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Focus
on Augusta not all about golf
The 67th Masters will be like no other in history. For the first time, what is
going on before the ournament and outside the gates of Augusta National may upstage
what happens on the course from Thursday through Sunday.
Instead of the focus on Tiger Woods and his chance at an unprecedented three-
peat and golf immortality, the scuttlebutt is about female membership.
Instead of the beautiful and awesome drive up Magnolia Lane that makes every player
realize they are at golf's first major championship, it will be scores of protestors
outside the confines that let the golfers know they are at The Masters.
Martha Burk, the head of the National Council of Women's Organizations, has planned
a massive protest regarding Augusta National's lack of female members and is currently
in court to get closer to Augusta's front door. As it stands now, Sheriff Ronald
Strength stated that the closest the protests can occur is a five-acre site less
than a half mile from the gate. The court has promised to rule quickly on the
matter as time is becoming scarce.
No matter the outcome of the court's ruling, Burk's supporters will be out in
full force. Jesse Jackson plans to bring his Rainbow/Push Coalition and
several other minority groups will be in attendance. On the other side of the
debate will be among others, the Ku Klux Klan.
Already engaged in a chess match of sorts, Burk wanted to contact the sponsors
of The Masters to try and get them to boycott the tournament. Augusta Chairman
Hootie Johnson struck first by telling his sponsors their services weren't needed
as this year's tournament would be broadcast without commercials.
Burk then went to CBS to try and persuade the network to not broadcast The
Masters. CBS politely declined so this year's event will have no commercials
and Lanny Wadkins in the lead analyst role for the first time.
This whole affair will lead to circus-like conditions before the start of the
tournament. All week long, players will be inundated with questions regarding
the protestors and while some will answer as truthfully as they can, most
would like to put the whole sordid affair behind them and probably answer "no
comment."
The fact of the matter is that golf's first major championship and arguably
most important title is at hand and the players feel their time should be
spent preparing for the golf. Most will do just that and leave the
distractions outside the ropes.
When it comes to the golfing aspect of this tournament, the theme changed from
last year. For the 2002 event, Masters officials lengthened the course by some
285 yards. The magnitude of the changes was not fully realized as rain
saturated the course and made it a haven for the long-ball hitters.
This year, one hole was altered, the par-four fifth. Twenty yards were added
off the tee and that brought fairway bunkers into play, sort of. Now the
second bunker on the left side is a 320-yard carry and most players will try
and play an iron up the right side. Be careful. The right rough was grown and
landing there is serious trouble.
That is the only substantial change to the course in 2003. With rain looming
during the week, the course will play soft, thus negating the eye-opening
quickness of the greens and emphasizing the importance of length and distance
control.
When trying to handicap the field and taking into account the distractions,
the course setup and the regular pressures of a major championship, the
obvious choice is Woods. Woods will field the most questions on the matter of
the protests because he is the top player in the sport and because he is a
minority. Mentally, he is a strong and bright person who might answer the
question once early on and get it over with. Then it comes down to preparing
for major championships, which Woods does better than anyone, as evidenced by
his record in majors.
Woods has won a major title every year since 1999. He has three green jackets,
two U.S. Open titles, two PGA Championships and only once did he raise the
Claret Jug in victory at the British Open. Woods is a perfect 7-for-7 in the
majors with at least a share of the lead heading into the final round and has
taken six of the last 12 major championships.
Woods has three victories in five starts this season, including a win in his
first tournament back after knee surgery at the Buick Invitational. He also
claimed the title at the marathon that is the WGC-Accenture Match Play
Championship and made it four straight at Bay Hill where he threw up more
times on Sunday than he made bogey.
He has the length to succeed at Augusta and although he has struggled with it
at times this year, Woods normally keeps the ball in the fairway. His ball
flight is absolutely perfect for Augusta's slick greens because he can land it
soft and won't have to deal with skipping across the putting surface. In the
event Woods misses the green, he has one of the top-three short games in the
sport and is one of the game's best putters.
Oh, and he has broken par in 10 consecutive rounds at The Masters.
Woods has used golf's history as a great motivator and this year is no
different. Woods can become the first player in Masters history to win three
consecutive green jackets. Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo both won back-to-back
Masters titles but neither could collect their third in a row. A win would
give Woods nine majors overall and that's halfway to Nicklaus' total of 18.
Woods is the favorite no matter what, but another thing he seems to have going
for him is that the competition is limping into The Masters. Ernie Els, No. 2
in the world, seemed to be the man to stop Woods with four wins worldwide
early in the year. A wrist injury caused by a punching bag mishap sidelined
him for two weeks but Els played a practice round last week at Augusta and
pronounced himself ready to go.
Sergio Garcia, Els' practice partner at Augusta, is battling swing changes.
He's missed three cuts in seven starts on the PGA Tour and his best finish so
far in 2003 was a tie for 25th at the season-opening Mercedes Championships.
Phil Mickelson is physically fine but may not be tournament ready. He returned
to action at the BellSouth Classic last week after a long layoff to be with
his family for the birth of his third child. Lefty shot a second-round 79 and
missed the cut.
Vijay Singh, the 2000 Masters champion, hurt a rib weeks back and seems to be
on the road to recovery. He won the Phoenix Open prior to the injury but
missed the cut at The Players Championship and withdrew before the start of
the BellSouth Classic.
If any of these players get their games together, they can contend. The one
golfer who seems most ready to contend now is Davis Love III. Love has two
wins in 2003, a major title on his resume and is swinging the club better than
ever thanks to being completely free of lingering neck and back injuries. He
has length and when he gets hot with the putter, he can put up birdies in
bunches. Love has two runner-up finishes and would love to collect a Masters
win to solidify his place in golf history.
Among those other players who could be around the top of the leaderboard are
Adam Scott, Jay Haas, Mike Weir and Jim Furyk.
Also in the field this week are Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer, who have
combined for 10 green jackets. Palmer announced that last year's event would
be his last but after a pair of practice rounds, he declared he was ready to
go. Nicklaus, who trimmed off weight to help his back woes, also played
practice rounds at Augusta and is set to tee it up this week.
More important than their appearances this week, Nicklaus and Palmer met
Johnson after a practice round and got the chairman to revoke his old position
on former champions. The old policy stated that former champions over the age
of 65 could no longer compete in the event. But this year, that has been
stopped and all former winners are allowed into the field.
Despite the protests and the change in policy regarding its older players,
once Thursday rolls around, it will all be about golf. When that happens, the
story is not Hootie Johnson, Martha Burk, Jesse Jackson or anyone else. It is
Tiger Woods.
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