10/21/2005
Looking to the future.
On the eighteenth hole at the 2001 US Masters two very significant things happened.
Firstly, Tiger Woods completed his "Tiger Slam" of four successive Major championships with a fantastic birdie three.
Secondly - and as we approach the 2002 Masters, perhaps equally significantly - the minds of the green-jacketed Augusta members were made up. Although they had made some changes to the course for the 2001 Masters, these were not sufficient.
They could not have lob wedges being hit into the final green for birdies. It just wasn't what Bobby Jones, founding father of the club, had in mind.
Woods is still the defending champion when the 66th Masters begins this week. Greg Norman has been offered another chance at a Green Jacket. Phil Mickelson still hasn't won a Major.
Apart from that, everything else at Augusta has changed ...
Soon after that historic final hole, the bulldozers moved in to reshape the course that millions around the world, through international TV coverage, have grown to know and love.
The affection for the Masters is not just some passing fancy, either. No, darn it, we adore Augusta National.
The changes have made the course into the third longest in Major Championship history. When coupled with the trademark greens that can make our golfing idols look a little silly, this is likely to change the nature of the tournament altogether.
"You've got to really play well now to break 70," Ernie Els said, after playing the new layout. "If we have a little bit of weather come through ... you could see even par winning if it's really tough."
"You don't want somebody slinging it around there and winning because he had a good week putting," said Mark Calcavecchia, runner-up in the 1988 Masters. "Whoever wins that tournament is going to have to have it all."
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10/20/2005
You'll get em' next time Andy.
Andy Roddick blew a match point and lost 3-6, 7-6 (7), 7-6 (3) to Ivo Karlovic on Wednesday in the second round of the Madrid Masters in a contest between big servers.
Roddick, seeded second, was playing his first tour match since losing in the first round of the U.S. Open. "For two sets, I don't think I could have played better," Roddick, of the United States, said. "It was the highest quality match we've played."
He had an easy first set and held match point at 6-5 in the second-set tiebreaker against the six-foot-10 Croat, the ATP Tour's tallest player. Karlovic won the tiebreak 9-7 on his second set point when Roddick's return went wide.
Both players had chances to break in the deciding set, but they served to another tiebreaker before Karlovic took a 3-1 lead.
"You're going to have two or three points per tiebreaker that's either going to go your way or it's not," Roddick said. "It didn't go my way tonight. In the second tiebreaker, I don't think I played a bad point."
Earlier, Rafael Nadal beat Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the second round, the top-seeded Spaniard's first match before a home crowd since his French Open victory.
Nadal, who received a first-round bye along with the 15 other seeded players, will next play Tommy Robredo, who outlasted Carlos Moya 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 in an all-Spanish match that ended well past midnight.
"The match was not easy," Nadal said. "I was a bit nervous, a bit slow."
Nadal trailed 3-1 in the first set and 3-0 in the tiebreaker before rallying. In the second set, Nadal broke to lead 4-3 and broke again to win.
Other winners were third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, fourth-seeded Guillermo Coria of Argentina, sixth-seeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina and eighth-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia.
Seventh-seeded Gaston Gaudio lost to Jose Acasuso 7-6 (4), 6-2 in the second round in an all-Argentine match.
Gaudio dropped his fifth straight match, hurting his chances of qualifying for the Tennis Masters Cup next month in Shanghai, China. Four already have secured berths: Nadal, Roddick, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Marat Safin of Russia.
Davydenko beat Slovakia's Karol Beck 6-4, 6-1, and Coria defeated Belgian qualifier Christophe Rochus 6-3, 6-4 to improve his chances of making the season finale.
"It was an ugly match, boring for spectators," Coria said. "But the important thing was to win."
Rochus' younger brother, Olivier, knocked out 12th-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia 1-6, 6-4, 7-6 (5); Puerta edged Max Mirnyi of Belarus 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5); and Ljubicic defeated Alberto Martin of Spain 6-3, 7-6 (7).
Also, ninth-seeded Thomas Johansson of Sweden beat Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 7-6 (2), 6-3; 10th-seeded Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic rallied past England's Tim Henman 6-4, 1-6, 6-3; and 14th-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia eliminated Germany's Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-2.
17:49 Posted in Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Aren't these guys great?
After an outstanding amateur career, he introduced himself to professional golf with a flourish, winning a major in his first full season as a pro. Once he won one, he began to win them all, achieving the career Grand Slam in his mid-20s.
Then, just as suddenly, the spigot turned off. He went three years without winning a major, and those who sang his praises began to voice doubts. The rest of the golf world had caught up to him. He would never dominate as he once had.
And beginning in 1970, Jack Nicklaus won seven majors in five years.
You could say that with his fourth Masters Tournament victory and his ninth major championship, Tiger Woods has resumed his chase of the Golden Bear's records of six Masters and 18 majors. But the young boy who grew up in Cypress, Calif., with a poster of Nicklaus' accomplishments on the bedroom wall has mimicked them in uncanny fashion.
Woods ended his drought Sunday, a streak of 10 major championships in which he gave himself only one other real chance to win. At the 2002 PGA, Woods birdied the last four holes to close within one stroke of Rich Beem. In the next eight majors, Woods finished in the top 10 only twice.
"Ten majors is not that long," Woods said. "Some guys go oh-for-life."
But Woods acknowledged that this Masters is special. Not because he defeated gutty Chris DiMarco on the first hole of sudden death after they finished 72 holes at 12-under 276, and not because he birdied that playoff hole after bogeying the last two holes of regulation.
"You know, I've kind of battled the last couple of years to work hard on my game and make some changes," Woods said. "I wasn't winning major championships and I contended a couple times and didn't win. But for the most part, I wasn't in contention on the back nine on every major, like I like to be. It was nice to get back there again."
As he revealed last fall, Woods spent last year overhauling his golf swing. Even with a victory Sunday, the transformation is clearly a work in progress. "Staying committed," Woods calls it. As he played the final nine holes Sunday, Woods' new swing flickered in and out like a satellite signal in a thunderstorm.
It was not unfamiliar ground. After Woods won the 1997 Masters, he decided to retool his swing. He went 10 majors without winning his second. He broke through at the 1999 PGA at Medinah, and that victory kick started him into winning six of the next 10 majors.
On Sunday, the major championship record book made room for Woods for the ninth time in his career.
The victory ties Woods with Ben Hogan and Gary Player for third place on the list of majors winners. They are two behind Walter Hagen. Woods is halfway to Nicklaus, and Woods won't turn 30 until December.
"I think that's pretty neat, for me to win four [Masters] before the age of 30," Woods said. "To do something that nobody else has done before is pretty neat."
Nicklaus won 11 majors after he turned 30; three of those 11 came after he turned 40. The thought that Woods has 15 more years of championship golf before him is intoxicating. History and achievement have brought them together. It was Nicklaus who predicted during Woods' amateur days that Tiger would win more Masters than "Arnold and I put together." They won 10.
"If you saw the way I hit the golf ball in '95. OK, I bombed it down every fairway. I had a wedge I flew over most galleries. I had the length to play this place, but I had no understanding of my golf swing, or distance control, or shot-making. I could curve the ball either way but how much or how far it could go, I had no clue. It was kind of mind-boggling that he could have made that statement."
Now Woods has won the Masters that might have been Nicklaus' last. On Saturday night, Woods was asked if that would mean anything to him.
"It would be kind of cool," Woods said. "I thought I won when he played his last British Open [in 2000]. But I see he's playing again. I remember I won when he played in his last PGA [in 2000]. That was pretty sweet."
There is one last, poignant parallel between Nicklaus and Woods. When Nicklaus ended his major drought, it was shortly after the death of his father, Charlie, the man who instilled in him his love of golf. On the practice putting green Sunday night, after Woods received his green jacket from 2004 winner Phil Mickelson, Woods choked up talking about his father, Earl, who has been in declining health for months.
Earl Woods came to Augusta, but he wasn't well enough to come to Augusta National.
At the ceremony, Woods' voice caught as he described his regret that his father hadn't been behind the 18th green to give him a victory bear hug.
"He's hanging in there," Woods said later, "and so that's why it meant so much for me to be able to win this tournament with him kind of struggling, maybe give him a little hope, a little more fire to keep fighting."
It is still Nicklaus and Woods, locked together by history and achievement. But the day is drawing closer when it will become Woods and Nicklaus.
17:45 Posted in Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
Get the basics here.
The Tennis Masters Series is a series of nine tennis tournaments held throughout the year in various locations around the world, chiefly in Europe and North America. The tournaments are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour and are mandatory for the top male players on the professional circuit. The series began after the ATP took over the running of the men's tour in 1990, and was originally known as the Super-9 series. All the tournaments in the series had been in existence for some years before the Super-9 series was launched and were considered to be among the most prestigious events on the tour. Results in the Tennis Masters Series events earn players more world ranking points than regular tournaments, though not as many as Grand Slam events or the year-end Tennis Masters Cup.
17:35 Posted in Sports | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this