Masters Final Results and Thoughts - 2014

A few thoughts on the Masters … in no particular order.

First, congratulations to Bubba Watson.

Bubba is a bit of of a golfing savant. He’s sort of the anti-Tiger. Whereas Tiger’s play has become increasingly mechanical and scientific in the pursuit of the perfect swing, Bubba seems to just imagine shots and executes them. He has a swing that no one would ever be able to emulate. It’s refreshing.

And my goodness, does Bubba hit it long. Remember when the talk was of Tiger proofing Augusta? When he wants to, Bubba hits it fifty yards longer than Tiger in his prime. They’re going to need to Bubba-proof Augusta.

For all the talk about his maturity, Spieth had a bit of a meltdown when things started going wrong—slamming clubs into the ground and whatnot. But what do you expect. He’s twenty, and a year ago was an amateur, and there he was on golf’s biggest stage. He’ll be back, assuming the accelerated pace hasn’t ruined him like a child pop star.

Rick Fowler (now that he has a haircut and no longer looks like a boy band wannabe, you can’t call him Rickie any more) took another step toward the greatness many have predicted.  The T5 was his best finish in a Major. He’ll have his Major soon.

Rory McIlroy seems to still be be figuring thing out. He finished with a 69 and a T8, but that’s well below what the hype surrounding him would predict.

Miguel Angel Jimenez’ fourth place finish was excellent for a guy who joins the Senior Tour next week. Ageless Bernhard Langer finished eighth with McIlroy, John Senden, Kevin Stadler and Jimmy Walker. But Fred Couples fell to T20. Still, that’s not bad for a 54-year-old. Lots of guys half his age didn’t make the cut.

Amen Corner once again showed why it deserves its reputation.

I am continually amazed at the evil genius of Augusta’s greens. A foot’s difference in the landing zone separates a birdie from a bogey in a way that no other course seems to be able to duplicate.

The carnage at the cut this year amazed me. So many of the pre-tournament favorites headed home early.

I think that back was hurting Phil more than he would ever admit. Jason Day—my preseason pick for a Masters win—obviously had not had enough time between thumb injury and tournament.

I’ve grown to dislike the Jim Nantz-led CBS production. Nantz spent the first fifteen minutes enjoying the sound of his own voice, descending first into the schmaltzy, and then into the completely pointless. It was frustrating to realize that there were players out on the course, and we were still listening to Nantz try to wax poetic eighteen minutes in. It settled down a bit after that, and CBS did its usual decent job.

Time to let Nantz go and find someone new for the broadcast.

One good thing about the final round of the CBS broadcast is that nary a word about Eldrick Woods was spoken. I wonder how Nantz restrained himself on that one.

Final results of the 2014 Masters follow: