subject: Will Tiger Not Win In Augusta [print this page] Will Tiger Not Win In Augusta Will Tiger Not Win In Augusta
The Masters is the only major an Australian has never won and, each first week of April, we live the dream of golfers with TaylorMade Burner SuperFast 2.0 Driver but so often it has become a nightmare. How Greg Norman has dispirited us. The Shark led into the final round but his boyhood hero, Jack Nicklaus, came home on the back nine in 30 to shoot 65 and beat Greg and Tom Kite. But we forgave the Golden Bear, then the Olden Bear at 46, as he was the greatest. It was Nicklaus's sixth green jacket, 23 years on from the first, and surely his most memorable.
It's the about time of the year again when we are looking forward to watch on TV what is happening half a world away at Augusta National Golf Club where the azaleas are blooming. Then there was 1996 when Norman lost what he can not lose. He led by six going into the final round but was the victim of a clinical assassination by Nick Faldo - and his own nerves. Norman has three runner-up finishes, six top-threes and eight top-fives. His destiny, as the first Australian to win at Augusta, remains unfulfilled and always will do by Callaway X-22 Irons.
We've had others who have finished second best - Bruce Crampton to Nicklaus in 1972 and Jack Newton to Seve Ballesteros in 1980. Craig Parry led by two with just 16 holes to play in 1992 but disintegrated under the vocal pressure for playing partner Fred Couples.
This year, we have Geoff Ogilvy, Aaron Baddeley, Robert Allenby, Stuart Appleby, Jason Day and Adam Scott but there is an added dimension to the 2011 Masters - Tiger Woods, a four-time champion at Augusta but winless in a major since the 2008 US Open. He has been a fall from grace in so many ways. Woods is again favourite with the bookies, has been since he won the 1997 tournament by a record 13 shots, but surely it is erring on the side of cautiousness. He is paying $9 to win with TAB Sportsbet, triple his odds of previous years; defending champion Phil Mickelson is next, on $12 and Mickelson Makes Effort To Win Masters.
