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| The masters astonishes itself again | | This year's Masters will be a difficult act to surpass in future years for excitement and sheer drama |
| Siddharth Shriram / Apr 12, 2010, 01:48 IST |
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 “Haath jaam!” — the Delhi Golf Club caddy lingo for sudden, involuntary and unwanted tightening of the hand muscles just at the delivery of the stroke, resulting in the ball squirting off in definitely unintended directions, was much in evidence today. Even the most skilled practitioners of the game suffer from this affliction and deep meditation and pin-point focus can only ameliorate it. It seemed that the Tiger’s tail was over, not with a bang but a whimper. It is a tribute to Tiger’s remarkable talent that, despite his being so afflicted in his driving as well as in his putting today, he shot seven birdies and gave five shots away. While Tiger Woods had trouble controlling the ball during practice, he got off to a flying start with a birdie on the first, a missed birdie again on the second, and a scintillating birdie on the third before he unwittingly gave back these gains with a three putt on the sixth, a dreadful drive-induced bogie on the seventh and a three putt bogie on the 10th. He looked lacklustre and perplexed. Meantime, the affliction had got a solid grip on Poulter, who slid down the leader board at the speed of knots.
Westwood has matured through the trial by fire, from great beginnings early on to a prolonged slump. And, now has knocked on the doors of becoming a Major winner these last two years, and at 36, appears calm and concentrated, with the look of a winner.
Fred Couples, the 50-year-old veteran, was making fighting talk and showing that age does not matter as he ratcheted up the leader board before bogeying the last to finish one behind Tiger, alone in fifth place. He and Watson have lit up the lives of all us seniors with their heroic effort and shown the world that “yes, we can”! Couples will have a large gallery today.
 However, it was Mickelson who literally stole the show from Woods, Westwood and Couples by going eagle, eagle, birdie on 13, 14, 15. The last pairing of Westwood and Mickelson is going to be delivering fireworks like never before, but it will be a hard act to follow the three eagles and 10 birdies over 13, 14, 15, within 35 minutes, scored by Mickelson, Choi, Woods, Couples and Barnes jointly. Barnes is showing excellent colour and he will be one to watch in the coming years.
Anthony Kim at five under will be looking to match his Masters record-breaking 11 birdies in a single round of last year, but without giving any shots back, for an outside chance of capturing the green jacket. Is this possible? Anything is.
Tiger and Choi are paired together for the fourth consecutive time in this tournament. “Unbelievable”, says Choi. He puts up with the pressure of playing with Tiger and the consequential massive galleries, by praying and singing hymns quietly to himself; that, the 20-odd churches within a square mile of Augusta National, and the myriad “cathedrals” among the pines should enable him to traverse this final round with Woods and possibly pull off a miracle win. With Choi, Yang and Kim (of Korean descent), a host of young Koreans rising rapidly in this sport, and Korean ladies performing superbly in the LPGA, this decade will record many Korean successes.
The playing conditions could not have been more perfect. By late afternoon, the cirrus clouds which had flitted to and fro in the frolicsome breeze a mile above in the morning, had melted away; the temperature was a pleasant 75 degrees, the breeze was gentle and wafting, and the course had laid itself wide open for low scoring.
Unlike in the first two days when three players were grouped together, and there is quite a lot of opportunity for inter se conversation, in the last 36 holes, with only two players in each grouping. Chit chat is not only difficult but also avoided, as concentration levels are so high that one needs to ignore all external events, including one’s playing partner, and concentrate only on one’s own game. Sometimes, it looks unfriendly but it really is not.
As Tiger walked up to the 15th green, he received a standing ovation from most of the crowd, while a few pointedly turned away. As the roar upon roar of cascading eagles and birdies echoed and ricocheted among the pines, the turtles basking on the banks of the creek in the warm sunshine, lazily raised and stretched their long necks, amused at the strange antics of human beings every year around this time.
TV ratings and internet hits are at an all-time high at 47 per cent, higher than ever before and this is partly because of the way in which Tiger has adeptly managed the huge artery-clogging stress which would have laid most other players low. The stress now, not only for him but for the entire leader board, will be to try to avoid the tragedies lurking on each hole of this treacherous golf course. The truth is that the Masters only begins on the back nine on Sunday. In this most watched of tournaments ever, while anything can happen, given the form of Westwood and Mickelson, Tiger would have to shoot a 62, meaning thereby that he would have to drive very well and putt very well on each of the 18 holes and this is unlikelihood.
At this level, the game can and probably will be full of surprises; this Sunday, the most watched day of the most watched golf tournament ever will throw up exciting, new and unimagined dramas for us to enjoy.
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