A Fan’s Eye Reaction to the 2011 Masters

Wow.

I’ve been searching for a word that could sum up the 2011 Masters, and despite a valiant effort from my thesaurus, that’s the only word that seemed to fit. It may be because that’s what I kept repeating to myself while watching the final round drama on Sunday, or possibly because this is one of those situations where three letters are all that’s needed to sum up a historic event.

It was everything a major championship should be, and it highlighted what makes these tournaments so great: The best players in the world battling it out on one of golf’s most famous courses, one that has been both admired and respected by golfers around the globe for generations. It was the type of tournament that turned Sunday into “stay inside and watch golf because you don’t want to miss a shot.” It was, to steal the oft-uttered catchphrase from Jim Nantz, “A Tradition Unlike Any Other.”

This year’s edition featured a Sunday scoreboard that at one point showed five players tied for the lead, with a total of eight finding a place at the top during the day. That was just a small part of a day in which those who kept the scoreboard updated definitely earned their keep. Throughout the final round, there was never a time in which the eventual winner seemed obvious, a trait that has been absent in recent majors. This, in addition to the fact that the leaders made up a virtual U.N. of top golfers, with representatives from Ireland, South Africa, Argentina, Korea, the U.S. (which just happened to be Tiger Woods, the most famous golfer in history - a fact I’ll discuss later), and a contingent from Australia that I imagined captivated a country full of golf fans who stayed up until the wee hours of Monday morning down under.

All of these amazing moments, and I haven’t even mentioned first-time winner Charl Schwartzel, who birdied the last four holes to bring the title to South Africa. This is a guy who had to withstand player after player firing low scores at him during his reign at the top of the leaderboard, and whose final-round 66 and overall 14-under scores seemingly came out of nowhere, but were without a doubt worthy of the fabled green jacket.

It was just the second time in the last 21 years that the winner didn’t come out of the final group, a statistic that again seemed appropriate for this year’s Masters, one that had a single leader in the first 54 holes, until the youngster Rory McIlroy carded an 80, the highest final round by the 54-hole leader since Ken Venturi in 1956. The turning point for McIroy came on the 10th hole, where he pulled his tee shot so deep into the woods that he took his second shot from right outside one of the cabins that line the course. While this was an unfortunate series of events for him, it did open the floodgates across the web for some high-quality jokes about having to play from someone’s backyard.

The 75th edition of this great event also highlighted just how amazing Woods can be when he’s locked in. From his second-round 67 to going through the first eight holes on Sunday at five-under par, Tiger grabbed a hold of this tournament and made sure people were paying attention. His tie for fourth place, while it wasn’t quite the ending he had hoped for, was an amazing finish for a guy who many thought was finished playing at an elite level. Now it will be interested to see how he builds on this week, and whether he can continue the momentum in upcoming tournaments.

Now, the green jacket has been handed out, the pimento cheese sandwiches have all been consumed, and the lush grounds of Augusta National go back into waiting. Waiting for next year, when for four days this piece of golfing heaven on earth opens its arms and gives us another timeless classic. And all I can hope is that on Sunday night after the 2012 Masters is complete, I have to go back to my thesaurus in what will inevitably be another futile attempt to find that perfect word.

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