Newly crowned Masters champ Zach Johnson and the rest of the tour don't have much time to rest as the Heritage Tournament at Harbour Town Golf Links awaits them this weekend.
I like my Masters spring-like. Odd site it was to see spectators covered in blankets. The blooms were out and the birds were chirping but I felt cold watching it. Exxon Mobile lucked out with the unseasonably cold weather: See, no global warming. Big Blue’s ads were great - - I didn’t tire of Sam Elliott, the stranger from The Big Lebowski, voicing over Augusta beauty shots to the tune of Yo-Yo Ma. The sites and sounds were so attractive in that ad that I don’t even know what it was about. The red box at the end was too abstract; I was already in a trance.
Wait, I thought, this is something more than a pleasing video? I don’t understand. Maybe if I buy IBM I can have a nice red box, too, and Yo-Yo Ma will come over, and I can ask Sam Elliott to say 'the dude' and 'sarsaparilla' on demand, over and over again? Awesome! How do I buy IBM? What is IBM? I’m sure whatever it is I will like it.
Golf happened, too. I’m not sure if the difficult conditions and high scores most of the tournament made for more interesting viewing than the calmer scoring conditions Sunday afternoon. Tiger Woods wouldn’t have made a short eagle at No. 13 any other time during the tournament. On the flip side of par dramatics, eventual winner Joaquin Phoenix, I mean, Zach Johnson, wouldn’t have made bogey on No. 16 Friday if the course wasn’t playing so tough. His tee shot almost went in. About half an inch was responsible for a four-stroke swing on one famous par-3.
What’s more interesting, a butchered hole or a conquered hole? It’s the same for everyone, of course. Would you rather see a baseball game with more offense, more home runs, or a tight pitching duel in which the sluggers scratch for par, move runners over, sacrifice and so on. That’s playoff baseball, the best kind, in my opinion, and the way the game was meant to be played.
That kind of do-the-little-things approach, scratch-out offense when you can but stay in the game at all costs (for baseball that would be the importance of pitching and defense), was exhibited by Johnson, whose approach to the par-5s - - He laid up on all of them all week - - was tactical, smart, and indicated that he was aware of himself and what he could do to win. Tiger’s approach to last year’s British Open was similar in that he went with irons off the tee, played back, played safely back, that is, and won.
A big surprise was to see Retief Goosen take long iron off the tee at No. 13. He was coming off the bogey at No. 12 and had lost the lead. By that time Sunday the wind had died down considerably and pins were more accessible. Tiger would have gone for the green in two regardless of the more benign change in weather Sunday but Goosen didn’t recognize that the back nine after No. 12 represented an opportunity to make a few birdies coming in, which is exactly what Johnson did. Goose missed some putts that might have changed things, yes, but that decision on the tee at No. 13 seemed to indicate that he didn’t recognize the moment.
A Mickelson note: He’s in a no-win situation until he wins his next major, which could come at the British Open where he’s been least successful of the four majors. He’s that mercurial. Suggestions that the last hole of Winged Foot is still in his head regarding his performance last week are off the mark, I think. Plenty of top players made a mess at Augusta, like Ernie Els, who missed the cut.
Mickelson tripled the first, true, but the first was carnage on Sunday. Bogey was a good score. There’s no way the pressure and his demons got him there. If he butchered the last with a lead, that would be one thing. In any case, I continue to feel calmer, have a sort of Zen-like experience watching him now because I’m not picking him. I hope he wins again, but he could run the table on the majors this year and I wouldn’t pick him. At some point Pamela and Tommy had to break up, to survive.
In all, I was into this version of The Masters at times and not so into it other times. I like the fight for par, but at the same time something was missing. A pitching duel in October is well served by a clutch ninth inning blast toward the harvest moon.
It was still Christmas, though, this Masters, a gift, a mostly free entertainment. But it was like the tried and true Johnny Mathis album was replaced by a new album, a good album, but missing something just the same.
Last week: I needed Goose to win at 25-1 in the outright for a nice week. He covered the head-to-head, at 8-15 over Arron Oberholser, 1 unit, for $533.33 - - half a unit.
At this week’s Verizon Heritage on Hilton Head, take Jim Furyk (10-1), 1/6 unit: You could say that a grinder like Gentleman Jim would just as soon prefer the test be like it was last week and not on the relatively benign links course this week. But you could also say he’s in the mix wherever he plays and that if he’s been struggling with his putter this year and still managed a T13, he’s going to make hay. He’s finished second at Harbour Town the last two years.
Take Trevor Immelman (33-1), 1/6 unit: Guy can play, he’s not a rookie of the year, flash in the pan. Three top-10s this year and a hard earned T55 last week.
Take Vaughn Taylor (33-1), 1/6 unit: I saw enough last week. He won’t have the same gallery support this week but he also won’t have the pressure. The T10 at home wasn’t an aberration: he finished third at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and T27 at the Shell Houston Open in the two weeks prior to the Masters.
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