Immelman the Top Survivor at Augusta
By: Jason Devaney
While watching the final round of the Masters with a friend Sunday afternoon, we both had a few doubts about Trevor Immelman’s play.
There was the missed birdie putt on No. 7, followed by a bogey on 8. Then a bogey on the par-3 12th, followed by a disastrous double bogey on 16. What was once a six-shot lead was trimmed to three.
Tiger Woods was in the clubhouse at 5-under, and Brandt Snedeker, who made a ton of mistakes on the weekend, basically cost himself a run at Immelman with an awful round. An eagle was the only highlight on his bogey-laden outward nine, while two birdies did not offset the four big numbers on his back.
And let’s go back to Tiger for a moment. If he makes those par putts on Nos. 4, 10 and 14, and drops those birdie putts on 12, 13 and 15, it’s a whole new ballgame.
Then again, Tiger struggled off the tee and from the fairway at times, so one cannot blame his woes solely on the flatstick.
Besides a handful of hiccups Sunday afternoon, Immelman played like a Masters champion. Using his power fade (love that high finish), he threaded the needle on those tight driving holes and floated in some nice iron shots. The bunker shot on 17 was clutch. And how about his approach on 18 from that divot hole? I said that he would need to come down steep with a lot of power to get the ball on the green from that lie.
He did just that, and shots like that one are why Immelman now has a Green Jacket in his wardrobe.
The golf course was punishingly difficult Sunday, thanks to fierce swirling winds that did two things - they wreaked havoc with iron shots and caused the greens to become very dry. Unless you were coming in with a wedge, your ball most likely was not going to zip back.
Days like this really are a true test of one’s skills on the links. The winds forced players to create more shots using draws, fades, punches and anything else under the sun. Immelman is not the best golfer in the world right now, but he was the best golfer this week because he made the right shots at the right times and perhaps had some higher powers rooting for him (read my Sunday morning piece).
Steve Flesch started the day at 8-under. He shot a 78. Paul Casey stepped on the first tee one shot behind at 7-under. He carded a 79. We saw Snedeker’s misfortunes en route to his 77. The fact that Tiger, Stewart Cink, Padraig Harrington and Phil Mickelson all shot an even-par 72 in those same afternoon conditions is quite remarkable.
As for my pre-tournament picks, here’s how I did. My favorites were Tiger, Vijay Singh and Geoff Ogilvy. We know how Tiger finished, Singh ended up tied for 14th and Ogilvy was tied for 39th. My darkhorse was Stuart Appleby, who tied with Singh and Sean O’Hair. I chose the field over Tiger.
This writer couldn’t be happier for Immelman, especially considering his health issues last year. To see a guy lose 20 pounds last summer due to an illness and have a tumor removed in December, then win the most coveted tournament in golf a few months later is truly special.
He earned this win and deserves all the recognition he receives.
If you’re looking for me this week, I’ll be at the range working on my Immelman-fade.
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