Rory McIlroy lost his momentum
and his lead after a final-round
triple-bogey on the 10th hole.
AUGUSTA, GEORGIA |
When it finally ended, when
the most confusing and compelling Masters in histo-
ry had wrenched every bit of tension and emotion out
of a United Nations field of competitors, the winner
turned out to be nobody you could have imagined.
In a scenario that blended the agony of Hitch-
cock with the fantasy of Disney, another one of
those South Africans with a name that be-
wilders Americans, Charl Schwartzel, had
become champion and poor Rory McIlroy
had become what the late Masters founder
Bobby Jones would call a “dogged victim of
inexorable fate.”
The 2011 Masters verified that reports
of Tiger Woods’ demise not only
are exaggerated, they are
ridiculous.
About the time it seemed
Woods was a candidate for
the Nationwide Tour, if
you heeded the critics, he
popped into contention
from some place deep in
the pines.
Yes, Eldrick Woods
still can play the game,
if not at the moment well
enough to win a major.
But a 31 on the front Charl Schwartzel
nine Sunday not only put him in a temporary lead
before he tied for fourth but also put the sports
world on alert.
If there’s one thing we know about golf, it’s
that we don’t know much about golf. Whether
from month to month, or hole to hole. If there’s
one thing we do know about golf is it has
become a game of the world. The past
four majors all have been won by non-
Americans, two of the past three by
South Africans.
Louis Oosthuizen took last year’s
Open Championship and about the time
we figured out how to pronounce his
name (it’s WUHST’-hy-zen) along
comes Mr. Schwartzel leaving
us to wonder what happened
to the “es” after Charl.
What we don’t have
to wonder about is
whether the 26-year-old
Schwartzel has a flair
for the dramatic. He
birdied the final four
holes of the Masters,
15, 16, 17 and, with a
huge embracing roar
from the gallery, 18. That’s
never been done before.
HOLE 123456789
PAR
454343454
SCHWARTZEL
3 5 2 4 4 3 4 5 4
MCILROY
554353354
OUT 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
36 4 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 4
34 4 4 3 5 4 4 2 3 3
37 75 5 5 4 6 3 4 4
IN TOTAL
36 72
32 66
43 80
So Schwartzel, who began the final round two
shots behind McIlroy, finished two shots ahead of
Adam Scott and Jason Day, both of whom, along
with Geoff Ogilvy, who was four back, were
attempting to become the first Australians to win
at Augusta.
Schwartzel closed with a spectacular 34-32 –
66, 6-under par, for a 72-hole total of 14-under
274. Day, who birdied 18 – remember when that
used to be as unlikely as getting a ticket to the
Masters? – and Scott were at 276. Woods, Ogilvy
and Luke Donald came in at 10-under 278.
Where McIlroy came in was chastened. Golf, in-
deed, is a humbling game. After three-and-a-half
rounds of near-perfect play (only three bogeys in
54 holes), the 21-year-old from Northern Ireland,
well, is collapsed too strong a word?
“I feel my swing is in a great spot at the min-
ute,” he reflected Saturday evening. “I feel com-
fortable – with the way I played and finally feel
comfortable on this golf course.”
He was wary a lead could disappear as quickly
as a ball into the pond at 15. Still, he had a four-
shot margin, and in 74 years, only Greg Norman
in 1996, Ed Sneed in 1979 and Ken Venturi in 1956
had not won carrying leads of four or more into the
final round.
The agony started at 10, the long, downhill
named “Camellia.” McIlroy hit a a ball so far left
off the tee it nearly landed in Butler Cabin, where
presumably later he would be going to receive to
the treasured green jacket awarded the winner.
After a lot of chops and chips, he took a triple-
bogey 7. Then he bogeyed 11. Then he double-
bogeyed the par- 3 12th, four-putting.
He shot 37-43 – 80, after 65-69-70 the first
three rounds. He dropped from first to a tie for
15th. And so much for the hope he would join
countryman Graeme McDowell, the U.S. Open win-
ner, as a major champion.
“I was leading the tournament going into the
back nine,” reminded McIlroy, as if we needed re-
minding. He may be young, but he is mature, and a
gentleman, understanding that golf can wreck the
wrists and ruin the psyche.
“I just hit a poor tee shot on 10,” he said. “I
don’t know whether anyone’s ever hit it up there
before. I just sort of unraveled from there, just sort
of lost it, 10, 11, 12, and couldn’t really get it back.
It’s one of those things. I’m disappointed at the
minute, but I’ll get over it.”
Tiger almost got over it, the hump that is. Still
he was a contender in a stretch run that offered a
South African, Aussies, an Argentinean (Cabrera,
the 2009 winner), a Korean (K.J. Choi) and in
Woods and Bo Van Pelt, even some Americans.
“What could have been,” mused Tiger. “But we
say that every week.”
Except this week it was after the best Masters
ever.
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