Disaster at the Masters
It’s been said in golf circles that The Masters doesn’t really begin until the back nine on Sunday afternoon. Ah, that’s just another one of those sports cliches you say. Well, this year’s 2016 edition of golf’s first major in Augusta, Georgia proved that so called cliche as being the most accurate statement in all of sports.
For on this Sunday afternoon, the tournament was going in one decisive direction on the front nine and completely turned on a dime at the exact moment the leaders turned and played the back nine, and then spun off into an entirely different direction.
That’s because the back nine holes at Augusta National contain some of the most highfalutin’, risk vs. reward holes that are at times really difficult and at others, fairly playable, as they will truly reward you if you are hitting good (and intelligently thought out) shots and punish you if you are hitting bad (and not very well thought out) shots.
A player can have a big lead and make a few mistakes and lose four or five strokes while at the same time, a player who is chasing the leader can throw together several birdies (or even an eagle) and make up several shots from that direction.
Examples. When Jack Nicklaus had his amazing comeback win in 1986, he shot a six under par 30 on the back nine to win the tournament by a shot. In 1996, Greg Norman led Nick Faldo by six shots at the start of the fourth round, by three strokes as he entered the back nine, and after a three under 33 by Faldo on the back nine and a five over 41 by Norman, Faldo had won his third green jacket and Norman had experienced one of golf’s most notable meltdowns. Rory McIlroy led the 2011 Masters going into the back nine and, as he melted down, Charl Schwartzel birdied the final four holes to win that year.
The Masters has THAT potential every year down the stretch, thanks mostly to the unique hole layout of the first four holes on the back nine, which includes Augusta’s famed “Amen Corner,” the 11th through 13th holes. Jack Nicklaus, the all time Masters leader in green jackets with six, and probably the smartest golfer in Augusta history, often played the tournament with a strategy that a golfer doesn’t win the Masters with birdies on 10, 11 and 12, he loses it by shooting high numbers on those holes. Just getting pars on 10 through 12 is not a bad thing.
In this year’s Masters, the leader of the tournament going into the back nine was defending champion Jordan Spieth, who, with a 7 under par score to Englishman and European Tour veteran Danny Willett’s 2 under par, led the tournament by five strokes. Spieth, spraying his driver all over the place (definitely everywhere but down the middle of the fairway), bogeyed both 10 and 11, taking him to five under, just as Willett was making a couple of birdies to four under. Then, Spieth did himself in on the famous centerpiece of Amen Corner, the 152 yard par three 12th hole.
A Jack Nicklaus would have stopped the bleeding on 12 with a safe as can be shot into the middle of the green and would not under any circumstances allow a ball to go in the water. A player with a one shot lead on 12 does not under any circumstances hit a ball to the right of the pin (and potentially hit it into the water). Jordan Spieth may have been trying to not hit the ball in the water, but he certainly failed to execute the shot and hit what should have been an easy 8 or 9 iron right and short and put it into Rae’s Creek and brought double bogey into the equation.
Then, he flat out choked on an 80 yard wedge shot (his third stroke of the hole) and was a good twenty yards short and into the creek again. He ended up with a quadruple bogey 7, and, for all intents and purposes, had shot himself out of the tournament (all on the first three holes of the back nine). Amen Corner had struck again.
Spieth came back with a couple of birdies (13, 15 and 16 WERE pretty manageable birdie holes on this day) on 13 and 15, but Danny Willett birdied 16 to get himself to 5 under, and efficiently parred his way in to get himself a green jacket. Spieth had shot five over 41 on the back nine while Willett shot a three under 33. Spieth, who had seemed so bullet proof in all of his previous majors, did not have enough game on this day to be so reckless around Amen Corner. He didn’t treat it with enough respect, and he will have one less major in his career because of this lapse.
A lot of younger golfers think they don’t have to fear such things as the difficult stretch known as Amen Corner. But it can jump up and bit you if you don’t treat it with the proper respect. So, this year’s Masters was decided on the back nine on Sunday. Just like it always seems to happen. Just like the experts said it would. And Jordan Spieth will have to put this disaster at the Masters behind him. Hopefully, he learned something from this.
