Two hours before putting
on The Masters green jacket, Singh
had to tiptoe out of trouble at Amen Corner in the final round. He made a bogey
at No. 11 and a par at No. 12, scores that were a fraction away from being much
higher.
It was not much different
than his PGA Championship victory at Sahalee in 1998, when his approach at the
par-5 11th ricocheted out of the trees and ended up 50 feet from the hole for
a two-putt birdie that gave him control of the tournament.
Singh was more than lucky.
He was great.
Of the five players who
had even a remote chance to win, only Singh hit the kind of shots required at
Augusta National on the back nine Sunday, when the margin of error is slimmer
than at any other major.
He saved par from the back
bunker at the par-3 12th, one of the toughest shots in the world. He was the
only contender to hit the green in two at both par 5s. He didn't miss a green
over the final six holes.
The recipe for winning
a major championship calls for good breaks and great play, and only Singh produced
such a delicate combination.
What makes The Masters
different than the other three majors is that Augusta can have a mind of its
own. It's almost as if a wizard is hiding behind the curtain of azaleas, pulling
levers to control the wind and change the script as he sees fit.
How else to explain what
happened Saturday at the par-3 12th?
David Duval, tied with
Singh at 5-under, hit an 8-iron that was right on line until a gust -- from the
opposite direction, no less -- held up his ball just long enough for it to drop
onto the bank and into Rae's Creek for a double bogey.
Singh hit the same club
two minutes later and the ball landed 6 feet behind the hole for birdie and a
three-shot swing.
"I just happened to catch
a gust of wind that was not favorable for me," Duval said. "So, it's my bad luck."
Bad luck, then bad play.
Duval was still only one
behind Sunday when he chunked a 5-iron into the creek at the par-5 13th, essentially
ending his bid.
He is now 0-for-4 in the
majors when he was in contention on a Sunday, including the past three years
at Augusta.
His game is too good to
wait as long for his first major as Davis Love III (12 years) or Phil Mickelson
and Colin Montgomerie (still waiting). But Duval has yet to figure out how to
close on Sunday.
Ernie Els knows how to
get it done. He was a rock down the stretch in twice winning the U.S. Open, and
he was the only player who made a serious charge at Singh. He gave himself birdie
putts of 8, 15, and 12 feet at the last three holes and burned the edge on all
of them.
"It just wasn't meant to
be," Els said.
That's far from what he
was thinking at the 12th tee as he watched Singh's ball bounce off the side of
the 11th green and into the water.
Because it landed far enough
on the green, and because the pin was cut to the back left, Singh had a sliver
of grass on which to take his drop -- a straight shot at the pin, instead of
having to go the drop area and hit a delicate shot over the water.
"The angle was much easier
to get up and down," Singh said.
Imagine what Els was thinking
on the next tee as he watched Singh's 7-iron sail over the 12th green into the
same azaleas that swallowed up Greg Norman's ball a year ago.
For whatever reason, the
ball hopped out of the flowers and into the sand. Had the ball not come out of
the azaleas, Singh might have been looking at double bogey or worse.
"I knew from watching this
tournament through the years, the back nine is where everything happens," Els
said. "I had my chances."
So did Tiger Woods, who
missed three straight birdie chances that might have sent him toward another
comeback. So did Loren Roberts, who proved that even short hitters still have
a chance at Augusta.
Yes, Singh got the best
of the breaks.
He will be remembered more
as the guy who played the best.
At 37, Singh now can set
his sights on a career Grand Slam. Only three other players ranked in the top
100 have won two different majors -- Woods (Masters, PGA), Nick Price (British
Open, PGA), and Mark O'Meara (Masters, British).
It would be a stroke of
luck for a man who once toiled as a club pro in Borneo to be linked with Jack
Nicklaus, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, and Gene Sarazen.
It also will require great
play, and Singh proved he is capable of that, too.
