At one point during the back 9 on Sunday, a friend of mine sent a text saying, “Is OK to admit this is pretty boring?”
Indeed, it seems almost sacrilegious suggest the Masters, the tournament we wait for all year, was rather dull for the final two hours. The top three players combined for all of two birdies on their last nine holes.
Dan Jenkins said it best in this tweet:
Indeed, with the exception of Watson’s crazy drive long drive on 13 and his even crazier shot through the trees on 15, there wasn’t the back 9 suspense we always seem to get at Augusta.
Brian Murphy of Yahoo! Sports thought it was a Tiger and Phil thing. He wrote:
The bigger problem was the cast of characters around Bubba. This Masters lacked fireworks. That whole “roars amid the pines” thing we get every April? Could have fooled me. The reverential say Augusta National is like a church. It was as quiet as one on the back nine Sunday.
Even Bubba himself shot a mostly ho-hum even-par 36 on the back nine. When he said in Butler Cabin on CBS, “I was telling my caddie, ‘I don’t even remember the last few holes,’ ” the rest of us were saying: Neither do we.
Murph added:
Say what you want about Tiger Woods – and believe me, if you read the “Comments” on Yahoo Sports, many of you say what you want – he’s become as much a part of the Augusta National landscape as the azaleas, as much a part of the landscape as Rae’s Creek, as much a part of the landscape as CBS’ Nick Faldo referencing his three Masters wins every five minutes, as if on an egg timer.
And even if he hasn’t won a green jacket since 2005(!), he is there on Sunday on the back nine, and he is close to the lead, and he is applying pressure. And you care about him. And even though I was with everyone who said the Masters is bigger than Tiger, that his back surgery and ensuing absence did not mean we would not get a great show, it turned out the show wasn’t as good.
Same goes with Phil, who disintegrated into triple-bogey hell on Thursday and Friday and missed the cut. When Phil is around, pressure is applied. Heart rates quicken. Cheers are louder.
Sure the tournament is better with Woods and Mickelson in the field. But there have been plenty of memorable finishes by other players in recent Masters.
2011: In charge worthy of Palmer and Nicklaus, Charl Schwarzel birdies the last four holes to overtake Jason Day and Adam Scott.
2012: Louie Oosthuizen makes a double eagle on 2. Watson then hits one of the greatest shots in Masters history to win the playoff on 10.
2013: Angel Cabrera cans a birdie on 18 to force a playoff. Scott then makes a dramatic putt on 10 to win the Green Jacket.
If we had some of the theatrics on Sunday, we all would be buzzing today about the Masters. For once, it didn’t happen at Augusta National.
Then again, there’s always next year. Let the countdown begin.
More on the ratings later.
Ed,
Sorry, but I lost interest in Dan Jenkins when I realized he utilized legmen (or legwoman in at least one case) to reconnoiter and scout for him and then provide material and one-liners that he often used a la Bob Hope. This year’s Masters wasn’t interesting. Please, don’t give me that “Tiger wasn’t there” excuse. When was the last time he was a factor in a major? Spieth is the future of golf. Watson is the present. He can do things with a golf club, as other golfers attested, that no one else — Tiger included — can do. And he’s healthy and stays out of trouble. The Masters is so much more than the back nine on Sunday afternoon. No other venue is comparable. No other event is to traditional. No other crowd is so respectful. I watched every hole on Sunday just to see if there would be a great drama, if Watson would pull off another great shot, if Spieth would pull off the unprecedented, if someone would come out of the pack with a closing 63 a la Johnny Miller at Oakmont in 1973. It didn’t happen. No, it wasn’t as dramatic as it might have been. But I certainly wasn’t disappointed. A boring Masters? He must be waiting for Tiger to make a comeback. That ain ‘t going to happen, either. Stick to Watson and Spieth and Scott and Rose and Reed and the young guys coming up. They don’t run into fire hydrants or change their swing every year or two.