What Happened to the Masters?

This is a painful post to write but it seems that my favorite tournament has been turned into a lot of luck and a bit of skill. Because of the new length, second cut of rough, and plexiglass greens, the Masters has become a tournament in which the best golfer doesn't win, but the guy who makes the least amount of mistakes wins.

You can say that's true for most majors but the Masters has always been different. The greens have always been slick but they were also there for attacking. The saying behind this major was that the tournament doesn't start until the back nine on Sunday. Trevor Immelman won the Masters going wire to wire. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it but where was the drama?

Where has the drama been? The Masters is turning into the other majors. Even the PGA Championship has become a crap shoot as of late. The Masters was supposed to be the tournament where length didn't matter. It was about angles, ball position, imagination, creation. Now it's whether or not a golfer can make par on the last 3 holes. Guys just can't go low on Sunday anymore. Due to the length and second cut of rough, guys can't get close enough to be aggressive on their approach shots to attack the traditional Sunday pins.

The proof is in the winners. I will never discredit anyone that wins a golf tournament but it's becoming a cinderella story every time just like the other majors.

Trevor Immelmon, Zach Johnson, Angel Cabrera, Geoff Ogilvy, Michael Campbell, Shaun Micheel, Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, Todd Hamilton, Paul Lawrie. These guys are all past major winners. Who are they? Ok we know Geoff Ogilvy because he has some serious potential and he'll probably win a few more majors. Rich Beem is a good dude but is never gonna win again. Shaun Micheel is a KISS fan so he's got my vote but will never win a major, let alone a golf tournament again. Michael Campbell has completely fallen off the earth. Todd Hamilton may have lost his exemption but I'm not sure. Paul Lawrie benefited from the biggest meltdown in major history when Jean Van de Velde made a triple bogey 7 on the 72nd hole at Carnoustie to let Lawrie (and Justin Leonard) into a playoff. Van de Velde just couldn't recover from that hole and Lawrie won. Ben Curtis, Zach Johnson, and Trevor Immelman will win again on the PGA tour but I would almost guarantee it won't be a major.

The Masters was a major where a bunch of people could go low on Sunday and that's just not happening anymore. Obviously mother nature has a say in the matter but that's why length wasn't supposed to ever be an issue. The greens have always been super slick and that's the way it should be but the Masters was the one major where you never didn't get rewarded for a great shot. This year the Masters had great scoring conditions, and the best players in the world couldn't score. Sure, there was a little wind but that's to be expected. The other majors have such thick rough and burnt greens on occasion that even shots that would land right near the pin would roll back or bounce way off the green.

It's a bit of sour grapes on my part because I've watched my favorite tournament the last two years be as boring and anti-climactic as watching flies have sex. Guys are supposed to go low at the Masters. It's not like the US Open or PGA where if you're off the fairway you're in 6 inches of rough. Or the British where the fescue can grow up to 3 feet. Again, the British has always been like that and length isn't the issue. Bobby Jones wanted the Masters to be the American version of the British Open. The British also had it's cinderella stories through history, along with the other majors, but never the Masters.

This is Billy Payne's second year as chaiman at Augusta, after replacing Hootie Johnson, and it's also been 2 years of a boring tournament. This can't happen. Granted, if Tiger could sink a putt in the last 3 Masters we wouldn't even be posting this.

Bobby Jones wouldn't want this. Neither do the fans of Augusta National. Jack and Arnie were very critical of the new layout last year and at first it looked like they were just a couple of guys who the game past by (even though they design golf courses). Now it looks as if they were right on the money in their criticism of the new look Masters. While the grumbling amongst the tour players has been minimal, be ready for it to grow if the next couple years produces the same thing.

I'll never say it's a fluke for a golfer to win a tournament. 4 rounds of spectacular golf is never by accident. But now it's getting to be who gets the most breaks wins. Don't take the game out of the players hands. Let them win or lose because of their own clubs, not because of the course. The one thing about the Masters was that there was always one true winner. Unfortunately for the last two years, the winner was Augusta National.