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| Who'll stay the course for the Green Jacket? |
| Siddharth Shriram / New Delhi Apr 09, 2009, 00:19 IST |
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Winners are impossible to predict in this tournament.
Why does a Champion, having won a tournament just the previous week against similar competition, suddenly go off the boil and miss a few cuts? Phil Mickelson and Vijay Singh (both Masters winners) and a host of others missed the cut at the Shell Houston Tournament that preceded the Masters and many of them are considered capable of snagging the Green Jacket. Paul Casey, one of a field of seven Britons, who looked like a possible Master’s winner last year before he lost six shots over five holes in the final round to drop out of contention, just won the wind-swept Shell Houston Open in a play-off and will go into the Masters brimming with confidence.
Why does Tiger, despite clearly being the Number One and always threatening to win, not win each tournament he enters? In tennis and some other sports, the Number One wins with greater regularity.
Nobody knows!
When Tiger Woods won his first Masters in 1997, a new sun was rising in Japan. Ryo Ishikawa, only five years old then, was showing early signs of greatness. The winner of two championships and with a further five top finishes, he finished 5th on the money list in Japan for 2008 and was 60th in world rankings. As the record-breaking youngest-ever professional player to be invited to play at the Masters, “Hanikami Oji” or “Bashful Prince”, as he is affectionately called in Japan, has had a weak debut so far on the PGA Tour but says he feels no pressure. He has never met Tiger Woods who also appears to feel no pressure. There is no doubt that Ryo is a name to watch as he joins the ranks of potential successors to the World’s Number One.
Equally Rory Mcilroy, the young Irishman, two years older than Ryo, showed great talent from age two (reminds one of someone else?). He too won early on the European Tour (Dubai Dessert Classic 2009) against the best and has won accolades from the likes of Montgomerie and Els as a possible successor to Tiger. Look out for him.
In between these two teenagers age-wise is Danny Lee, the Korean-born New Zealander, who shows no nerves whatsoever. Any one of these three could knock Tiger off his perch of being the youngest ever winner of the Masters.
As the three were learning and growing into the game of golf, their hero was obviously Tiger Woods, the reigning world champion. Charismatic Tiger, being neither bashful nor brash, is in fact remarkably correct, and while he will certainly be encouraging to youngsters, he will not be giving them any quarter. No Sir! He is not ready to have a successor yet.
For Ryo and Rory (interesting how their names are almost anagrams of each other) and Danny Lee, to be playing in the premier tournament of the world alongside their hero and the man to beat, has to be a major highlight of their young careers. More on them in the coming week.
However, they must learn that even a great and strong player like Tiger Woods, who has captivated the world of golf for more than a decade now, and who has taught the golfing world a thing or two about the magic of physical fitness, has suffered physical injuries that would have laid many another pro low.
The harsh reality is that a powerful golf swing, necessary in this day and age, puts terrific pressures on the lower back and the knees. That Tiger Woods could win the US Open last year despite acute pain and discomfort in his left knee is a credit to his unbelievable mental strength. That strength to handle acute pressure, both of a mental and of a physical kind, is as essential an ingredient to being successful as having a great talent and possessing a great swing.
You take somebody like Jeev Milkha Singh whose swing is not a great classical one, as defined. Yet, in the last two years, he has won against some of the world’s best players (Padraig Harrington, Sergio Garcia, Ernie Els and a host of others) in Spain and in Singapore, some of whom are winners of Majors. He succeeds by having an incredibly strong mind and concentrating only on his pre-shot routine so that his next shot turns out good. It is entirely feasible that, in his third attempt at the Masters, everything comes together and he wins the Green Jacket. Indeed, the Indian golfing community is eagerly awaiting such an outcome. If that happens, it will change the game of golf in India and he will emerge on the world’s stage as a truly worthy hero.
Because several players in their forties have won in the past, Jack Nicklaus being the most famous of them, anybody from the age of 17 to the age of 50 holds out a hope that he could win. Fred Couples at 50 led the Shell Houston Open, last week, until the last three holes on the final day and could have easily (!) won. Which sport in the world enables such possibilities?
Paddy Harrington, the current holder of two major titles, surely wishing to add two more to complete the “Paddy Slam”, is among the front runners as he handles pressure in a stoic and cheerful manner. Recent champions such as Johnson and Immelman are capable but are not showing much colour and Phil Mickelson, despite having won recently, is much too off-and-on lately to be expected to win. The American youngsters (mid-twenties) of Snedeker, Weekley, Watney etc. will be in the running but will not quite make it, although Geoff Ogilvy and Anthony Kim will definitely be factors. Justin Rose is fading lately and only Paul Casey may launch a serious challenge although he is known to crumble under Master’s pressure.
However, Tiger’s roar on the 18th green at the Bay Hill will have woken up the entire field, many of whom were hoping that his return would be slower. With a Tiger, hungry for yet another Major, on the prowl, the reverberations of that roar will disturb any player’s confidence.
My money is on Tiger.
Also read: APRIL 8: No slowdown handicaps this competition!
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