One more for aged?
Woods, Mickelson rely on guile in bid to gain more glory
Golf’s first two majors of this reshaped 2020 season flowed with a fresh, compelling vibe. Collin Morikawa won a captivating PGA Championship at Harding Park and then Bryson Dechambeau bludgeoned Winged Foot in taking the U.S. Open.
Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson — remember them? — made barely a ripple in either event. Let’s face it: They’re not really a factor anymore at most regular PGA Tour events, let alone major championships.
There’s one caveat, though. Woods and Mickelson remain a threat at Augusta National, where this week’s Masters will unfold against the uncommon backdrop of autumn in the Deep South.
Augusta historically brings out the best in the game’s best players. Jack Nicklaus won there six
times, including once at age 46. Woods has won there five times, including last year’s stirring triumph at 43. Mickelson has won there three times, including his long-awaited-first major title in 2004.
Experience matters at Augusta National, especially around its diabolically slick, sloped greens. There’s a reason no first-time Masters participant has won the tournament since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
Another enormous advantage: hitting tee shots into distant frontiers and approach shots high into the Georgia sky. These skills will become even more vital this week, given a forecast of frequent rain.
That favors players who carry the ball a long way off the tee (and thus won’t be punished as much by wet fairways). Players such as Dechambeau, Rorymcilroy, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka … and, yes, Woods and Mickelson.
This will test their triumphant history on the storied course, because both players are struggling mightily. Woods’ tie for 37th in the PGA is his best finish in six starts since the tour resumed play in June. He missed the cut at the U.S. Open in September.
Mickelson, similarly, has showed his age (50) since the restart, with only one top-20 finish in 10 appearances on the “big tour” (he won twice on the PGA Tour Champions, for 50-and-older players). He tied 71st at Harding Park and, like Woods, missed the cut at Winged Foot.
Put another way: The window is closing quickly on the two best golfers of the past 25 years. Just listen to Arron Oberholser, who played on tour for several years and now works as a Golf Channel analyst.
“There are only a few courses where Tiger can win majors, and in my opinion, Augusta National is slowly but surely moving off that list,” Oberholser said in a phone interview. “I think Augusta is off the list for Phil. He’s going to have to have the week of his life.
“He still has plenty of pop, but you can’t play Augusta from the pine straw for 72 holes. … It’s going to come down to execution, not nostalgia or anything warm and fuzzy.”
Even so, Woods and Mickelson tend to execute shots more reliably at the Masters than in other tournaments. They know where to miss. They know how putts break. They know how to handle Augusta’s deafening roars.
Oh, wait. No spectators, because of the coronavirus pandemic, means no roars — and that
could help the new generation of young, fearless players eager to earn a green jacket.
Morikawa is strikingly poised, for example, but the absence of fans probably helped him down the stretch in the PGA. His clutch, final-round tee shot onno. 16, and subsequent eagle putt, would have been more daunting with thousands of spectators lining the fairway and circling the green.
Or consider the U.S. Open. You think New York fans might have heckled Dechambeau about his abrupt transformation into golf’s Incredible Hulk? Remember, they counted Sergio Garcia’s pre-shot waggles (in Spanish) during the 2002 U.S. Open.
And now this year’s strange silence will engulf Augusta National.
“I think the fan at home, who has watched the Masters on television for years, is going to be weirded out when someone makes eagle at13 and doesn’t hear roars,” Oberholser said.