The Masters Recap

It was an exciting four days of golf at The Masters. It came down to the wire like many in the past, and a new champion was crowned. To sum up the greatness of the first major, here are the major headlines:

Adam Scott Wins - Despite being close so many times before in majors, Adam Scott entered this tournament as one of the best players yet to win one. He can take his name off that list forever. Scott fired a 69 yesterday and won in a playoff over Angel Cabrera (who is a former Masters champ). He became the first Australian player to ever win this event. And just like last year when Bubba Watson won, it came down to the second playoff hole, #10.

Scott seemed to rise to the occasion all day. After Jason Day took the lead, Scott answered with a birdie on 15 that got him tied, then he birdied 18 to take the lead. Shouts of "C'mon Aussies" could be heard across the grounds when that birdie dropped. After Cabrera birdied 18 to tie, it went to a playoff. Scott again answered by getting up and down after Cabrera nearly holed his chip. Then on 10, Scott answered a great Cabrera approach by sticking it even closer. Cabrera missed, Scott made... the Green Jacket was all for Adam Scott.

Jason Day Falters - Not only did Jason Day enter the weekend with the lead (before falling apart late on Saturday), he held a 2 stroke lead with 3 to play. But after confusing and bad bogeys on 16 and 17, he took himself right out of the equation. It was the opposite two years ago when he made birdie after birdie down the stretch only to be out-birdied by Schwartzel who won. Pars would have likely gotten it down but it wasn't to be.

In defense of Day, everyone who held the lead faltered. Throughout the tourney, it looked like a few other guys had their hands on the trophy before choking. Marc Leishman, Dustin Johnson, and Sergio Garcia all had nice leads at some point. Even guys in the mix like Matt Kuchar and Fred Couples fell apart on the weekend. David Lynn too (with an 80 on Saturday).

Tianlang Guan Makes the Cut - The 14 Year old phenom (and 8th grader) impossibly made the cut even after being assessed a bogus time penalty late on Friday. It didn't matter. He made the cut over stars like Laird, Yang, Manessero, Simpson, Poulter, McDowell, Oosthuizen, Colsaerts, Harrington, Henley, and Mahan. That's getting it done!

Tiger Woods Unlucky but Close - I've heard golf analysts say that when Tiger hit off the flagstick on 15 and rolled his ball into the water on Friday, it was the worst break potentially in Masters history. I agree. He still miraculously made bogey, but he would have made birdie and taken the lead into the weekend. Then, after an absentminded drop (that was originally deemed okay by officials), he lost another two strokes by a penalty. So that terrible break literally cost him four strokes. If anyone essentially plays an event starting at +4 instead of even, they aren't going to win. And it rang true here. He finished tied for fourth, amazingly four shots back. How things could have changed yesterday afternoon if Tiger was up there... But now Tiger has more Top 5 finishes here than any player not named Jack Nicholas. Another impressive accomplishment for Tiger.

Old Guys Hang Around - If Cabrera would have won, he would have been the second oldest champ in history (Nicholas). Fred Couples was in the mix for most of the event (in the final group on Saturday even). And Bernhard Langer made a run early in his round on Sunday (before faltering down the stretch). Compare these guys to the youthfulness of Guan, and you can see that this course can bring out the best of players of any age.

Overall, it was a tremendous event that lived up to its billing. Now if only we could get more coverage on Thursday and Friday!!!

By: The Sports Guys