluating that one? And/or who makes your all-interview team? Also, what are your predictions for the Masters?
There are too many nice guys to choose from, Hump, but you can start with Joey Sindelar and Nick Price and Mattiace and Beck and go from there. Stud interviews are Johnny Miller (duh!), Paul Azinger, Brandel Chamblee, Charles Howell, Davis Love and, yes, Nicklaus. Tiger may break all of Jack's victory records, but in media handling, cooperation, time-giving and being interested in trying to answer writers' questions, Woods is still a kindergartener next to Nicklaus. As for the Masters, the weather will have a lot of say, as usual. If conditions are firm and fast, the lengthened course could turn the Masters into a bloodbath. Personally, I think a longer, supposedly tougher layout plays into the hands of the best chippers and putters. Bingo if you thought of Ollie again. Also, Bob Estes, Retief Goosen, Tiger and Langer. Given all of the first-time winners on tour, why haven't any of the young guns been able to win early and often? Players like Charles Howell, David Gossett, Brad Elder? Are they slow starters or are they still in the learning curve of how to compete in the big league?
It's the Tiger Effect, Joe. Tiger made winning look a lot easier than it really is. Gossett picked up a victory last year, but he seems more like a Justin Leonard type, a solid player who will win on the right course but not somebody who's going to rack up 30 wins in his career. Howell is a terrific ballstriker who has some issues with his putting. Give him time. Ditto, Elder. Before Tiger, there weren't many players who had much impact on tour before they were 26, 28 years old. It's a tough league. Do the tour guys routinely buzz over to Augusta on an off day? Mark Calcavecchia and his sidekick are just the latest whom we've heard took a peek. If so, what are the qualifications?
A handful of players stop by in the weeks before the tournament. If you've got an invite, the club will take care of you. If not, you'd better be buddies with a member. I just read a reader's suggestion to narrow the fairways and grow the rough to counter the enormous distance some players are hitting the ball these days. I think your point is also well-taken, and I think limiting technological progress is silly, so I have a suggestion. Why not make the hole smaller by, say, a quarter inch? You can hit the ball as long as you want, but if you can't pitch, chip and putt you won't score well. This will put more of a premium on the short game, and maybe get us duffers to put away the driver on the practice tee and pull the short clubs from the bag.
Making the hole smaller isn't going to stop pros from hitting wedges to 450-yard par-4s, Tom, but it is going to make the game a lot less fun for the rest of us. Like I'm not three-putting enough already? Sports Illustrated senior writer Gary Van Sickle writes for the magazine's Golf Plus section and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com. Click here to send him a question or comment.
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