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Date: 08 Apr 2007 19:44:08
From: BigPurdueFan
Subject: Winners and Losers
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By David Gould, Special to Yahoo! Sports
April 8, 2007
Start the countdown: Only 66 more days before Oakmont, the site of the
2007 U.S. Open. Tiger Woods, of course, will be the heavy favorite,
but as Zach Johnson's triumph in this year's Masters demonstrated,
anything can happen in a major championship. That is certainly true at
the Open, whose past winners include Orville Moody (1969), Lou Graham
(1975), Scott Simpson (1987), and Steve Jones (1996).
Woods, in fact, will be attempting to win for the first time at one of
the old, classic Eastern courses (Winged Foot, Oak Hill, Baltusrol)
that the USGA has spent a century enshrining, though he did prevail in
2002 at Bethpage Black, another highly-regarded A.W. Tillinghast
design.
But, hey, the Open can wait. Let's first review some of the winners
and losers from a most unusual Masters.
WINNERS:
The Masters: Producing another memorable Sunday, with five different
players seizing the lead. With the sudden, late spurt of eagles came
the roars that make Augusta National so special.
The layup: Amazingly, Johnson recorded 11 birdies at the par 5s for
the week without once going for a green in two.
2006 U.S. Ryder Cup rookies: While second round co-leader Brett
Wetterich fell apart on the weekend, the performance of Zack Johnson
and Vaughn Taylor (T-10) showed there will surely be more Ryder Cups
in their future.
Nick Faldo: His wit and wisdom worked from Thursday afternoon through
Sunday evening. Besides, there's no other way he would have made it
back to Butler Cabin.
Jerry Kelly: Of all the players in the field, nobody exhibited more
emotion that this ex-hockey player from Wisconsin. His wave to the
ball on the 18th green on Saturday was, as the commercial says,
priceless.
The geezers: Among the 60 players who made the cut, seven are 45 years
old and older (Sandy Lyle, Ben Crenshaw, Fuzzy Zoeller, Jeff Sluman,
Fred Couples, Craig Stadler, Tom Pernice Jr.)
Gary Player: Player, 71, displayed his usual grace and spirit in
competing for the 50th time. His words of encouragement for playing
partner Vaughn Taylor were vintage Player, who will be back next year
to break Arnold Palmer's record for most appearances.
South Africa: Besides Player, Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini made
their nation proud with a serious run on Sunday. Ernie Who?
LOSERS:
The Masters: For most of Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, we were
watching the U.S. Open, not the Masters. No rallies. No roars. Only
rumblings.
The gamble: The most notable case was Woods who knocked his risky
approach at 15 into the water on Sunday.
Europe: Once again, the continent failed to produce a major champion
in this millenium. In the final round, four Europeans (Justin Rose,
Luke Donald, Padraig Harrington, Paul Casey) still had a legitimate
shot at the green jacket. Call it the Van de Velde curse.
Australia: With Stuart Appleby's troubles, this continent also came up
short, and is still winless in the Masters. Most disappointing were
the showings of Adam Scott (T-27) and Geoff Oglivy (T-24), who were
both expected to contend on Sunday afternoon. Call it the Norman
curse.
Tom Watson: All Watson, a two-time Masters champion (1977, 1981), had
to do to make it to the weekend was double the 18th-double. Instead,
he tripled, missing a short putt.
Sergio Garcia: He missed the cut by two shots. One must begin to
wonder: Will Sergio ever win a major? The exciting promise of Medinah
in 1999 seems like a lifetime ago.
Phil Mickelson: The triple to start the final round ended any
opportunity for a repeat. Since his debacle at Winged Foot, he's gone
T-22, T-16, and T-24 in his last three majors. It will be fascinating
to see how he performs at Oakmont, his first Open since the one he
threw away.
Vijay Singh: Though he put together three very respectable rounds, he
wasn't able to overcome the 79 on Saturday. He is 44 and, despite
being in tremendous shape, will soon be running out of chances.
The Howells: In eight rounds combined, Charles, from Augusta, and
David, from England, could record only one round under 72 (David's 70
on Thursday).
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Date: 08 Apr 2007 23:39:38
From: Miss Anne Thrope
Subject: Re: Winners and Losers
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LOSERS: Any, and all.
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Date: 08 Apr 2007 21:20:41
From: AKA gray asphalt
Subject: Re: Winners and Losers
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Nice piece. Write more.
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Date: 08 Apr 2007 19:45:25
From: BigPurdueFan
Subject: Re: Winners and Losers
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On Apr 8, 10:44 pm, "BigPurdueFan" <bigpu...@aol.com > wrote:
> By David Gould, Special to Yahoo! Sports
> April 8, 2007
>
I'm not sure how Tiger is not left off of the "Losers" list (other
than 'The Gamble'), considering Lefty is on there.
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Date: 09 Apr 2007 03:22:44
From: rich
Subject: Re: Winners and Losers
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"BigPurdueFan" <bigpufan@aol.com > wrote in message
news:1176086725.358441.17990@o5g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> On Apr 8, 10:44 pm, "BigPurdueFan" <bigpu...@aol.com> wrote:
>> By David Gould, Special to Yahoo! Sports
>> April 8, 2007
>>
>
> I'm not sure how Tiger is not left off of the "Losers" list (other
> than 'The Gamble'), considering Lefty is on there.
Maybe because the writer recognizes that he is human and that a player who
finishes tied for 2nd was only bested by one other player - this despite not
having anything close to his A-game, or his B-game for that matter.
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