Masters Leftovers
Not surprisingly, the television ratings for this year’s Masters were down 13% from 2005’s Woods-DiMarco showdown. I think the greens intimidated everyone to the point of the players afraid of running putts too far past the hole and leaving a tricky putt coming back. Even the treacherous 16th hole Sunday pin location didn’t have any drama on Sunday. Usually, the 16th is good for at least a few shots above the hole that come curling back down for potential holes-in-one.
Also, for all the noise made about Augusta’s lengthened holes, I personally don’t think it was a factor in eliminating or giving an advantage to certain players over others. Was the course tougher? Probably, but when you have Ben Crenshaw, at 54, on the leader board after Friday, I think it shows you just need to hit it straight and have a good putting round.
You’d think Phil’s win was the second coming of…Tiger. Literally every golf writer on the planet has jumped on the Mickelson bandwagon and picked him to run the table on the rest of the majors. No doubt Mickelson played very well, but I think it was a game of attrition more than anything else. That’s not to suggest Tiger hasn’t won a few this way, but the back nine was there for the taking if someone would have stepped up.
Tiger Woods is taking some serious heat from disability groups after making his “putting like a spaz” comment during his post-round interview. Was the statement inappropriate? Absolutely. However, it was said after a very disappointing round of golf and he was criticizing his own play after he’d just walked off the golf course. Granted, even NASCAR has had its own drivers clean up their language post-race so as not offend sponsors and impressionable children. And yes, even the PGA’s squeaky-clean, ultra-conservative players must be held accountable as well. And in fact, Woods did apologize through his manager Mark Steinberg.