A well-deserved victory!
So in the end it was Patrick Reed who held his nerve brilliantly to capture his first major on Sunday night. The final round may have felt a little anti-climactic, as the challenges of Jordan Spieth, Ricky Fowler and others never quite got there but Reed undoubtedly deserved the win after his fantastic play over the three days was matched by his coolness under intense pressure on the fourth. Sadly, the same cannot quite be said for Rory McIlroy who never got going on Sunday. In fact, as he stood over his first tee shot having seen Reed turn his three wood over and into trees, I actually said out loud that this tee shot would speak volumes about where he was.
The door was already slightly open so a big drive down the middle may have put even more pressure on Reed but instead Rory, rather strangely for him, got way ahead of the club and nearly went out of bounds right. He then got a huge break and actually made four to Reed’s five so you might have thought the golfing Gods were looking after him. Unfortunately they were just waiting for a short putt to really stick the knife in and his missed eagle putt on the second, after an unbelievable shot into the green to four feet, set the tune. Four more short putts were missed on the front nine and he was done. Had he holed three of them the end may have been completely different. But that cannot take away from Reed’s win. I have long been a fan of his swing, mainly because his hand action through the ball is exactly how I’d like mine to work, and we all know how feisty a competitor he can be after watching his Ryder Cup exploits. He showed all that confidence and grit on Sunday even when things went slightly wrong. He never panicked right up to the last putt which must have been terrifying. The other notables were of course Spieth and Fowler. The former’s charge on Sunday was incredible and it surely won’t be long before he lifts another major. The latter came close yet again and I don’t think anyone would begrudge Ricky his first major when it comes. The rest of the leaderboard was a who’s-who of the best players currently in the game. There was just one notable exclusion as Tiger never got going. However, it’s worth noting that he still finished T32 and for most that would be a very good result. He’s still showing signs but Augusta was just a little too good for him this time. It was a fantastic show once again from Augusta. I managed to spend most of the tournament wondering how I’d play the holes that they hit driver, 7 iron into when I’d be 50yards behind them off the tee and two clubs shorter in my irons. A scary proposition, although I still think the lay up 70 yards short of 11 is a good way to play the hole! That would still be something like driver, 6 iron for me but that just underlines how good these guys are.
|