On the Green

This is what you have to overcome to become a major champion: Battle your own nerves that are so severe you hit a tee shot in the water when the water is the only place you can't hit it; then hit a shot on 18 that happens to land in a divot. You just focus, and keep doing what you've done since you were 5.

Back then, Trevor Immelman said he wanted to be the best golfer in the world. And today he was. He held on through the back nine when his nearest competitors crumbled, and he won the Masters.

Tiger Woods, who never did catch fire or even have a spark all week managed to finish second at 5 under. He knew it was up to the other players to put pressure on Immelman. "I didn't do my part," Woods said.

Immelman tapped in for par to finish at 8 under and win his first green jacket.

Good for him, a good week for golf.

Thanks for stopping by to take an interest in what we had to say about it.

In the gallery watching Paul Casey on No. 2, I could have sworn I saw Carl Pavano, with some buddies. Before I could go over and say hi he was gone, swallowed up by the rest of the patrons.

That's the cliche: "The Masters doesn't begin until the back nine on Sunday." So here we go.

At this point, nothing would surprise me. I certainly wouldn't even be shocked to see Tiger Woods pull it out, even though he really hasn't done anything today. He started his back nine with a bogey that dropped him to 4 under, six behind Trevor Immelman. But who knows? A lot of guys have been leaking oil and springing leaks.

Brandt Snedeker looked great when he eagled No. 2, but he has taken a nosedive since then, making the turn at 6 under (he was 10 under after 2). Poor Paul Casey was right in the hunt at 8 under after three, but he made the turn at 2 under, having dropped six strokes in five holes.

The cliche about the back nine starting the whole thing goes back to a time when Augusta was more of a birdie wonderland, when players could go after pins and even chase eagles. These days, especially with a little wind blowing, it's a matter of who's going to back up the least. Immelman gagged a 30-inch birdie putt on 7 and stumbled to a bogey on 8, but did have a nice par save in 9.

Still interesting, though

During his homily about the Good Shepherd at the 10:30 mass at St. Mary on the Hill R.C. Church in Augusta this morning, Father Justin Ferguson recalled that when he was sitting near Amen Corner last year, he was recognized as a priest by his collar. Someone asked him, “Father, shouldn’t you be tending your flock?”
“I told him,” the priest said, “`What pasture do you think my flock is currently grazing in?’ ”

In case you haven't picked the golfer for whom to root this afternoon, obviously, there is a case to be made for a lot of them. Tiger Woods needs no extra boosting; his brilliance his history chasing speak for themselves. You've read this week (I hope) about Trevor Immelman's compelling tale, coming back from surgery to remove a tumor that turned out to be benign.

Here's a case for Brandt Snedeker. He's a very personable, upbeat young man. He's got a good attitude on and off the course. During the U.S. Open at Oakmont last year, I asked him about a report that showed him being very moved by a PGA Tour sponsored visit of St. Jude Children's Hospital. I could tell by the way he just about got choked up talking about it that he was sincere.

Then he said, referring to his profession, "My brother tells me every day how lucky I am to be doing this." Snedekers demeanor all week testified to that.

Nine Examples of Interesting Headwear this Week

1. Caddies. The best caps—Masters green with Masters logo
2. Gary Player on Friday. Knight logo on white cap that accentuated his all-white outfit.
3. Justin Rose on Thursday. White Taylor Made cap with black outlines. His game went south when he changed the next day.
4. Drew Weaver. “VT” for Virginia Tech, his school, worn in honor of college mates who died and were wounded last year.
5. Michael Thompson. “A” for Alabama, his school after Tulane’s program was shut down after Hurricane Katrina.
6. Tiger Woods. Classic Nike swoosh is still understated, elegant. He also has just the right bend in the bill.
7. Heath Slocum. Just a thin visor, but somehow it keeps him safe from the sun. His skin is quite pale despite living in Florida and making his living outdoors.
8. Boo Weekley. Hunter’s camouflage patter.
9. Arnold Palmer. Honorary starter wore nothing on his head, looking remarkably like he did 50 years ago.

Who would have figured this, especially with Tiger Woods having posted a 68, finished 5 under par and served notice? Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker held serve.

Both young guns, the previous two Rookies of the Year on the PGA Tour, played great down the stretch. They didn't crumble the way most young golfers do. Immelman finished 11 under par, making birdies on 13, 14 and 18. Snedeker is two strokes back, in second place, reversing a slide by birdieing 14, 15 and 18. The two will play together again tomorrow, and will make Tiger Woods try to catch them from fifth place.

Worth watching

Boo Weekley on showing up without his goatee today:
"My wife kind of told me it started looking hideous. She's like it's time to either trim it up or take it off. I didn't have no trimmers with me so I just went ahead and took it off."

[note: Boo also trimmed shots off his score, coming in with a 4-under par 68 and is currently on the leader board at 2 under]]]

One way or another, we'll probably have a first tomorrow.

Either Tiger Woods will win a major without having at least a share of the lead after 54 hoiles, or someone will be a first-time winner of a major.

That's the way it looks right now, anyway, what with Woods finished at 5 under after a sparkling 68, which was a couple of inches away from a 65 because of putts that were oh so close. the players ahead of him, Paul Casey, Trevor Immelman, Brandt Snedeker and Steve Flesch, are all non-majjor winners.

Other things could happen, such as Zach Johsonn or Padraig Harrington or Phil Mickelson overtaking everybody to win. But don't bet on it.

"Anything can happen. You can shoot yourself into it or shoot yourself out of it," Woods said.

Look first for one of the firsts.

When Tiger Woods said yesterday that a player can make up shots in a hurry here, it was enough to make anyone a little skeptical. After all, we all know birdies aren't growing on trees here, or under them, which is where Woods found himself on No. 18 yesterday.

But of course he knew what he was talking about. He knew that if he just played steadily, kept inching up and avoided giving strokes away, he would close the game. Sure enough, here he is on No. 16, tied for fifth and only five shots behind Brandt Snedeker. A show of hands of people who don't think he can make up five shots on Brandt Snedeker, who is a gut and clutch player, but never has won a major.

Then again, you never know. Former New Yorker Johson Wagner just called Snedeker "one of the most clutch players I've ever played against" and added that Snedeker, a chlidhood friend from Tennessee has the personality to handle this.

One guy who hasn't made up strokes in a hurry is Phil Mickelson. He reverted to the inscrutable, halting Phil today. making bogeys on No. 6 and 8 and missing a birdie putt on 9. At the moment, he's tied with Woods, whom Mickelson led by 4 at the start of the day.

Souinds like an interesting Sunday, eh?

Tiger Woods finished a round that was not terribly inspiring, but not a deal-breaker either. He was rather pleased with the eventful ending, in fact, and said, "I'm in good shape."

He isn't in the greatest shape. He's 1 under par, having shot a 71, and is seven shots behind leader Trevor Immelman. The record for most strokes overcome after two rounds by a winner is the eight stroke disadvantage that Jackie Burke withstood in 1956. But Woods, in a six-way tie for 13th place, said, "On this golf course, you can make that up."

Fred Couples fell one shot short of setting a record of making the cut for a 24th consecutive year. He missed a birdie putt on No. 18 and finished at 4 over par, missing the cut by one. "I'm kind of disappointed, but I'm really disappointed with the way I played," Couples said.

Boo Weekley is not, shall we say, the type of person who would be playing at Augusta National Golf Club had he not qualified for the Masters, which he did this year for the first time. He's more of a camouflage hunting shirt than green jacket type of guy.

So it was no shock that yesterday, when he was asked what he was going to do after he left the grounds, he said, "Just going to go home and cook some pork chops...I'm a meat and tater man, I ain't much on no vegetables."

Today, he explained his encounter with a hawk that flew over him as he prepared to putt on No. 17. "His shadow came right over my ball right when I was fitting to get ready to draw it back. If it was an eagle, it would have been great. I needed a couple."

Phil Mickelson had made three birdies on the front nine and eight pars and a birdie on the back, after the wind kicked up. He's at 5 under, three shots off Trevor Immelman's lead. "I'm pretty happy," Mickelson said "I'd like to be in the lead and have some shots in hand, but I'm playing well and I'll have a chance to play late in the afternoon tomorrow and, hopefully, Sunday."

Playing late in the afternoon today (on Thursday and Friday it's luck of the draw, on the weekends it's done by position) is no bargain for Tiger Woods. He has been up and down so far with more down than up. He has a birdie and two bogeys and is 1 over, nine shots back. Nothing for him to be concerned about. He has a lot of time left. But he still has work to do.

A half hour before Tiger Woods walked into the first tee box, Trevor Immelman walked off the nearby 18th green with his second consecutive 68, leaving him at 8 under par halfway through the Masters. Thus, Tiger was eight shots down before he began.

Immelman can play. That's an opinion but also an achievement, considering he was so sick here last year he was in an emergency room with a stomach ailment. And that wasn't close to being his worst health crisis of the year. In December, he was operated on for a tumor that turned out to be benigh. But no one knew that for two days, while the mass was being tested. Talk about two days of pressure.

"It was a speed bump, really," Immelman said when he was asked about how the ordeal affected his view on life. "It can be taken from you real fast."

Immelman took advantage of perfectly beautul conditions, making birdies on the tough final two holes. It might have been an even greater achievement than making the cut despite being so sick here last April.

He remained one shot ahead of Brandt Snedeker, who also birdied the final two holes.

And Phil Mickelson is steadily moving along. At the moment, he's 4 under with a bogeyless round through 12.

Specifically, don't try this on your home course.. But really there is nothing in the rules against taking a swing with a wedge at a ball on the green. Brandt Snedeker did it on No. 6 just a few minutes ago, made birdie and moved into a tie for the lead at 5 under.

Oddly, I had been walking on the course, passing a British reporter and we both agreed there was no sparkle out on the course today. I went over to the par-3 6th and figured I'd watch Snedeker hit. I almost left becuase he wasn't anywhere near the hole. In fact, he didn't believe he could putt the ball to the hole through a piece of fringe that jutted out.

So he took out his wedge and made the crowd murmur when he started taking practice swings. He set up at the ball and took a good swipe at it. He got it in the air and allowed it to rull...right into the cup! What a roar, what a shot. And he didn't take a divot.

The superintendent at ryour course would want to strangle you if he saw you try that. Then again, superintendents have to make sure that if you're on the green you always can putt to the hole.

Now, back to the course and see what other big event I might see. You'll be the first to know

Nine Players in the Masters Field who Have New York Connections:

1. Johnson Wagner. Grew up in Garrison, dominated Met Section events
2. Ray Floyd. Won U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills and moved in. Has a house in Southampton, is a member at Shinnecock
3. Vijay Singh. Three-time winner at Westchester
4. Ernie Els. Back-to-back winner at Westchester
5. Padraig Harrington. Won at Westchester
6. Retief Goosen. Won U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills
7. Tiger Woods. Won U.S. Open at Bethpage
8. Phil Mickelson. Was adopted as a favorite by crowd at Bethpage, has been a popular honorary New Yorker ever since (nearly won the Open at Shinnecock)
9. Sergio Garcia. Won at Westchester, ran afoul of the fans at Bethpage by making a gesture toward them.

Say what you will about Augusta National Golf Club--and there is plenty that women can say about the all-male membership--but they sure do know how to run a tournament here. There is a certain can-do attitude that pervades the Masters.

If there's a slippery spot outside the ropes where "patrons" walk, you can bet there will be some traction-friendly traction mixture there in minutes. The club is sparing no expense in building a new, lavish practice facility that will be ready the year after next. They made a great new spectator spot alongside the 16th green by clearing brush and building an elaborate wooden stairway.

They don't sit on all the profits they make from tickets and merchandise (and man, do they sell merchandise, the line to just get in and shop can be 100 yards long). They're not afraid to pump it back into the tournament. Golf media members are appreciative this year for the new information stations at each seat, and for the extraordinary new restaurant-caliber eating area.

Doug Ferguson, the outstanding Associated Press golf beat writer who is president of the Golf Writers Association of America, made a formal verbal thank you during chairman Billy Payne's news conference Wednesday. Ferguson ended his remarks by jokingly suggesting that next year maybe Augusta National "write our stories for us."

Payne, with perfect timing, answered, "We can do that, too."

It paid off for Justin Rose, Trevor Immelman and Ian Poulter, Orlando neighbors, to divvy up the plane fare to come up here for a couple days two weeks ago. They played practice rounds together and just got used to Augusta National.

And they are neighbors on the leader board now Rose and Immelman are tied for the lead at 4-under par, having each shot 68 in the first round of the Masters. Poulter upstaged everyone by getting a hole-in-one on No. 16 that put him in the lead at 3-under. He finished at 2-under, right in the hunt.

Rose spoke for the group when he said that their two-day foray took the edge off their preparation this week. He said he was "Itching" to go on Monday, instead of just trying to feel his way.

That's Open-ing, with a capital "O" as in U.S. Open. He saw what was obvious to anyone, including a humble blogger: That Augusta National looked more like a U.S. Open layout than a typical Masters domain.

"There wre no roars out there," he said with a half-grin, indicating he wasn't complaining, only observing. At an Open, par is a good score. Woods was happy with his round of par 72, which included 15 pars, two bogeys, an eagle and no birdies.

"You don't have to shoot a great round [Thursday[ to win," said the player who left the course four shots behidn the leader. Woods hasn't broken par in the first round at Augusta since 2002, and had averaged 74 in the previous five Opens before today.

He thinks he is in fine shape. Methinks we will be talking about him late Sunday, one way or another.

So what else is new? Tiger Woods was frustrated, having bogeyed Nos. 13 and 14. He was 2-over and had gone 30 holes at Augusta without a birdie.

He actually made it 31 holes without a birdie, but was decidedly happier. He put his second shot on the par-5 15th over the green and had the sort of chip that caused him to make bogey two holes earlier. But no surprise here. He chipped and watched it roll, roll, roll, pause and tumble into the hole. Eagle. Even par, and a whole new day.

In the same vein, Justin Rose is 4-under par through 14 holes, which is rosy and very Rosey. The Englishman had led the Masters on Thursday each of his past two starts here (2004 and 2007). Just to remind you, he didn't win either time. Who knows? Maybe one of these years he can keep it going.

Methinks, though, we'll be talking on Sunday about Woods' eagle on 15.

.

Hate to use a U.S. Open expression, but the odd thing is, par does seem to be decent today. The pin positions are a little tougher than you'd expect for a Thursday. Speculation is that the Masters committee knows that wet weather is a possibility for Saturday, potentially making the greens soft, so they might as well make it as tough as they can when they can.

Tiger Woods is going with the program so far: five holes, five pars. No one has gone all the way around yet in better than 1-under (Heath Slocum - photo, right). Although Ian Poulter did get to 3-under with a hole-in-one on 16.

Nine things to like about Arnold Palmer

1. His nickname, The King
2. At 78, still looks good in his green jacket
3. Still can draw a crowd just by standing around
4. 50 years after he won the Masters the first time, he’s still pumped enough about the event that he took three practice shots before he made the ceremonial first tee shot.
5. Still loves giving and getting the needle. (Tee shot on No. 2 in the Par 3 Contest yesterday landed short. Arnie says, “I thought that was perfect.” Jack Nicklaus said, “It would have been, if the hole was there”).
6. Used his fame to build a hospital for children and women in Orlando
7. Inspired golf writer Herbert Warren Wind to all kinds of timeless prose, such as first referring to holes 11,12 and 13 as “Amen Corner” 50 years ago
8. Loves being Arnold Palmer, but doesn’t take himself too seriously
9. He’s the one that basically made American golf, turning it into a major sport on TV and paving the path for Tiger Woods.

Augusta knows the score. This is a week to die for, for some business. A week that's dead for others. Restaurants are packed. Hotels that couldn't fetch $80 a night the rest of the year can easily get $275 a night.

On the other hand, the Midas Muffler shop on Washington Road near the course has a "closed" sign out front this wee. Nobody is goig to get their muffler fixed this week. If they needed it, they wouldn't want to deal with the traffic. An employee at Books-A-Million last night explained to one of his regular customers--a relative newcomer to town--that business is good only on rainy days, when golf fans seek shelter. Otherwise, he said, "People who come for the tournament are at the tournament, people who live here all stay home."

Fog has lifted, sun is out, golfers are on the fairway. Both Ben Curtis and Shaun Micheel did hit the fairway with their tee shots on No. 1, about an hour behind schedule. There is a little built-in flexibility in the tee time schedule. But it will go roughly an hour behind schedule. Tiger Woods will go off at about 11:45, with U.S. Open champ Angel Cabrera and Stuart Appleby.

Fog covered the first fairway, which didn't stop the ceremonial first shot at the Masters a few minutes ago. And it sure didn't make the ceremonial first swinger any less irrepressible.

"I hit it out of sight," Arnold Palmer said, ever-present twinkle in the eye.

Palmer embraces his role as the ceremonial starter, which used to fall to the likes of Gene Sarazen when Palmer was winning his four green jackets. He hit three drives on the practice tee, just to get himself loose, even though all he had to do to make everyone around the tee happy was make contact. And the shot sounded good before it disappeared into the mist (a fog that is delaying Ben Curtis from hitting the real first shot at as we speak).

Arnie wasn't introduced as "The King" by Masters chairman Billy Payne, but that title always is understood. Hence, the loud applause when he walked from the clubhouse to the tee, when he was introduced, when he hit his shot and when he left the tee.

Sad to say he won't stick around for any more of the tournament. He is on his way back to PIttsburgh because his wife, Kathleen (Kit), has some rare foot infection athat has required two surgeries in the past week. She is just out of the hospital.

But he did leave with more memories, having marked the 50th anniversary of his first Masters triumph and having stolen the show at the Par 3 Contest yesterday. He won closest to the pin with a shot that landed 22 1/2 inches from the cup. "Hey, I won a trophy didn't I," he said. "That was pleasing."

The Back Nine will be a recurring list of miscellany and esoteric rankings and rantings.

Today, Nine prominent golfers not in the 2008 Masters field:

1. Davis Love III (first time since 1990)
2. Colin Montgomerie
3. John Daly
4. Nick Faldo (too busy doing TV work)
5. Chris DiMarco (Long Island native would've been here forever had he won a playoff)
6. Len Mattiace (ditto)
7. Chad Campbell (remember when he made the cover of SI as "the next big thing?")
8. Seve Ballesteros (just doesn't have enough game fo put himself on display anywhere)
9. Greg Norman (if only just one of those Sundays in April had been different)

Sorry, forget yesterday to give you the full menu that presumably left the former champions with a full feeling. Zach Johnson, defending champ and host, had said last month that he was planning some combo of midwest and Florida dishes, honoring his Iowa roots and his wife's background.

So this is what they served at the champions dinner: corn-fed beef, tuna, shrimp, corn (naturally), crabl cakes, and a bisque of some sort.

That dinner is the most exclusive of the week. The tournament itself, though, is a lot more open this year thanks to a policy in which every adult ticket-holder is allowed to bring one young person between the ages of 8 and 16 for free. I tmight make the place a little more crowded, but it is a great idea to keep golf growing. Golf interest does tned to skew old, demographically.

Not a bad idea, either, for a club that hasn't been known for being inclusive.

No big deal. And it's not a press box, not by a long shot. It's the most impressive, well equipped media center in sports, with an amphitheater effect made from rows and levels of worstations for international reporters.

Roars kept going up from the sizable European contingent every time a goal was scored or a big call was made in the Liverpool-Arsenal soccer match being shown on a massive screen near the ceiling. Just now, Liverpool went up 4-2. More cheers. No complaints. Everybody got a kick out of it, no pun intended.

American reporters, though, are more reserved with their cheers. You don't hear whoops go up in the press room when the NBA playoffs are on. There was one time, though, when there was a notable cheer. At the end of the most recent Ryder Cup in Ireland, another humiliating dusting for the Americans, all of us were writing our stories when the screen showed a European telecast of an NFL game Some football fans in the U.S. side of the press room let out a sardonic cheer, as if to say, "At least we're good at THAT sport."

Tiger Woods didn't back off the answers he gave earlier this year about the calendar year Grand Slam being entirely feasible. After his nine holes of practice this morning, he appeared at his formal pre-Masters news conference and didn't shy away from the prospect of winning all four majors.

"You have to understand why I said that. It's because I've done it before. I've won four in a row," he said, referring to the Tiger Slam, in which he held all the trophies at once, spanning the last three in 2000 and the Masters in 2001.

But no one has ever done it in a calendar year, and obviously no one can do it without winning the Masters, which always comes first. It is incoceivable for anyone else. Zach Johnson was the only one who had a shot in 2007, having won at Augusta, but he didn't consider the prospect for more than a second.

Naturally, he wouldn't put it past Woods. "He's a freak, in a good way," Johnson said.

No chitchat with a fellow pro, no side bets or little contests. The one solitary golfer who teed off on the back nine at 7:55 a.m. (five minutes before the gates opened for spectators) was all business. It was just Tiger Woods and his caddie, Steve Williams, getting ready for the tournament.

Of course, he had plenty of company. Fans found him pretty quickly. They watched patiently as he spent a lot of time putting on the 13th green and chipping from behind the 15th green. The bleachers were full to watch him on the par-3 16th. After he hit his tee shot, the crowd started chanting "skip...skip....skip" and he obliged them, stopping in front of the pond, dropping a ball and skipping a low shot off the water. After three bounces, the ball fell in the drink just short of the grass in front of the green.

It didn't fall short as far as the watchers were concerned. "That was worth it," said a man who had staked out his spot in the bleachers 20 minutes before Woods showed up.

* * *

It's cool and overcast here now, but the forecast for the tournament looks pretty good. It should be in the 70s or 80s Thursday and Friday (a far cry from the chill last year) and dry (a far cry from '05). Bottom line, at least for now: it will be the golfers and the course that will decide this, not the elements.

Johnson Wagner, in the press room a little while ago, said that the first time he visited Augusta National, four years ago, he figured he'd try to be cute. He pulled up to the gatehouse and asked the security guard, "You got any tee times today?" As if it were some municipal layout on some crowded street.

The security guard was not amused. "It was a big mistake on my part," Wagner said, adding that the guard actually did know Wagner was coming as the guest of his great-uncle, a member. Wagner played 45 holes in two days and just couldn't get enough of the place.

He is back here with an official tee time this week. He is in the Masters field, a distinction he didn't have 23 hours ago. He earned his way in by winning the Shell Houston Open, got in his management company's private jet and here he was (see story in tomorrow's Newsday). He is so pumped about it he said that the chance to play in the Masters was a bigger prize than the $1 million first-place check.

Anyway--and I know you've heard this before, but it's still amazing--the course IS on a crowded road. You'd expect Augusta National to be off some azalea-strewn winding path deep in the woods. In fact, the entrance is right on a busy street that's pretty much like Hempstead Turnpike. businesses sort of sprouted up around the club as years went by. It's not a good idea to pull in and ask for a tee time, though.

Does golf need someone to give Tiger Woods a run? Does Woods himself need a rival, the way Arnie had Jack and Jack had Arnie?

The answers are "no" and "no." But don't take my word for it. Check out the ratings for the Masters next week. It won't matter how close the race is or who is chasing, if Tiger is in the lead, people will watch. As much as those of us who are involved with sports love to see competition, I have come around to believing that Tiger is above and beyond rivalries.

This is neither a good nor a bad thing, it just is. It did come to mind in reading Ian O'Connor's outstanding new book, "Arnie & Jack: Palmer, Nicklaus & Golf's Greatest Rivalry." The book opens with the author getting a few minutes alone with Woods (itself a major championship) and asking if he felt cheated that he doesn't have a classic competitor the way his two idols did. Woods just smiled and told O'Connor "No."

Palmer and Nicklaus pushed each other and struck different chords with the public. Palmer was the people's hero, Nicklaus was the one who raised the bar. Together, they lifted golf and helped clear the way for Tiger.

Woods doesn't need pushing. He is as self-motivated as any athlete I ever have seen. And he doesn't need an alter ego. He has Palmer's popularity and Nicklaus' excellence. In fact, he has outdone each of them at his own specialty.

As much as fans like Phil MIckelson (and I always credit the crowd at Bethpage for making him at least favorite No. 1-A), TV ratings indicate that there is no one in Tiger's realm. The American public simply likes to watch him succeed, and I don't think it will be disappointed with the goings-on at Augusta