Masters Recap 2009

I know I know. Usually I write a preview. But there was just too much going on this week. So, yep I watched every minute of it. And here are my thoughts.

The competition and course were better than they have been for a few years. The course set up and course conditions were ready for good scoring. I hope the competition committee takes this into consideration for the next few years. The last few years sucked. Scoring was too difficult and the wrong kind of shots were rewareded.

First, I will say that Angel Cabrera is a great story. Coming from Argentina to shock the world in the 07 US Open. The guy is supposed to be charitable and nice giving back to poor kids in his home country.

I never would have picked him to win. He was not on my radar. Already some stupid Golf Channel Analysts are claiming that they foresaw him doing great things this week. Whatever.

I would have picked Geoff Ogilvy. If you gave me a choice between Tiger and Ogilvy, I would have taken Ogilvy in a second. He is number one in putting stats, putts fast greens great. He is one of the best long iron players in the world, and is red hot this year.

Take note this year though. Even though there is no rough to speak of, and analysts say that driving distance is the key at augusta and not accuracy, they are wrong. Immelman won last year by driving better than anyone else. Take a look at the top players this year. Perry, Cabrera, Campbell, Furyk... all of these guys were very accurate. Phil and Tiger were not playing from the fairway and had to take advantage of the holes where they were. The other leaders were in the fairway almost every time and had green lights into greens far more often than the big two.

Phil and Tiger.
The duel almost came to fruition. They stormed into contention on the front nine. Dang that was awesome! Phil's 30 on the front was unspeakably amazing. Tiger played himself into contention and what was crazy scary, he didn't look to be doing anything all that spectacular.

If Phil would have not thrown the ball in the water on 12, and not bogeyed 18, he would have been in a playoff. That would have been a round of 64!

Don't say he choked though. Number 12 is a rough hole. Phil plays that hole as well as anyone. No doubt he could have hit it a few feet further and been in a good spot for birdie. The birdie on 13 was solid. If there was any real bad decisions, look at how he over thought the putts on 15 and 17. He literally could have walked away with a 62, had he putted better and not been in the water on 12. He would have won by 2 strokes!

Phil's post round interview was his best interview in a long time. Usually I cringe at his interviews, but he acknowledged over reading both of those putts. He said he made a bad swing on 12. The drive on 18 was pretty lame, but he was trying to be agressive because he thought he needed birdie. (I think Faldo was a little over critical of Phil and Tiger's driver choice on 18.) I loved that he said that when he and Tiger have gone head to head in the past, he admitted that Tiger gets the best of him more often than not. He didn't acknowledge or brag about beating Tiger by a stroke, he just answered the question. Good stuff.

To me, it appeared that Kenny Perry was more solid through the entire tournament than anyone else. i was kind of disappointed for him.

I also have to just say for the record that Rory McIlroy is awesome. He would have been right in the mix had he not blown up the last few holes on Friday. He has an amazing swing. I love it, he is young but not trying to kill it. Just a balanced sweet swing. I hope he keeps the great play going for a long time. He is just going to continue to be more and more entertaining to watch.

All in All, it was a great Masters. I am happy.