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ArticlesThe
2010 U
S Masters April
8 –
11
The first
Major of the
year brought the return from self inflicted exile of a certain Tiger
Woods who
had been headline news for all the wrong reasons during the preceding
months... With Jack
Nicklaus
joining Arnold Palmer as Honorary Starter on Thursday, that first day
was
certainly a celebration of the older guys, as top of the leaderboard
was
Freddie Couples just 50 years young with a fantastic 66, followed
closely by
the evergreen Tom Watson who at 60, stroked it round in a cool 67 shots. And let’s not forget Sandy Lyle at 52
who
shot 69. That’s 3 ex Champions of an
age totalling 162 and the proud owners of 6 green jackets between them! A terrific
first day
with Phil Mickelson, Lee Westwood, Y E Yang and K J Choi all on 5 under
67’s
and Anthony Kim and Ian Poulter on 4 under alongside Tiger Woods, Nick
Watney
and Ricky Barnes. Day 2 saw the
Englishmen
Westwood (69) and Poulter (68) jump into a 2 shot lead on their own but
right
up there breathing down their necks came Kim (70), Woods (70), Barnes
(70),
Choi (71) and Mickelson (71). But for
Couples and Watson it was a bit of a struggle and they fell back with
75 and 74
respectively. On Saturday,
with back
to back eagles on 13 and 14, Mickelson made his move and hit a great 67
but he
still was unable to catch an “on song” Westwood who was
playing superbly for
his 68 to lead by one on 12 under. And
lurking ominously at 8 under was Choi and Woods, who amazingly did not
appear
to have missed the five previous months of non competitive golf. At 7 under was good old Freddie Couples who
after a good night’s sleep bounced back with a 68! I read that
19 of the
last 20 winners of the Masters came from the last pairing, so could
this be
Westwood’s final breakthrough? Alas, it was
not to
be. On the final Sunday Mickelson was
majestic. A shot from between the trees
on the 13th to 3 feet and a 7 iron to 12 feet on the final
hole for
another birdie, made the final holes a bit of a procession and his
final 67 was
4 better than Lee’s 71 who was runner up at 13 under, 3 behind. Kim
(65) was third at 12 under and both Choi
and Woods hit 69’s for 11 under. Sixth place? It was the rejuvenated Freddie Couples who
shot 70 for a 9 under total. Well done
Phil! Nobody can begrudge him his third
green
jacket after such a stressful and difficult time supporting both his
wife and
mother who had battled cancer. And well done
also to
the youngest ever competitor in a Masters, the 16 year old Italian
amateur
Matteo Manassero, who completed 4 rounds to finish tied 36th
with a
lot of distinguished names below him!
Article by: Martin Dawson www.effortless-golf-swing.com Fix your golf slice - improve your putting - which is the right golf ball for your game. |
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