Global Golf Post - April 12, 2010

AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | This was no Masters. This
was a Masters-piece, from, yes, the man who won
it, Phil Mickelson, but also from so many others,
from Tiger Woods, Lee Westwood, Anthony Kim,
Tom Watson, Fred Couples, and no less importantly
by the old lady herself, Augusta National.
This was enlightenment. This was joy, especially
when Mickelson’s wife, Amy, receiving treatment
for breast cancer, made an appearance in the won-
derful closing moments of her husband’s triumph.
This was entertainment. This was golf.
Golf at its most exhilarating. Golf at its most
dramatic. Golf at its most compelling, a tale with
more subplots than a Eugene O’Neill play, full of
redemption and achievement and enough eagles to
decorate a U.S. government brochure.
A week that began with the Masters chairman
reprimanding Tiger for his noted indiscretions
came to a close in the fading sunlight of a Georgia
late afternoon with Mickelson receiving the Green
Jacket for a third time and receiving cheers from
thousands – some who were no nearer than a tele-
vision set.
Masters 2010 meant the return of Tiger to com-
petitive golf after five months, and while the story
took control starting with that surrealistic Monday
press conference, after the final putt – a birdie, if
you will – the main character had become Mickel-
son.

In addition to winning another major championship, Phil Mickel-
son was able to revel with his recovering wife, Amy. “It means a
lot to share the joy again.”

LEADERS’ FINAL ROUNDS

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IN TOTAL 36 72 32 67 34 71

(who’s about to become a 17-year-old professional)
became the youngest to enter and to make the
cut. A week when 60-year-old Tom Watson called
down the echoes, at least for a day. A week when
50-year-old Fred Couples was on the leaderboard
until the end. A week when Lee Westwood almost
removed the unwanted burden of the best golfer
never to win a major.

Also a week when Mickelson’s life and game
came together, Amy, feeling well enough to arrive
at Augusta, with the couple’s three children, min-
utes before Phil made the victory walk up 18.

“It means a lot to share the joy again,” he said to
those gathered for the awards presentation. “She’s
an incredible wife and an incredible mother. She’s
been an inspiration.”
Phil certainly has been an incredible golfer,
although he entered The Masters without a victory
in 2010, because of balls that had gone in wrong
directions from the tee or fairways and balls that
wouldn’t drop on the greens. But he hinted that the
putting was coming around, and it certainly came.
There was a sense of normalcy at this Masters,
with the course fast, the temperature warm and
noise everywhere. “The roars are back,” said Wat-
son, a reference to the complaints of some, notably
Tiger, that the last few years a lack of birdies and
eagles had created an eerie silence.
The roars were, and of course, so was Tiger,
who despite predictions from the critics he would
make a fool of himself, instead helped make a great
tournament of this Masters. He was erratic, indeed,
but he also had four bogeys and with a score of
11-under-par 277, tied for fourth with K.J. Choi,
who played all four rounds with Woods.