Upon Further Review: Augusta doesn’t disappoint
With all the rain last week and the postponement of the first round of the Masters, Augusta National unleashed her beauty and her hidden dangers over the weekend.
With hopes of picking up his third green jacket in a row, Tiger Woods barely made the cut as he found himself 11 shots behind the leader on Saturday. Woods managed to keep his streak of 102 tournaments without missing the cut alive — but barely. He had to make a three-foot put on the final hole of the second round to avoid the embarrassment.
Even with Tiger out of contention, the final round had the third most viewers in history with 34.5 million. That should tell us something about the tournament at Augusta. It’s not just about who’s playing, but it’s also about the history and beauty of the course.
Woods was in the same boat as Martha Burk at Augusta. Neither one made much of an impact this weekend.
Burk had hopes of staging a protest over the weekend to force the all-male club into admitting women. But her hopes of 200 or more protesters turned into around a group of only 50 supporters.
Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow/Push Coalition turned out with a small number of people, but Jackson was a no-show.
The sheriff of Augusta handpicked a 5.1-acre field for Burk and her opponents to protest. But it seemed there were more police officers there than protesters.
Now, Burk’s organization is supposed to have around 7 million members, and only 50 or so supporters showed up. That doesn’t say much for their leader, now does it?
Burk said she wasn’t finished with Augusta just yet. She is going to start a campaign against the corporate sponsors of the course. It doesn’t look like Hootie Johnson or Augusta National will be giving in anytime soon.
Back to the tournament, you have to feel sorry for Phil Mickelson. Once again a third-place finish, this time just two shots behind the winner. You have to wonder what was going through his mind on the final three holes. I just wonder what kind of excuse he will come up with this time?
For the winner Mike Weir, he became the first Canadian to win a major tournament and he won by posting a bogey on the first hole of the playoff. Weir played a solid round of golf — not just on Sunday, but for the weekend — and is a very deserving champion.
Jeff Maggert looked like he was on his way to victory before disaster struck. Maggert had a two-shot lead over Weir as the final round begin Sunday. But four penalty shots may have cost him a green jacket. He found trouble in the sand on the front nine when his ball caught the lip of the bunker and came back and hit him.
But it was the famous par-3 12th that did him in.
A bad shot into the back bunker then a chip into the water. He had to go back and hit from over the creek and dumped another shot right into the water again.
Nobody said Augusta was easy, but these guys are professionals. And an eight on a par-3 sounds something like I would shoot.