The thrilling conclusion to the Masters golf tournament last Sunday reminded me why I love to watch golf on TV. I’m a junkie, so I can watch golf almost any time, but when so many people I know missed such an amazing moment, I can’t help but wonder why.
I know-golf tournaments are boring. That’s what everyone probably thinks. However, if you watched any of the action yesterday (skeptics are already giggling at my use of the term action) there is a good chance you were enthralled, maybe even excited. I know I was.
If you missed it, here’s what happened during one of the craziest, most compelling days of drama in the history of sports.
Tiger Woods began the day four shots behind Chris DiMarco. Tiger hadn’t won a major in three years and 10 straight appearances.
DiMarco looked like he was due to win a major. He played in the final group with Phil Mickelson during last year’s drama-filled final round of the Masters-but he faltered early and never contended. At the end of last year DiMarco made it to a playoff in the PGA Championship, the year’s final major, only to come up short.
Pretty good backdrop, eh?
This year’s Masters had experienced several rain delays, and the majority of golfers had to finish their third round Sunday morning before they played the final round in the afternoon. This only added to the drama.
Tiger roared early Sunday as he finished his third round, making birdies on his first four holes of the day. Within minutes DiMarco’s four-shot lead had dwindled to nothing. Before DiMarco knew it, Woods had taken the lead. By the end of the third round, Woods had come from four shots back to lead by four-an eight-stroke turnaround in a matter of a couple of hours.
Woods birdied the first two holes of his final round and looked like he would run away with it, but after the drama that had already transpired, one got the feeling there was more excitement coming. Woods got conservative and DiMarco started playing the best golf of his life to battle back to within one stroke as the players approached the 16th hole, a Par 4.
Woods missed the green on his approach and the announcers couldn’t stop talking about the difficulty level of Tiger’s upcoming pitch. DiMarco landed his approach squarely on the green and left himself a reasonable 15-foot putt for birdie. It looked like DiMarco would at least tie Woods on that hole.
Instead, Woods made his chip shot from more than 40 feet away-a shot that will no doubt go down in the lore of golf as one of the best clutch shots ever made.
He had to aim more than 15 feet left of the hole and run the ball down an extremely fast slope to make the improbable chip. It was truly unbelievable. The ball even hesitated for a moment on the lip of the hole as if to taunt DiMarco before falling in.
After all of that, DiMarco missed his birdie putt and fell behind by two strokes with two holes to play. The drama didn’t end there, though.
Woods bogeyed the next two holes, leaving DiMarco an opening. DiMarco missed a putt to win the tournament on the final hole and the players headed into a sudden-death playoff. Woods made a 15-foot putt for birdie on the first playoff hole and it all ended there.
It was magical.
Why watch golf on TV? Because if you don’t, you might be left reading about it instead of seeing it first hand. Oh yeah, last year’s Masters was just as good. Whatever you do, don’t miss it next year.