ended up and that is the attitude that has done him wrong in years past .
Well he hit one up there to about 90 yards and hit a great wedge to about 6 feet . Meanwhile Justin hit 2 solid shots reaching the green in 2 , and after the first putt down there to about 3 feet you figured at worse his lead was going to be 3 , maybe 4 . Well Sergio made his putt , and Rose missed and they made the same score .
We used to say in college when we all had a putt for the same thing playing in practice - first one in is a winner , and this means that when Sergio makes his putt the pressure is back on Justin and he missed ( the same exact scenario played out in reverse on the 16th green about an hour later ). This gave Sergio new life and he responded with 3 perfect shots for birdie on 14 , and after Justin making a clutch par putt his lead was only 1 .
Then the madness of 15 - again Sergio with 2 perfect shots , and I could tell in real time that Sergio ’ s ball bounced into the flag stick , I mean when the ball lands 2 inches in front of the hole and winds up 10 feet left it is no secret , I mean David Copperfield could not make that happen without it hitting the pin , yet no one other than Ian-Baker Finch ( whose hole was 17 ) said once that it hit the pin .
Justin hit 2 solid shots of his own and you knew he was making birdie and Sergio ’ s putt at that point was a must make . And he made it and it was awesome .
On to the 16th , and they both hit miraculous shots in there , and what I loved about Verne Lundquist is he did not say anything he just let the crowd go crazy and do the talking for him . When the 2 of them were walking down 16 he said listen to the ovation and never said another word . I loved that . We had another miss make scenario and Rose had a 1 shot lead .
Now Rose on 15 kinda hit a flare drive , and Sergio piped it , and on 17 the same thing played out and it left a long way in and Rose wound up in that bunker . Sergio did the prudent thing missing short ( Houdini could not get up and down from over that green ) and Baker - Finch with the great call that a lot of guys had missed right , and Justin did - tied ball game one hole left .
I mean the quality of golf shots on 18 was just great , even though Rose got a lucky bounce off the bunker . I thought Rose hit a great putt , and no matter what Sergio said that putt was not , has never been , and never will be outside the right edge and he started it a ball out . Just a bad stroke under pressure .
Now a lot of guys have told me this morning that they thought Sergio was done , but I was not convinced as I saw Rose flare a drive on 15 , 17 , and a little on his second shot on 18 where Sergio was winging very aggressive . I still think if Rose hits the fairway in the playoff he wins , but he hit it in jail right ( his miss on the back nine ) and Sergio piped it and we all saw what happened from there leading to a great moment and another great reaction with the winning putt going in on 18 , and a true show of classiness by Rose as these two are very good friends and two of the most liked guys on tour .
I loved every minute of this Masters and I honestly could not go to sleep for 2 hours after I finished watching it I was so pumped up . I do not think a single person in the world was upset that Sergio won , and I do not think a single person in the world would have been upset if Rose won .
24 | CSGA Links // April , 2017 www . csgalinks . org