Scores blown off course

Wind the real master of final leaderboard

There was a serious lack of excitement directly attributed to less-than-stellar scores. Augusta National simply was too tough. Only seven players broke par, none shot in the 60s, and the winner played his final 18 holes over par.

The final round of the 2008 Masters?

No, it was the Masters of 50 years ago, the heralded 1958 edition universally praised as a watershed moment in the tournament's history. It is beloved for being the first of Arnold Palmer's four green jackets and while the eagle at the 13th ignited roars, it is also remembered as a tournament in which Doug Ford almost "charged" into a tie thanks to a 70 and the legendary Sam Snead closed with a sloppy 79.

Two years prior, the winner, Jack Burke Jr., had a 71, one of two sub-par rounds that day, and it's doubtful there were many roars on a day when no one broke 70.

Two years before that? You had regulation ending with icons tied, Snead and Ben Hogan, and how exciting was the golf that day? Well, you tell me, because they shot 72 and 75, respectively, and wound up at 289, the highest 72-hole score for a Masters champ.

So with all of that introduced, let's be clear about one thing regarding the recently completed Masters: The fourth round had everything to do with weather and very little to do with the golf course. Winds that whipped around and bounced off Georgia pines at 15 to 25 miles per hour caused havoc.

If you don't think so, here's what one veteran caddie said regarding Sunday:

"That course, given the severity of the greens, is impossible to play in swirling winds like that. Players can handle any kind of weather [hot, cold, rain] but not swirling winds, because you have to [bail out] all day. The [par-3] 12th is a perfect example. You simply pick your bunker [behind the green] and hit into it."

Asked if officials could have done anything to help, the caddie said no, that they provided as much help as possible by pushing up the tees on a lot of the holes - the first, fourth, seventh, 10th, 11th, and 18th were rattled off - but the bottom line was the wind. "It was brutal and it was an impossible day to score," he said.

Hence the lack of roars, which was at the heart of so many critical essays penned by many colleagues. They contend the course has become too much like a US Open venue and they bemoan the lack of scoring chances and Sunday charges. Many of these voices have attended 15 or 20 or more Masters, so they have credibility, yet what of Saturday, one day before Augusta National was hit with so much wind? In Round 3, the field averaged 72.577 and the scoring highlights were plentiful: a 32 going out by Paul Casey, 33s on the back by Trevor Immelman and Tiger Woods, seven sub-70 rounds, 13 broke par. And what about the glorious final round just four Aprils ago, when Phil Mickelson came home in 31 strokes to shoot 69 and win his first Masters, holding off Ernie Els's closing 67 that featured a homeward 33?

Critics will say they are the exceptions, that the Masters of 1986 when Jack Nicklaus shot a stunning Sunday 65 or 1975 when Nicklaus's closing 68 held off Johnny Miller's 66 and Tom Weiskopf's 70 to win by one are not possible given the dynamics of the "new" Augusta National.

Perhaps, but when Nicklaus won in 1986, he shot 279. When he won in 1975, he shot 276.

Fast forward to Sunday and if not for a horrible tee shot at the par-3 16th that he pulled into the water, Immelman would have won at 278 with a final-round 73 that for all intents and purposes was equal to a 68 in fiendish winds.

Having never set foot on Augusta National before 2000, part of me would love to see the "first cut" done away with and Nos. 7 and 17 shortened. The trees at Nos. 11 and 15 could be softened, perhaps, and the caddie agreed that these are the greatest contributors to a course he insists plays tougher than it did even a few years ago.

But in 1956 when Burke came home in a scintillating 71 to erase an eight-shot deficit ("scintillating" being a relative word, for only one other player broke par that day), it wasn't due to a first cut, added length, or more trees.

No, sometimes the wind snuffs out the roars.

Best medicine: friendship

As he watched the final round of the 72d Masters, Bill Mallon was struck by the familiar tone to the story involving champion Trevor Immelman and his mentor, Gary Player.

It involved a letter Player had left for Immelman, a fellow South African, one that had encouraged the 28-year-old to stay focused. Player told Immelman that he believed in him and was confident he would win. Accompanying the story was a photo that showed a much younger Player holding the 5-year-old Immelman on his shoulder and what came across was this: Player has always been a source of encouragement for Immelman.

Mallon, an amateur star and one of the best golfers to ever grace the local landscape, knows firsthand about that.

"When I was playing junior golf I was always told that I didn't hit the ball far enough," said Mallon. "So I started lifting weights to get stronger and when I got on [the PGA] Tour, I became friends with Player. We'd go to dinner and to the movies."

They shared a common love of golf and physical fitness, so it was a natural connection. But when in 1979 Mallon decided that the PGA Tour had become too much of a grind, that it would be better for his career if he pursued medical school, he fielded a call from Player that made him nervous. Surely, Player was going to be critical of his decision to give up on golf.

What followed was not a lecture, but a great source of encouragement.

"He said, 'Bill, someday you're gong to be one of the best doctors in the world. This is a tough job unless you're doing well.' I thought he was going to be disappointed in me, but I said, 'Wow, he inspired me.' "

Mallon indeed went on to become a renowned orthopedic surgeon, one whose connections to the Olympics and the world of golf kept him involved in athletics.

He still has a passion for golf and can relate from a personal level on the challenge of Augusta National GC. He can also relate to the connection the newest Masters champ has with Player.

Etc.

Making other plans
The LPGA Tour's two excursions into Mexico didn't seem to enthrall the membership, at least those with the notoriety and world-ranking status. Obviously, Lorena Ochoa returned to her native land for both the MasterCard Classic and the Corona Championship, but she was about it, so far as star attractions go. Nos. 2 through 7 in the world rankings - Annika Sorenstam, Suzann Pettersen, Paula Creamer, Karrie Webb, Cristie Kerr, and Ji Ya Shin - missed both events, as did No. 10, Mi Hyun Kim. Jee Young Lee and Jeong Jang, Nos. 8 and 9, respectively, played in just the MasterCard Classic. Laura Diaz (MasterCard) and Brittany Lincicome (Corona) are two notables who showed up for at least one of the two, but Natalie Gulbis, Morgan Pressel, and Ai Miyazato all skipped both events.

Special interest group
When the latest world rankings arrived Monday morning, Colin Montgomerie was sitting at No. 75, so barring anything dramatic, he likely will miss out on The Players Championship for just the second time since 1994. Given the way he made so much noise a few weeks ago when he was passed over for a special invitation into the Masters, it should be interesting to see what develops this summer when the PGA Championship rolls around. Montgomerie delivered an inaccurate assessment that the Masters is the only major championship to hand out special exemptions, because guess who is in line to receive a free spot into the PGA Championship in August? That's right, Montgomerie.

Pitch them out
Fairway news: Masters champ Trevor Immelman gets invited to meet the Celtics at halftime of a game against the Knicks.

Clubhouse view: New to the dynamics of the NBA, Immelman wanted to know why New York didn't field an NBA team to provide competition.

Warm and fuzzy feelings
While Fuzzy Zoeller concedes that Augusta National may have become too tough a challenge for him, the former Masters champ remains a devoted fan of Wednesday's par-3 contest. Zoeller is annually one of the most popular draws and he loves to take young children out of the crowd to take a swing or two. Why? "You have to understand," said Zoeller, 56, "I'm getting older. We need somebody to take our place, so these young kids are the ones who are going to do it. So you have to give them something that you'll remember and every year they come back, they are going to say, 'I made that putt. Hey, I've done that,' and they'll keep coming back."

Wall of fame
His collection of "lifetime achievement" awards is perhaps more plentiful than green jackets and it will increase by one today when Jack Nicklaus visits Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen, China, to receive another. He has designed 13 courses in China, including one of 12 that are part of the Mission Hills layout. That's right, a dozen courses make up that facility, and among the designers are Nicklaus, Sorenstam, Pete Dye, Jose Maria Olazabal, Ernie Els, Nick Faldo, and David Duval.

Age-old reasons
Tom Watson, playing in his 34th consecutive Masters, shot 75-75 and has now missed the cut six straight Aprils, but he was bothered more by the manner in which things went this time around. Specifically, the penalty shots he incurred in the second round for failing to return his marker to its original spot at the third green. "Well, I am getting older," said Watson, 58. "Last year I hit the wrong ball by mistake and today I forgot to move my ball back when I moved the coin for a two-stroke penalty. I'm losing strokes the easy way by doing stupid things."

Sense of wonder
Congratulations to Robert Dunham, the latest to prove that golf is a game of wonders. He's 85 and legally blind, but Dunham doesn't let that stop his pursuit of golf. As part of a program through a VA hospital in Green Valley, Ariz., he recently teed it up at Tortuga GC and used a 9-iron to make a hole-in-one, although he wasn't at first convinced. "You guys better not be pulling my leg," he told his friends. Fortunately, they weren't.