Injury keeps Rory McIlroy away from fireworks
For sure, we would have loved to have our own Rory McIlroy in a position to contend for the title but professional golf at the highest level offers no guarantees and you felt an uncompetitive McIlroy had paid a hefty price for a rib cage injury that seriously hampered his tournament preparation.
Uncompetitive but game, it was now up to the likes of McIlroy and others to provide some early fireworks but the main show lay elsewhere.
With two Europeans, four Americans, a South African and an Australian making up the first eight places, the Masters had also added some “bragging rights” spice to yesterday’s round — but the real story concerned two players who had never won a major championship.
On the 60th birthday of the late Severiano Ballesteros, could Sergio Garcia at the age of 37 muster enough dogged resilience to win his first major championship in 74 starts, or could an in-form Rickie Fowler cement his status in the game, with his first major championship?
Most likely standing in their way were major champions like Justin Rose, who seamlessly breezed into the joint lead on the back nine on Saturday. Rose has pedigree around Augusta and having already won a US Open title on one of the toughest golf courses on its roster (Merion), as well as an Olympic title last year, no one doubted his staying power or ability to win his second career major title.
The same could be said for the even more impressive Jordan Spieth, who had gamely fought his way back into contention in this tournament following a quadruple nine on the 15th hole of his opening round.
With a first and two seconds to his name in his three professional starts at Augusta, we know he loves the course, but his erratic form especially around the back nine holes over the past couple of years, meant that he still had much to prove if he was to get the job done.
The biggest task for the golfers yesterday was to stay focused on their own game. That’s never easy when you have a birdie fest and roars of excitement emanating from all over the course. As tournaments go, there is nothing quite like the Augusta roar or the momentum that players can build over the final six holes on a Sunday afternoon.
From a player’s perspective, especially players trying to win their first major championship like Garcia and Fowler, it’s a white-knuckle ride and to win you have to be brave enough to stick with your processes — your visualisation, your breathing and your pre-shot routines — when all about you is mayhem.
From Fowler’s perspective, yesterday represented another personal challenge in his young golfing career. While no one can doubt his form or his pedigree Fowler’s career to date has suffered wildly from dips in form — especially at the major championships where all too often his iron play and especially his putting are simply too erratic.
As for Garcia, he had a lot of positives he could bring into his final round yesterday. For example, he would not have been intimidated ability-wise by any of the players competing around him. In his eyes, he was equal or better. That’s a huge comfort.
Statistically, Garcia knows that he has a very sound game. He is a very long and straight driver, a great iron player, a wonderful chipper and over the past couple of years a much better putter, as was evidenced by the very crucial putt he holed out on the last green on Saturday evening.
Mentally, Garcia has proven to be somewhat fragile coming down the stretch of major championships, but with 20 victories worldwide, he knows how to get the job done. This week it is quite obvious that he has settled on a course strategy that best complements his game and the chance to win his first major championship on Seve’s birthday was powerful motivation.
To win. Garcia couldn’t afford himself to be distracted away from his task at hand. He couldn’t be dragged into a match where everyone was looking over their shoulders, watching everyone else other than prioritising himself.
To win he would have to take a leaf out of Seve’s game. He had to be the matador who was controlling his own destiny.
