What a week. Seamus Power crushed the par 3 contest…without actually winning. Back-to-back hole-in-ones - ridiculous! Tom Hoge did end up walking away as the par 3 champ and the par 3 curse continues for another year. If you don't know, no one has won the par 3 contest and then won the Masters in the same week.
Now, let's get to the actual tournament. Thursday was a beautiful day in Augusta, with temps in the 80's and nothing but sunshine. Viktor Hovland had a share of the lead with Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka after the first round…not that that's what anyone wanted to hear about. Tiger had an ok day - he would shoot a 2-over par 74. He would hit a few shots that we all want to see him hit, but he also had quite a few mis-hits.
Round 2 is where all the fun started. Any player who was able to tee off early in the morning had an edge for the day. They were able to get their round in before the sky opened up and the torrential rain began. Koepka played a solid second round, one of the few to shoot par or lower and got into the clubhouse…with the lead…before the rain. Later in the day tee times wouldn't finish on Friday and would have to get out early on Saturday to try and finish their second round…Tiger had to grind out and just made the cut at 3-over. Justin Thomas would, unfortunately, bogey the last two holes to just miss the cut.
The person that I haven't mentioned…Rory McIlroy. Rory would shoot even par in round 1, but had a dismal round 2, shooting a 5-over 77 and missing the cut by two shots. Super surprising finish, considering his performance at the Dell Match Play event…and the talk of him playing 18 holes at Augusta prior to the Dell Match Play and only putting 19 times. I'm definitely interested in hearing his thoughts, but I'm guessing we'll have to wait a little while on that.
Round 3 would begin…but not finish…on Saturday, still in the rain. It was a tough round for everyone, but play pretty much ended with the top half of the leaderboard only getting in 7 or 8 holes and having to finish up on Sunday. Koepka would begin his Sunday 2 shots ahead of Jon Rahm. Viktor Hovland, who didn't have a great second round, would go on a heater in round 3 and end up in third place going in to round 4.
Round 4 would have the final pairing set as Jon Rahm and Brooks Koepka, with Brooks having that same 2 shot lead. Is this where the LIV curse starts? Holding a 54-hole lead, could Brooks go the distance and win the 72-hole Masters tournament? Nope.
Brooks just couldn't find the shots in the final round that he had in the previous 3 rounds…and Jon Rahm really couldn't miss. Rahm looked like he looked the first few events of the year and, I will admit, when he is on, I don't know if anyone can stop him. Heck of a performance by Rahm and well deserving of the green jacket.
One final round story line that I have to mention (fan of his or not) is Phil Mickelson. At 52 years old he made a heck of run in the final round, shooting 65 to move in to a tie for 2 with Brooks Koepka. He definitely looked like the Phil of old with his touch around the greens, but one thing that really shocked me was his play off the tee. The distance he's getting off the tee was incredible…not even for a 52 year old. He was out driving Jordan Spieth almost every time off the tee.
All-in-all, it was a great week of golf…and less than 100 days until The Open Championship!
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