Sporting heroes inspire others to become sporting heroes, as new Masters champion Trevor Immelman testified following his two-stroke win over Tiger Woods on Sunday. It was a minor miracle that he was even playing in the Masters, having undergone a major operation just 15 weeks ago.
Trevor Immelman benefitted from a piece of Masters luck on Saturday, but the third-round leader from South Africa knows it’s Sunday that offers a chance to enter Masters lore. Immelman (28) had a stroke of good fortune at the par-five 15th when his ball stuck on the steep bank of the green after his third shot.
Trevor Immelman emerged as the halfway leader at the Masters on Friday as Tiger Woods used an incredible finish to keep alive his bid for a fifth Augusta crown. Immelman, who has had an arduous recovery from surgery, birdied 17 and 18 en route to his second straight 68 and an eight-under total of 136.
Britain’s Justin Rose reeled off six birdies in eight holes to share the first-round lead at the US Masters while Tiger Woods laboured to stay in touch on Thursday. Rose shrugged off two early bogeys to fire a four-under-par 68 in bright sunshine. He launched his sizzling run at the par-three sixth before ending the day level with South African Trevor Immelman.
Gary Player finally has Arnold Palmer beaten. When Player tees off on Thursday, it will be his 51st Masters. That tops by one the record he shared with The King for most Masters played. Player already holds the record for most consecutive British Opens played — 46. ”The word that comes to mind is ‘thankful’,” the 72-year-old said.
Tiger Woods opens his quest for an unprecedented Grand Slam of golf at Augusta National on Thursday, carrying the lowest odds ever for a player at the outset of a Major. The world number one is quoted at evens or just above evens to win a fifth Green Jacket, with the next best being two-time winner Phil Mickelson.
Ernie Els is hoping a radical change of coaches can propel him to Masters glory after 14 years of heartbreak. The 37-year-old South African has won two US Opens and one British Open, but has yet to strike gold at Augusta National, despite six top-10 finishes and twice being runner-up.
Golf superstar Tiger Woods takes aim at a fifth US Masters crown this week amid breathless speculation that it could be the first step toward a once-unimaginable Grand Slam. ”I think he’s the only player capable of doing that,” American Steve Stricker said on Monday as the world’s best golfers began their preparations for the first Major championship of 2008.
It all seemed surreal to Zach Johnson. Three clutch birdies on the back nine at the Masters. His name atop the leaderboard. Toppling Tiger Woods. Slipping on the green jacket. ”I’m from Cedar Rapids, Iowa,” he said when asked to describe himself. ”That’s about it. I’m a normal guy.” Not any more.
If not for number 18, Retief Goosen would be in great shape. The two-time United States Open champion is six over, four strokes off the lead, going into the final round of the Masters. But he’s played the par-four 18th at four over through the first three rounds, including a bogey on Saturday.
For every overcooked approach shot, every tee ball that landed in the pine straw, every drop in the drink at Rae’s Creek, Tiger Woods would come up with another shot to remind everyone why he can never be counted out. Woods may not win this year’s Masters, but he will certainly be in the mix after Friday.
The cheers broke the morning calm at Augusta National when Arnold Palmer took a mighty swing at his ceremonial tee shot. For the next 11 hours on Thursday, the Masters went mute. Throw together a course that has grown 500 yards with brittle
conditions, and there wasn’t much to cheer.
The guardians of all that is good and green at Augusta National couldn’t have been happier when their new leader went before the assembled media and declared that he would rather jump naked into the pond on the 15th hole than do anything to spoil their little tournament.
Phil Mickelson will unveil a secret weapon, a second driver designed specifically to offset the lengthened Augusta National Golf Club layout, when he opens the defence of his Masters crown on Thursday. ”It’s a driver that I’ve been working on specifically for the Masters,” Mickelson said.
South African legend Gary Player will equal a record in Augusta on Thursday with his 50th Masters start, matching Arnold Palmer’s mark even as one of his own Masters records is challenged. The 71-year-old icon won three Masters titles, including the first by a non-United States golfer in 1961 as well as in 1974 and 1978.
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/ 31 December 2006
Pop superstar Michael Jackson headlined a throng of fans, friends and family who paid a final, soulful tribute to James Brown, at a funeral ceremony in the hometown of the late ”Godfather of Soul.” ”James Brown, I shall miss you, and I love you so much,” Jackson said in a brief eulogy, his thin voice cracking with emotion.
I’m not sure I was as excited about my first Masters as Charles Howell III was about his. He grew up three miles down the road, after all. And he was playing. I’m just scribbling, as pleasant a task as that is. Charles III said he was in awe of the Augusta National Club and the event before being invited to play here for the first time in 2001: ”Even if they made us hit wooden drivers and gutta-percha balls, I’d show up and be happy just to be there.”
Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods met in Butler Cabin for the second straight year at the Masters for a role reversal not seen at Augusta National in more than 40 years. Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer — rivals briefly, driving forces as long as they played — took turns helping each other into the green jacket for three straight Masters ending in 1965.
Fred Couples was tied for the lead and chasing Masters history when he stood above a little 4-foot birdie putt at the second hole. He drew the club back, then propelled it forward. The blade tilted ever so slightly before striking the ball. It never had a chance, skidding past the cup on the right side by a good inch or two — a push, they call it, and a bad one at that.
Phil Mickelson’s impressive victory on Sunday at the 70th Masters moved him halfway toward a ”Lefty Slam”, although the southpaw United States star is not ready to ponder a four-major sweep just yet. Mickelson’s second Masters triumph in three years combined with his win at last August’s PGA Championship leave him only a US Open and British Open shy of matching Tiger Woods’ feat of four major titles in a row.
Defending champion Tiger Woods charged into the title hunt while Chad Campbell clung to a one-stroke lead when darkness halted Saturday’s rain-interrupted third round of the Masters. Top-ranked Woods, chasing his 11th major victory and fifth Masters crown, birdied the par-4 third and par-5 eighth holes to reach three-under par after nine holes, three strokes off the lead entering Sunday’s endurance test.
Three-time major champion Ernie Els likes his chances of winning his first Masters green jacket because of the difficult playing conditions at Augusta National Golf Club. The 36-year-old South African fired his second consecutive one-under par 71 on Friday to stand on two-under par 142 — four strokes behind United States leader Chad Campbell.
South Africans Retief Goosen and Tim Clark took advantage of difficult conditions more common to a United States Open to move into contention after Thursday’s first round of the 70th Masters tournament. Two-time US Open champion Goosen and Clark each fired a two-under par 70 to share fourth place, three strokes behind leader Vijay Singh of Fiji.
If Hootie Johnson, the chairperson of the Augusta National golf club, did not already know that the wholesale changes to the most familiar golf course in the world were unpopular with those who have to play it at the Masters this week, he knows now.
Defending champion Tiger Woods likes his chances of winning a fifth Masters title after an opening-round par 72 in Augusta on Thursday, his top first-round showing at Augusta National Golf Club since 2002. World number one Woods, who stood five strokes behind leader Vijay Singh of Fiji, opened with a 74 in 2005 but went on to win a playoff over Chris DiMarco.
Ernie Els is hoping it will be 13th time lucky when he tees off in The Masters in Augusta on Thursday. The big South African has carved out an impressive record at Augusta since his first appearance in 1994 with six top 10 finishes, including runner-up slots in 2000 and 2004.
Six-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong announced on Monday that he plans to retire from cycling after seeking a seventh consecutive victory along the French roadways next July. ”It will be the last one, win or lose. Having said that, I’m fully committed to winning a seventh title,” Armstrong said.
Golfing order was restored at Augusta National on Sunday. Tiger Woods is Masters champion, for a fourth time, and back on top of the world rankings. Suddenly all the early season talk of the ”Fab Four” — Woods, Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Ernie Els — is all sounding a bit hollow.
Just when the chasing pack convinced themselves that Tiger Woods was human after all and there was nothing to fear from the player who in 2000 and 2001 took golf to a level never before seen, the nightmare is back. After a nearly three-year ”slump” as he rebuilt his swing, the world number one is back.
Runaway Masters leader Chris DiMarco kept his cool in Augusta in the third round on Saturday when he held off a charging Tiger Woods and Denmark’s Thomas Bjorn. All three, along with 41 other players, will have to return early on Sunday morning to finish their rounds after darkness halted play.
The Masters is all about tradition. The returning champions. The Crow’s Nest. The Hogan Bridge. Well, there’s one tradition those guys in the green jackets would gladly abandon. Bad weather. In what has become a mud-stained rite of spring, the pristine grounds of Augusta National were a gooey mess, the opening major of the year totally out of whack after two days of thunderstorms.
On a rain-soaked opening to the Masters, Casey Wittenberg made the turn with a two-under 34 and a share of the early lead on Thursday, while David Duval showed signs of snapping out of a mystifying slump. Much of the attention was on Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and defending champion Phil Mickelson.