"Be right, be right Baby" was the quote from Lefty Phil
Mickelson on the 18th hole and he was right.
"Be right, be right Baby" was the quote from Lefty Phil
Mickelson on the 18th hole and he was right.
November 24, 2004 Phil Mickelson does it again. Shooting a 59, with almost a 58 to win the 2004 PGA Grand Slam at Poipu Bay Golf Course, in Kauai, Hawaii. This Thanksgiving he saw more birdies than Sylvester the Cat. For more information go to www.pga.com
Arnold
Palmer turned his final round at Augusta National into a love-fest with patrons
Friday, cracking jokes and frequently stopping to chat with fans who cheered
their 74-year-old hero's every step.
Sunday April 11, 2004 Masters PGA Tournament.
Augusta, GA - Phil Mickelson drained a downhill, 15-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole Sunday to win his first major championship, the 68th Masters at Augusta National.
Mickelson posted a three-under 69 and won the title by a shot over Ernie Els. Mickelson finished at nine-under-par 279 and became the fourth player in tournament history to birdie the 72nd hole for the championship.
Mickelson broke an 0-46 drought in golf's four most
important tournaments. He has finished second twice at the U.S. Open and once at
the PGA Championship. Mickelson took third three consecutive years at Augusta
and finished in that position four times overall at the Masters.
Els fired a five-under 67 to take second place. He was watching and preparing for a playoff when Mickelson sank the birdie putt.
K.J. Choi took third place at six-under-par 282 after a final-round 69.
The 16th (Holy Cow) by espn.com
I can see the 16th green from where I'm standing on the 15th fairway, but I can't really see the flag or the hole or the tee. One thing I do know is the crowd is going berserk what seems like every five minutes. Padraig Harrington has made a hole in one, I'm told, for the first roar. Then, "my buddy" Kirk Triplett (nice hat!) also makes an ace. Now, this is absurd. I hang around to "see" Els make a difficult par putt on 16 (a guy with binoculars tells me it was about 10 feet). I hear the crowd thunder around the time Mickelson's supposed to hit, but as I begin to make my way over to the 18th tee box, I hear a groan. "Mickelson missed his birdie putt," someone says. I'm about to reply, "Mickelson lost the Masters with that tee shot on 15," but I keep it to myself. About a minute later, the crowd is going nuts again over on 16. I now watch Scoreboard Guy climb the ladder with an 8 in his hand, which can mean only one thing -- the guy who said Phil missed the birdie did not know what he was talking about.
Friday April 09, 2004 AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) --
Justin Rose reclaimed his leading roles at the Masters on Friday, but only after
a wild ride by K.J. Choi. Meanwhile, the King was saying goodbye and Tiger Woods
tried to catch up.
Arnold Palmer turned his
final round at Augusta National into a lovefest with patrons Friday, cracking
jokes and frequently stopping to chat with fans who cheered their 74-year-old
hero's every step.
Woods, a three-time Masters champion, opened
with a 75 but rallied with a 3-under 69 in his second round to finish up at
even-par 144 at the halfway point, and jump right back into contention for his
fourth Green Jacket.
Rose, the first-round leader, and DiMarco, who began two strokes back, were tied at 6-under when they made the turn in Friday's second round. DiMarco stumbled down the stretch and finished at 2-over 73 to fall to 2-under 142, but Rose held firm and posted a solid 71 to end his first two days at 6-under 138 and in the clubhouse lead.
As late afternoon play continued, Charles Howell III, Davis Love III and Ernie Els were in the clubhouse at 2-under 142, while Jeff Sluman, Steve Flesch and Mark O'Meara had posted two-day scores of 1-under 143.
Earlier, Choi had surged into the lead after tying a course record with a 6-under 30 on the front nine. Just as quickly, it all fell apart for the South Korean. He bogeyed the first three holes on the back nine, and another bogey at No. 16 left him three strokes behind the leaders. He wound up shooting the unlikely score of 30-40--70 to reach halfway at 3-under 141.
Meanwhile,
Mike Weir was just trying to make it to the weekend. The Canadian shot the worst
opening round for a defending champion in Masters history, dunking two balls in
the water on his way to a 79.
But the left-hander began to sort things out in the second round. He was 3-under through 13 holes and wound up with a 2-under 70. He is at 5-over 149, and is very near the cut line, which is projected to fall at 4-over or 5-over.
Choi, playing in just his second Masters, made six birdies on the first nine holes to briefly move to the head of the leaderboard. That equaled the course record, set by Johnny Miller in 1975 and matched by Greg Norman in '88.
Woods finally made some birdies but wasn't showing signs of a major rally. He missed a 5-footer for birdie at No. 6, then bogeyed the next hole when he couldn't get up-and-down from a bunker.
Rose, a 23-year-old Englishman, started the second round with a two-stroke lead after a 67 on Thursday. He continued to play solid on the front side -- eight pars and a birdie.
DiMarco already has the most spectacular shot of the tournament -- a hole-in-one at No. 6 that highlighted a 69 on Thursday. He birdied that hole the second time through, beginning a stretch of three straight birdies that vaulted him to the lead.
The leaderboard definitely had an international flavor: Alex Cejka of Germany and two-time winner Jose Maria Olazabal were at 4-under 140 after two rounds.
The second round was played on a brilliantly sunny day -- in contrast to the wildly varying weather on Thursday. The tournament began under threatening clouds, followed by a light rain, then sun and finally a heavy downpour that halted play for two hours.
Eighteen golfers weren't able to complete their round before darkness, forcing them to come back early on Friday to finish.
Weir was among them. With the sun setting Thursday, he watched his third shot at No. 15 roll back off the green and disappear into the pond.
He stood with his hands on his hips, then threw down his club in disgust. He wound up taking a double bogey 7, then headed to the clubhouse.
On Friday, Weir returned to finish his round -- and quickly found more trouble, splashing his tee shot at 16 for a bogey. He bogeyed the final two holes as well -- setting a standard for futility by a defending champ.
Weir, who beat Len Mattiace in a playoff last year, opened the second round with another bogey, then rallied with three birdies in a four-hole stretch.
The last reigning champ to miss the cut was Jose Maria Olazabal in 2000.
The other half of last year's playoff is likely headed home. Mattiace posted rounds of 76 and 75.
"It was a special event last year," he said. "That was the past. I've got challenges ahead of me."
Finishing up the first round Friday morning, Woods picked up his first birdie of the tournament at 15 by two-putting from 30 feet.
He salvaged par on the last two holes -- sinking a 12-footer after a bad chip at 17, then managing to get up-and-down from 70 feet on 18.
Still, it was Woods' fifth consecutive round over par in the majors -- the longest streak of his career. He hasn't won a major since the 2003 U.S. Open at Bethpage.
But don't count him out just yet. Remember 1997? Woods also opened with a 40 on the front nine and went on to lap the field by 12 strokes. Of course, he shot 30 on the back nine that year -- five strokes better than he managed this time on his way to a 75.
Rose, who finished fourth at the British Open as a 17-year-old amateur and turned professional the next day, needed three seasons on the European tour to hone his craft. But his game has steadily improved, which was apparent in the opening round.
Rose started with two birdies, finished with two more and again found himself in contention at a major.
"There were times when you're thinking this is going to be a long, uphill struggle," Rose said. "Hopefully, it's time to move onward and upward even more."
|
|
tin Rose wins t
www.thesportsauthority.com Golf Shop
he Back to broadchannel1.com
