was a magical experience I will never forget.”
It became the last of the four majors for
which he had qualified. And for those who
now seem to dwell only on his decline, he said
pointedly, “Nobody has won more majors than
me over the last five years.”
B twosome was second off.
“I felt they probably should have had them
tee off first since they were a twosome,” O’Hair
said. “I just figured why not ask because those
guys were waiting for us on every shot (
Thursday) and I didn’t want to make them wait again.
It was more of a courtesy thing than anything.”
Peter Hanson, the 54-hole leader at Augusta National, confessed that his ambition as a
youngster was to emulate such Swedish greats
as Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg.
“I very quickly found out that I wasn’t good
enough at tennis,” he said. “So, when I was 14,
15, I decided, ‘Well, I’ll skip the tennis and try
to go full time with the golf.’ “
It proved to be a sensible choice. With four
European Tour victories and a Ryder Cup place
in the 2010 team at Celtic Manor, golf had given
him a very rewarding career, even before his
Masters exploits.
Harrington scoffed at the notion of an
Augusta jinx when winning the Par- 3 Contest
for a third time. “It’s all baloney,” he said, after
tying with Jonathan Byrd on 5 under. “How can
winning a tournament on a Wednesday affect
your performance on a Thursday?” Playing in
his 13th successive Masters has taken on a
special resonance for the Dubliner in this, the
centenary of Sam Snead’s birth.
“As our driver headed into Magnolia Lane at
lunchtime on the Monday, I remember turning
to (his wife) Caroline and whispering, ‘Shhh.
We’re here.’ “ he said. “A few minutes later, I
was on the other side of the clubhouse joining
a crowd to listen to stories from Sam Snead. It
Virginia Rometty, the newly installed CEO
of IBM, was a topic of conversation early in
Masters week, thanks to membership practices
at Augusta National Golf Club.
Chairman Billy Payne refused to answer direct questions as to whether Rometty would be
invited to join the club, especially because the
past four IBM CEOs have received invitations.
Augusta National has no women members.
IBM is a major television sponsor of The
Masters.
“We don’t talk about our private deliberations,” Payne said in a press conference on
Wednesday.
“We especially don’t talk about it when a
named candidate is part of the question.”
According to published reports, Rometty
was seen on the grounds as a patron during the
final round of The Masters. l
