The Masters

It was a pretty good finish to a long week at the Masters. Although I didn’t play the last three holes the way I would have liked, overall, Sunday was not a bad day at all.  After finishing off my third round, I went home and prepared, realizing that I was 10 shots back of the lead. Even though that’s a lot of strokes to make up, I’ve seen a lot of unusual things happen at Augusta over the years so I never felt out of it.

I thought that if I could go out and shoot a 64 or 65, I might have a chance to at least get in the thick of it. Obviously it’s a tough course to do that on, especially on Sunday. You have to have everything go right for you, but in this game, you never know when you’re going to post a low one so I was determined not to let up.On the front side, I was two under, but I really had some good chances and felt I could have been four or five under if I could have got a few putts to drop. I burned a lot of edges.  On the back side, I felt that if I could have made a birdie on 13, I could have really go it going. I did birdie 15, but at that point I was six back so it was a case of too little too late.

That got me to seven under, but I slipped up from there. On the 16^th I took an aggressive line and it didn’t pay off as I hit it on the wrong side of the hole and made four.  On 17, I just misjudged the speed of the putt and sent it well past the hole. The next one did a 360 and stayed out so it was another bogey. On 18, I hit my drive into a sand-filled divot and it was a third bogey.

Overall, however, I played well for the week. I know I still have a few things to work on and I’m going to do that over the next three weeks I have off from Tour.  But this week is a good validation for me for all the work I’ve been putting in. I’m glad that I finished in the top 10 in this tournament and I’m glad my swing held up under the gun. It shows me I’m heading in the right direction.

I’ve now finished inside the top 10 in three of the last four majors. That’s great, but I’d probably settle for a win and three missed cuts, to be honest. I want to get back into the winners circle, whether it’s a major or a regular event. So I’ll keep working hard and trying to improve my game.

For Tiger, it’s a good win. Both he and Chris played extremely well and it was an exciting finish to this event – they seem to get those every year.

Hopefully next year, I can be a part of it.

As always, thanks for your support.
Mike

Mike's Diary, Round 3, Sunday, April 10th, 2005

It was great to finally get out and play some golf on Saturday. After all the rain and the waiting around, even a long day like we had was a welcome one. 

It’s amazing how much rain we’ve had on Tour this year so it wasn’t too big a surprise to wake up Thursday and find out we were going to be late in starting. Of course this weather was predicted so I sort of expected that the start to the year’s first major might be pushed back a little bit. At least this time we didn’t start and then stop. I was able to stay at home and not have to hang out at the course all day as I’ve done in some of the other events this year. They just called me and kept updating me on the new starting times.

When I did get underway, I felt pretty good about the start of my round. I made a couple of nice putts, which helped but it was clear early on that Augusta National was playing very long and tough.  On the ninth hole, after hitting what I thought was a pretty good shot into the green, I had a slick down-hiller that turned into a three-putt when it raced past the hole. From above the hole here, it’s next to impossible to lag it.

Then on 10, I hit my approach shot over the back and misjudged the chip and the speed of the next putt for another bogey. It was starting to get dark at this time and I really had a hard time picking up the subtleties among all the shadows cast from those tall trees on 10. You really can’t afford to be guessing out here and when that gloom comes in, it just adds to the difficulty of these greens.  I was pleased that I was able to come back from those bogeys with a birdie on the 12th, which is always a tough hole. On 13, though, I must have just ticked a branch with my drive and the ball dropped into the hazard. I ended up with a bogey. That’s where I ended my day.

Overall, the course was tough. There was quite a bit of wind swirling around all day. That made picking the right club demanding at times. That wind, coupled with the wet fairways, made some holes very long. For example, on the ninth hole in practice, I hit a driver and seven-iron. Thursday, that turned into a driver and four-iron. The greens were still fairly firm which meant that trying to get the ball to stop with some of these long irons was next to impossible.

On Friday morning, as I finish up my first round, I’ll have some chances to improve my score. I’m hoping I can make a birdie or two and start round two in good shape at par or maybe under par.  In general, I was pretty pleased with my play. I felt good with everything from my driver to my putter and I played smart out there – I managed to stay away from doing anything too crazy.

In some ways, this soggy start has some similarities to 2003. That year, we didn’t even play on Thursday and Friday was a long day. That will happen again this year.  The other similarity is that two years ago, Jack Nicklaus was playing right in front of me. This year, he’s right behind me. Because it was slow out there, we had a chance to talk on some of the tees and we laughed that it was like 2003 all over.

Of course, for me, that would be all right.
As always, thanks for your support.
Mike