Golf Events from the Weekend 10th April 2011

Charl Schwartzel (RSA) with the Green Jacket he won for winning the Masters Tournament

Well what a week it was with the first major of the year, the 75th Masters Tournament from Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia, USA.

And it was one of the Masters Tournaments that everyone watching will remember for a long time. It all started on Wednesday afternoon with the Par 3 9hole course contest. The 9 hole par 3 contest is always a family affair when the players have their sons and daughters caddying for them. Sometimes players even have celebrities from other sports there to caddy for them as well. Like Zach Johnson (USA) had Andy Roddick (USA) one of the best tennis players in the world caddying for him.

Sometimes they have them play a shot for them as well, but if they do that, that means their score doesn’t count. And Luke Donald (England) won with a score of 22-5. But that was a bad omen. Because no player has ever won the Par 3 contest and then gone on to win the Masters Tournament. But Luke Donald (England) was hoping that myth would all change this year.

Thursday 7th April dawned a fine and sunny at Augusta with very light winds blowing. Two special players that have retired from playing in the proper tournament at the Masters got the Tournament under way by hitting the opening tee shots. They were 81 year old Arnold Palmer (USA) who won the Masters Tournament 4times with his last win coming 47 years ago in 1964. And arguably the greatest player ever to play the game Jack Nicklaus (USA) who is now 71 years old, He has the record for Master Tournament wins with 6, with his last win coming in 1986 when he was 46 years old making him the oldest Champion ever. They both hit fine tee shots down the centre.

So to the 1st day's play and it was the young Rory McILroy (Northern Ireland) that had the best round early on. He scored 65-7 in an amazing display of iron play. But in the final group Alvaro Quiros (Spain) birdied the last hole to also score 65-7, so those two players had the 1st round lead. 2 shots back on 67-5 were the 2 Korean Golfers K. J. Choi (South Korea) and Y.E. Yang (South Korea). Phil Mickelson (USA) the defending champion scored 70-2 and Tiger Woods (USA) got a slow start with 71-1.

So Friday 8th April dawned much the same as the day before with fine and sunny conditions with light winds. Rory McILroy (Northern Ireland) scored a 2nd round 69-3 to go with his 1st round 65-7, and was -10 after 36 holes. He had a 2shot lead over Jason Day (Australia) who had the best round of the tournament which was a bogey free 64-8 to go with his 72 even par  in the 1st round. The 64-8 he scored was the lowest round ever by a player making his 1st appearance at the Masters Tournament. He was -8 after 36 holes in sole 2nd place. Tiger Woods (USA) was another shot back at -7 after a brilliant back nine of 31-5 to score 66-6 in the 2nd round he was only 3shots off the lead heading into the weekend. Defending Champion Phil Mickelson (USA) shot 72even and was -2 after 36 holes, he made the cut that fell at +1, 49 of the 99 players that started made the cut. The big surprise was that the current world number 1 golfer Martin Kaymer (Germany) shot 78+6 and 72even par to miss the cut by 5shots.

Saturday 9th April at Augusta dawned just the same as the two days before with light winds and sunny skies. Rory McILroy (North Ireland) after a slow start to his 3rd round, got into gear late in his back nine. With a solid birdie on the par 5 15th hole after hitting the green in 2shots, he moved to -11 and when he sank a 25foot birdie putt on the par 4 17th hole he moved to -12 and had a 4shot lead. He very nearly birdied the last hole as well. So he finished the 3rd round at -12 after 70-2 in the 3rd round. That left him with a four shot lead over Jason Day (Australia) -8, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) -8, Angel Cabrera (Argentina) -8, and K. J. Choi (South Korea)  -8, heading in the final round. Tiger Woods (USA) had his worst round in the 3rd round scoring 74+2, and defending Champion Phil Mickelson (USA) shot 71-1 and was at -3 after 54 holes.

So to the final round on Sunday 10th April at Augusta National Golf Club and the 1st major Champion was going to be found for 2011 season. We all could hardly forget what happened to Greg Norman (Australia) 15 years ago when he took a 6shot lead into the Final Round over Nick Faldo (England). But Nick Faldo (England) shot 67-5 to Greg Norman (Australia) 78+6 and he lost by 5shots. So we knew it wasn’t a certainty that Rory McILroy (NIR) would win. And Rory McILroy (NIR) got off to a shaky start when he bogeyed the 1st hole after slightly pulling his short wedge shot to the green. He missed his short par putt. Then on the 2nd hole he hit a poor drive into the right Fairway Bunker, and hit the lip getting out. He still had a fairway wood for his 3rd shot on the short par 5, and pulled it in the left-hand green side bunker. But he hit a great bunker shot and was able to save his par.

On the 3rd hole his missed his 5foot birdie putt as well after a fine approach shot, so in the early stages he showed he was feeling the pressure of the final round of the Masters. On the other hand Charl Schwartzel (RSA) made an amazing start. After missing the green on the 1st hole to the right, he played a bump and run 3rd shot chip that rolled perfectly when it hit the green and went in the hole for a birdie, after just missing his birdie on the Par 5, 2nd hole. He went to the 3rd tee and hit a nice layup shot on the short par 4. Then he hit an amazing wedge shot that landed right of the hole spun left and rolled into the hole for an eagle 2, so he was -3 after 3holes and was already tied for the lead with Rory McILroy (NIR) at -11. He made a Bogey at the long par 3 4th hole, and then made all pars from holes 5-14.

Rory McILroy (NIR) meanwhile made a solid par 3 on the 4th, But made a poor bogey on the 5th when he under clubbed his 2nd shot and was unable to get down in 2. But regrouped and got a birdie on the short par4 7th hole and parred the 8th and 9th holes to go out in 37+1 and still have the lead at -11. But it all came apart for him on the 10th hole. He hit one of the worst hook shots I had ever witnessed there with having to play his 2nd shot from another fairway and just had to chip it back into play, then he hooked his fairway wood 3rd shot into a terrible position left of the green, where it took him a couple more shots to get on the green and he 2putted for a triple bogey 7 and was back to -8, He hit a good drive down the Par 4, 11th and a fine 2nd shot right over the pin. But he attacked his 1st putt and missed the return one and made another poor bogey to fall back to -7, He hit a good shot into the short par 3 12th hole, but again attacked the putt, and he missed hit return one for par, and the one for bogey as well. So a Double Bogey 5 left him at -5 with 6holes to play. And his dream of winning the Masters would have to wait for another year. He finished with 80+8 for the final round and was tied 15th at -4. But a small consolation is he gains entry into next year’s Masters Tournament because he finished inside the top 16 and ties that gain that privilege. I guess he knows how Greg Norman (Australia) felt in 1996 when he was in a similar position to Rory McILroy (NIR) heading into the final round and the same thing happened to him. I’m sure it will be a good learning experience for Rory McILroy (NIR) and it should make him more mentally strong. And I feel he will win a major in the next few years.

Rory McILroy (NIR) looks disappointed after losing the Masters Tournament

Anyway back to the final round, and things were really starting to get interesting now, Tiger Woods (USA) had gone through the front nine in 31-5, that included 4 birdies and an eagle on the long Par 5, 8th hole and was -10 in a tie for the lead with Charl Schwartzel (RSA) but a poor bogey on the short par 3, 12th hole, slip him back to -9, and he failed to birdie the short par 5, 13th hole, He hit a brilliant Mid Iron Approach shot into the par 5 15th hole, and had less then 10feet for eagle but lip out the putt, so with the birdie he moved to -10. He could only manage pars on the last 3holes and scored 67-5 to finish tied 4th at -10.  But he knew it was not going to be enough.

Geoff Ogilvy (Australia) had a great run on the back nine from the 12th to the 16th holes birding all of them and moving to -10 and he too tied 4th. Luke Donald (England) had 5birdies on the back nine including a chip in for birdie at the 72nd hole to finish at -10 in a tie for 4th. It was another fine showing by him. Angel Cabrera (Argentina) was in contention and at -10 playing the short par 3 16th hole but hit his tee shot over the green. And failed to get up and down. He finished at -9 in 7th place, not quite as well as 2009 when he won it.

K. J. Choi (South Korea) had got to -10 after he birdied the 15th hole, but bogeys on the last two holes brought him undone and he finished -8 in tied 8th place. After an average front nine of even par left Jason Day (Australia) at -8, he came back strong on the back nine with birdies on 12 and 13 holes and two great birdies to finish the round saw him post -12 after 72 holes and set the new club house lead. But his playing partner Adam Scott (Australia) also posted -12 after scoring a great front nine of 34-2 that included 3birdies, he played a great back nine birding the long par 4 11th hole, and also the par 4 14th hole, and he hit a great drive down the Par 5, 15th hole and had a Mid Iron to the green, but he lost it well to the right and left himself a really hard chip shot that he was unable to get up and down. But he hit a brilliant tee shot to the Par 3 16th hole that left him with a tap in birdie and move to -12, but was only able to par the last two holes and post -12 and tied for 2nd with Jason Day (Australia).

Jason Day (Australia) in Action during the Masters Tournament which
he tied for 2nd place

Charl Schwartzel (RSA) was -10 after 14 holes, he hit a fine drive down the Par 5, 15th hole and hit his approach shot just through the green and got up and down for his birdie to move to -11, then he hit his tee shot on the par 3, 16th hole 25feet to the left of the pin, and was able to sink the birdie putt and move to -12 into a tied for the lead. At this point I was thinking it may be a 3way playoff. But Charl Schwartzel (RSA) had other ideas, after hitting his drive on the Par 4 17th  hole just to the right of the fairway, he hit a beautiful approach with a short iron inside 15feet and holed the putt again for birdie. So he was now -13 and had a 1shot lead playing the last hole. On the 72nd hole he hit his drive straight down the centre with a little fade on it. And he hit his short iron approach shot pin high 15feet from the pin. So 2putts and he had won his 1st Masters Tournament and Green Jacket. But his birdie putt caught the right edge and fell in. He scored the best final round of the day 66-6 and finished -14 after 72 holes with rounds of 69-3, 71-1, 68-4 and 66-6 for a 72 hole total of 274-14. He became the 3rd South African to win the Master Tournament on the 50th Anniversary of Gary Players (South Africa) 1st win back in 1961. Trevor Immelman (RSA) was the 2nd South African to win the Master Tournament 3years ago in 2008. And it will change Charl Schwartzel (RSA) golf career now having broken through to win his 1st major. The win earns him 600 FedEx Cup points that moves him to 10th on the list 808 points from 6events and he is now only 353 points behind Mark Wilson (USA) who has been on top of the list for over 2months now with 1,161 points from 10 events he has played this year. But he missed the cut at the Masters finishing +3 after 36 holes.

And Charl Schwartzel (RSA) also takes home the $US 1,440,000.00 1st prize cheque for winning the Masters Tournament. He has now earned $US 1,766,104 from the 6 events he has played this year. Mark Wilson (USA) is still leading the Money list with $US 2,430,825 from 10events. 26 year old Charl Schwartzel (RSA) was presented the Green Jacket by 2010 Champion Phil Mickelson (USA) and it looked great around his shoulders. I look for him to go on to bigger and better things this year and maybe add to his Major wins. But it should give him a huge boost of confidence to his golf career. The suprising thing was that although 3 Australian Golfers finished inside the top 5 places on the leader board, it is amazing considering how good Australia is on the world stage at golf, that no Australian Golfer has ever won the Masters Tournament in the 75 times it has been played. Maybe next year?

Rounding out the Top 10 was Bo Van Pelt (USA) at -8 in tied 8th place and Ryan Palmer (USA) was 10th on his own at -6. Phil Mickelson (USA) finished -1 tied 27th and the low Amateur and the only Amateur to make the cut was Hideki Matsuyama (a) (Japan) who also finished -1 tied 27th. He came from the part in Japan that had been struck with the terrible Earthquake recently. But it was a great Masters Tournament with some excellent shot making and great viewing and I can’t wait till next year and the 76th renewal of the Masters Tournament.

The Top 5 Golfers in the world ranking list had a slight change to them this week with Martin Kaymer (Germany) still at number 1 even though he missed the cut, he has 7.80 world ranking points, Lee Westwood (England) is still number 2 with 7.53 world ranking points closing the gap slightly, Luke Donald (England) is 3rd on 6.97 world ranking points after his tied 4th at the Masters, Phil Mickelson (USA) is 4th on 6.73 world ranking points, Tiger Woods (USA) moves up 2 places to 5th with 6.07 world ranking points with his tied 4th placing at the Masters and lastly the Masters winner Charl Schwartzel (RSA) moves up to 18 places from 29th to 11th in the world ranking points with 5.16 world ranking points.

Next week the USPGA Tour heads to Texas for the Valero Texas Open that is played at TPC San Antonio, Texas and Adam Scott (Australia) will be looking to defend the title he won last year, and coming off his tied 2nd finish at the Masters he is in good from. It starts on Thursday and I will report back results next week. And on the European Tour and the Race to Dubai they travel to Malaysia for the 1st of 3 tournaments in Asia. The 1st is the Maybank Malaysian Open that is played at the Kuala Lumpur Golf & Country Club, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and is sure to be another great event. It starts on Thursday and I will report back who won the spoils next week.

So until then, keep hitting fairways and lots of Greens and making all your putts.

Source: pgatour.com, masters.com