Portland observer., April 12, 2000, Page 9, Image 9

April 12, 2000
Page B3
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Recipe fora Master: Good breaks, great play
A ssociated P ress
Vijay Singh was lucky.
Two hours before putting on the
Masters green jacket, Singh had to
tiptoe out o f trouble at Amen Comer
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 C h a m p io n sh ip v icto ry at
Sahaleein 1998, when his approach at
the par-5 11th ricocheted out o f the
trees and ended up 50 feet from the
hole for a two-putt birdie that gave
him control o f the tournament.
Singh was more than lucky.
He was great.
O f the five players who had even a
remote chance to win, only Singh hit
the kind o f shots required at Augusta
National on the back nine Sunday,
when the margin o f error is slimmer
than at any other major.
He saved par from the back bunker at
the par-3 12th, one o f 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
p ro d u c e d
su ch
a
d e lic a te
combination.
What makes the Masters different
than the other three majors is that
Augusta can have a mind o f its own.
It’s almost as if a wizard is hiding
behind the curtain o f 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
NBA Standings
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Jose Maria Olazabal, from Spain, puts the green jacket on Vijay Singh,
from Fiji, after Singh won the 2000 Masters at the Augusta National Golf
Club in Augusta, Ga., Sunday, April 9, 2000. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)
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 bal 1 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 111(12
years) or Phil Mickelson and Colin
M ontgomerie (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 o f 8,15 and 12 feet at the
last three holes and burned the edge
on all o f them.
“It just w asn’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 o f 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 o f
grass on which to take his drop — a
straight shot at the pin, instead o f
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.
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