1 week Ago
AUGUSTA — One will win; all will be changed. That’s the proposition heading into Sunday's final round of the 89th Masters. A green jacket and the isolated — though glorious — piece of golf history that comes with winning here aren’t the only things at stake.
They never are. The Masters has a habit of altering careers like no other tournament. Maybe it’s the pines or the azaleas or simply how this major — unlike its three course-rotating peers — has merely one home.
Every golfer who’s come through Augusta National will confess to a unique, personal relationship with this place. It’s too painful for some to discuss. That might be the case after this tournament.
Look at what’s laid out before us. Has there ever been a more robust palate of ramifications for one event? What happens here is more than merely Rory McIlroy (who has a 2-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau) exorcising his demons to become only the sixth man to win the career grand slam. That’s the dominant story, sure.
Yet, other legacies, resumes and even career trajectories will be impacted by what happens in the final round. It’s a matter of perspective determining who has the most to gain and who has the most to lose. We’ll know some of those answers immediately; only time will allow us to fully realize all of it.
But someone will surely win while others deal with different levels of defeat. And make no mistake about it — there are different levels of defeat, just as Dante wrote there are varying circles in Hell. Some give a good run at winning here, fall short and are able to move on no worse for wear.
Others leave broken. Think about Scott Hoch, who famously missed a 2-foot putt to win the 1989 Masters in a sudden-death playoff. Hoch had a couple of top-10 finishes here after that, though he wasn’t the same.
He was even tagged with his own phrase of a nickname: “Hoch as in ‘Choke’” that followed him outside of Augusta’s gates. That single wayward putt smothered an otherwise solid career. Go back 10 years before that.
In 1979, Ed Sneed blew a three-hole lead with three to go before losing to Fuzzy Zoeller in a playoff. Sneed finished tied for 44th the next year and was never heard from again. Roberto De Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard in 1968 before declaring “what a stupid I am”; Ken Venturi shot a final-round 80 in 1956 to lose by a shot — and an amateur still hasn’t won the Masters.
Actually, one hasn’t even come close. There’s an entire wing tucked away somewhere in a far corner of Augusta National’s vast acreage just for Greg Norman’s misery here. Or at least there should be.
McIlroy — despite his struggles, including the four-shot lead he blew in 2011 — won’t end up with a shrine to his own failures and shortcomings in the Masters. The scales, at minimum, even out in his favor when judging his career. He’s an all-time great golfer in the way of an Arnold Palmer, a Sam Snead and, probably to his disdain, a Phil Mickelson.
Being one of a dozen golfers to have won three of the four majors isn’t a bad rap. Still, this place will haunt him for about the next 360 days if he again squanders prime real estate going into Sunday. It’ll be the dominating narrative of his life no matter how he spins it.
But what about the others in contention going into the final round? The career grand slam isn’t on the table, yet there’s something for all to seize. A win might thrust Justin Rose into the hall of fame. If nothing else, he becomes at least a fringe candidate with two major championships, 23 total victories in America and Europe, and an Olympic gold medal.
The weight of playing on six winning Ryder Cup teams and captaining a seventh to victory must count for something, too. He's got work to do, either way, as the 54-hole leader ended Saturday seven shots back. It could be a career-enhancing moment for Corey Connors, a career-validating one for Shane Lowry.
One currently has his highest ranking ever (22nd) nearly 10 years after turning pro, the other has top-four finishes in all the majors, though only one win to show for it. Either could turn in a round good enough to win here. Connors is four behind, Lowry seven back.
And ponder for a moment what it does for DeChambeau? Lovers of LIV Golf, meatheads and science nerds across the land will rejoice. That’s assuming DeChambeau, as well as the others, get out of their own way. None of them need to worry as much about who’s chasing as remaining focused on themselves.
All of the players in the hunt are capable of an historic Sunday, yet each is also just as likely of an epic collapse. That would be totally on them. There isn’t a Tiger or Jack lurking a couple of shots back, giving them anxious swings and yippy putts.
It also means there are no galleries rocking this corner of Georgia the way they did for Woods and Nicklaus. Nothing will ever again sound like the roars they created. And not only here, though especially here where the pines are amplifiers when sounds echo off of them.
Those trees stood tall in the maelstrom while opponents wilted. Even a legion of McIlroy apologists will concede they can’t create that kind of advantage. But, if he plays as he did when building his lead, he won’t need it, anyhow.
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