2010 Masters Final Clippings, Vol. 1

There should be some GWAA award winners out of this bunch...

LEDES

Doug Ferguson for AP:

Even sweeter than Phil Mickelson slipping into another green jacket was seeing his wife waiting for him behind the 18th green at Augusta National with tears streaming down her face.

Amy Mickelson, with her long blonde hair and easy smile, had not been at a tournament since she was diagnosed with breast cancer 11 months ago.

Her husband had not looked the same ever since.

Larry Dorman in the New York Times:

Phil Mickelson does not do dull. He does not do routine, and he does not do safe. This hammer-down, all-or-nothing approach may have cost him a major championship or two in the past. But on a perfect Sunday at Augusta National, with his wife, Amy, and their three children among the huge gallery at the 18th hole, it won him the Masters for the third time.

James Corrigan in the Independent:

The contrast could not have been any more stark. Two golfing superstars with "family problems", but only one of them with an emotional victory which nobody could dare but emphasise. When Phil Mickelson holed his birdie putt on the 18th here last night to claim his third Masters title, America wept in delight. Golf at last had such a positive story to cheer.

Larry Fine for Reuters:

Phil Mickelson loves Augusta National like a second home, making it the perfect place for the big left-hander to turn Sunday at the Masters into a touching family day with his heart-warming victory.

Lawrence Donegan for The Guardian:

Phil Mickelson, the riverboat gambler of golf, rode his brilliance and his luck all the way to victory at the 2010 Masters after a day at Augusta National blessed with more outrageous storylines than the collected works of Hans Christian Andersen.

Derek Lawrenson for the Daily Mail:

Taking on Phil Mickelson at Augusta National is rather like tackling Roger Federer at Wimbledon and, despite Lee Westwood's best efforts, brilliance duly won out at the end of a thrilling Masters on Sunday.

QUICKIES

GolfDigest.com's Birdies and Bogeys.

PGATour.com via Yahoo

Golfweek's Quick 18

SI/golf.com offers its Masters Confidential early.

PHIL
Phil's media interview room transcript.

Bob Harig on what Phil's entourage was thinking when he went for 13 in two.

Nobody would have blamed him had he laid up to a manageable yardage and tried to make a birdie with a phenomenal short game. We can all think of a few instances in which such a play didn't work out. But this time it did, and there were grins all around.

"You can't print it," laughed Butch Harmon, Mickelson's coach, when asked what he was thinking as the decision unfolded. "I was praying he would lay up. I'm sure Bones was doing the same thing.

"But he made a great explanation. He had to go through the same gap to go for the green as he did to lay up. So why not go for the green? With all the birdies they were making in front of him, he figured he needed to make birdie. You know how confident he is on those kind of shots."

Steve Elling for CBSSports.com:

Mary Mickelson walked the front nine on Sunday, then trekked to the clubhouse because there were about 30,000 fans following her son's group and she couldn't see much. She watched on TV and awaited Amy's arrival.

"It was just an incredible day," Mary said. "It's a tremendous lift. You don't think it is going to happen, and you hope that it will, and then you come out here, and the way he responds to this course, and the way people respond to him, it just was a boost.

"Then, when Amy arrived, it was just the top of the cake."

Amy watched on television at the family's rented home until after her husband played the 13th hole, which will be recalled fondly at Augusta for as long as they play golf tournaments.

Dave Kindred writes about the 13th hole shot.

"Anybody else," Westwood said, "would've just chipped it out."

Mickelson's only question is, 6-iron or 5?

He asks that "because sometimes out of the pine needles," you say, "the ball will come out a little slow."
But the ball is sitting clean and Mickelson wants to do the hero thing.

"So I hit 6."

But, Phil, that gap in the trees ...

"It wasn't huge," he said. Then he smiled the wicked clever smile of the ultimately triumphant. "But it was big enough, you know, for a ball to fit through."

Bob DiCesare talks to Bones about the conversation on 13 that Nick Faldo talked over:

"I tried to talk him into laying it up and he said, "no,' " Mackay said. "Then we found out that Choi made 6 and I went at it again with him. I tried it again, and he said, "definitely no.' And all he basically said is, "Listen, there's an opening in the trees and it's a 6-iron. All I have to do is execute. It's not like I have to hit a big hook or a big cut. All I got to do is hit a 6-iron onto a big old green.' So, fair enough, I got out of the way and you guys saw what he did."

Mackay went on to admit the conversation wasn't quite that simple. He worked his player hard hoping he would relent. Birds were flying all over the place at Augusta National. This was no time to do something rash, to make one of those impetuous decisions for which Mickelson is noted, sometimes for better, too often for worse.

"You want to make your point without over-making your point, you know what I mean?" Mackay said. "So I said, "Hey, that sure was a great pitch shot you hit on 15 from 87 yards [Saturday]. What a great, shot, man, it almost went in."

Tim Dahlberg writing for AP:

It started with a shot a Vegas high-roller would have never dreamed of betting on. It ended with a scene so touching it washed away any lingering memories of the stain Woods had put on this Masters.

The man who stands for everything Woods doesn’t stood wearing the green jacket Woods so desperately coveted. Even better, when he looked up on the 18th green, his wife—who had been bed-ridden most of the week—and his children were there to share it all with him.

John Garrity for golf.com on the switching of roles for Tiger and Phil:

Phil played low-percentage golf. Tiger always played it smart. Phil changed equipment companies on the eve of a Ryder Cup. Tiger made his equipment company adapt to him. Phil made millions. Tiger was said to be pushing a billion. On top of those indignities, you had the perception — encouraged by Woods — that Phil couldn't handle pressure. Who can forget the look of contempt that Tiger gave partner Phil eight years ago, when Lefty nearly yanked his tee shot out-of-bounds on the final hole of a Ryder Cup alternate-shot match.
If Tiger was steak, a columnist wrote, Phil was salad.

Well, that's no longer the case.

Helen Ross talks to Amy:

For nearly a year, though, Amy has been battling breast cancer, and while the long-term prognosis is good, the medications have taken their toll. So she was back in the house they rented, watching the final round on TV with her mom and her three kids.

"I've been trying to stay at the house and rest so that I wouldn't get sick," Amy explained. "If I had come out here, it probably would have been too much. I wanted Phil to focus on winning the Masters this week ... and not worry if I was sick or out here walking and wasn't doing well."

LEE

Jason Sobel on the impressive runner-up:

Westwood's post-tournament reaction was a far cry from the one he displayed at Turnberry, when he believed a birdie was necessary to force a playoff, then hit an overly aggressive putt and made bogey, watching in horror as Tom Watson in the group behind also bogeyed, meaning his par would have earned a spot in the playoff. After that event, he said his emotions ran from "frustration to sickness." But he was more upbeat this time around.

"If you sat me down at the start of the year and asked me to rate which ones suit me, I would probably put the Masters last and say it was the one that suited me the least," Westwood said. "So to finish second is obviously a massive boost for the rest of the year. I've just got to keep doing the things I'm doing. I think my short game can still improve -- even though it's a lot better. It was a master class from Phil out there around the greens. That's the sort of standard you've got to be up to."

TIGER

Brian Wacker on the scene after television signed off:

About the time Phil Mickelson was hugging his wife, Amy, in the fading light Sunday evening and celebrating a third career Masters victory at Augusta National, Tiger Woods was being whisked away down Magnolia Lane in the back seat of a gray Chevy SUV, hat off, head down, future uncertain.

A lot of questions remain unanswered about Woods, including when he will next play. He was less than definitive, saying only that he was going to “take a little time off and re-evaluate things.”

One question about Woods that was answered, however, was what sort of reception he would get from the fans upon his return from a five-month hiatus following the admission of a series of extramarital affairs.

Ron Sirak for GolfDigest.com:

Woods' return here was as much a referendum on him as it was a golf tournament. Sandwiched between Fred Couples and Mickelson on Sunday, Woods couldn't help but hear the raucous ovations those players received on every hole. This was the kind of affection denied Woods at Augusta National and a kind of affection he may never again receive from galleries -- a situation to which he will have to adjust as the season progresses and tournaments are played in less-controlled environments.

William Rhoden on Tiger's week:

In many respects, Woods is fortunate. Many of us never have to stop and face the demons on our trail. We are able to outsmart, outmaneuver, outrun or simply ignore them. Woods was caught, blindsided by fate and knocked cold. He was forced, in a public and humiliating way, to confront his dark side. And who knows what the real count of those he hurt is — besides his wife, his children, his extended family?

By comparison, a fourth-place finish at Augusta seems trivial.

Gene Wojciechowski managed to get a copy of Tiger's diary from the Sunday, left on his jet. Wins my prize for column of the week. Just a taste, but it only gets better.

Dear Diary,

Geezus Christ! Get me the %#@& out of here!

Oh, I'm sorry -- New Tiger told everybody I'd tone down the swearing, but it isn't easy. I've got a book -- "Cuss Control: The Complete Book on How to Curb Your Cursing" -- that I read every f-ing night, but did you see what I went through this past week?

On Monday I had to meet the press, which is like eating a pine cone sandwich.

On Tuesday I got National Enquirer'd on a neighbor story.

On Wednesday I got napalmed by Billy Payne, the chairman of Augusta National, for my sex scandal. Then I got seared for my new Nike commercial.

On Thursday I got buzzed by a couple of planes tugging some banners -- and they weren't wishing me luck.
On Friday one of my former "friends" had a strip club gig down the road in Atlanta.

On Saturday I got mocked by Tina Fey on "Saturday Night Live."

On Sunday I could have won the Masters, but someone kidnapped my swing, my bunker game and on No. 14, my putting stroke. I hockey-sticked it around from 8 feet. Plus, my allergies are so bad I feel like I've been spray-painted with pollen.

Robert Lusetich wonders if Hank Haney's role in Team Tiger will be reconsidered.

One of the Woods’ inner circle told me that it was “a good week considering everything." I told him he should tell that to his boss, who wouldn’t think so. Major No. 15 just needed six fewer mistakes on a weekend where he made 10 bogeys.

It’s astonishing to think that Tiger Woods had two eagles and 11 birdies on the weekend of a major and didn’t win.

It’s maybe more astonishing if his swing coach, Hank Haney, doesn’t get an earful from Woods.

Haney likes to say that the beauty of his swing principles is that players can self-correct when they’re playing by looking at their ball flight and adjusting.

But here’s my question, Hank. If Tiger Woods can’t do it, then who can?

Gary Van Sickle for golf.com:

A squadron of security officers formed around him after he finished a short interview for international TV following his post-round briefing, and led him through a sea of thousands of curious fans, some of them squinting into the late-day sun to catch a glimpse of the man who is golf's greatest player and most infamous celebrity, but not the 2010 Masters champion. Like a good running back following his blockers, Woods walked briskly with his safety net between the crowds, under the sprawling oak tree and disappeared into the clubhouse. It was a quick and effectively choreographed exit.

Kevin Garside for the Telegraph:

Irrespective of one’s ethical position, and few would endorse Woods’s ransacking of the institutions of family and marriage, it required a monumental effort to compartmentalise the world’s opprobrium and swing a club in practice never mind pull one from the bag on the first tee of the Masters.

It is his endless capacity for mental bench pressing, even more than his ball striking, even more than his peak putting stroke, that has propelled Woods beyond the field into golfing lore. It was that quality that kept him in contention on his return to the sport and betrayed the idea that Woods has undergone fundamental change. He is all he ever was, dedicated to his own cause.

Good news for Tiger, he's up to a 69! Stuart Elliott reports:

On Wednesday, the day before the Masters began, Mr. Woods’s online reputation stood at 51 percent positive and 49 percent negative, Zeta reported. On Friday, the positive figure had soared to 69 percent and the negative had fallen to 31 percent.

The 69 percent is still a far cry from the 91 percent positive rating that Mr. Woods enjoyed in the Zeta data before the scandal.

OTHERS

Nancy Armour on Fred Couples, K.J. Choi and other notes.

Sean Martin on Nick Watney's amazing 65.

Randall Mell reports that even though Tom Watson faded, he should learn some good news about a U.S. Open invite this week.

TELEVISION

Richard Sandomir in the New York Times:

Moments after a CBS camera spotted Amy Mickelson beyond the ropes of the 18th green, her husband birdied the 18th hole to win, and his joy turned to tears.

CBS’s Jim Nantz echoed his “There it is, a win for the ages” declaration for Woods at the 1997 Masters when he said of Mickelson, “That’s a win for the family.”

It sounded scripted yet sounded right.

Michael Hiestand in the USA Today:

Predictably, CBS' coverage only obliquely touched on Tiger Woods' famous off-course travails. Sunday, CBS' David Feherty referred to Woods' new "centered Buddhist attitude" and Nantz mentioned his "self-imposed absence from the game." CBS lead analyst Nick Faldo Sunday noted the big picture for Woods: "Once you're inside the walls of the grounds, you're cocooned in the most wonderful golfing bubble."

FLORA AND FAUNA

Augusta Chronicle writer Adam Folk describes the experience of patrons trying to get seats close to the 18th green.

IMAGES