Bob Cramer's Blog

Ah, what a Masters and official start of spring.  Living up to its hype and at times, over the top self-indulgence, players from around the world put on a show to remember, even as the pressure, heat and pollen became too much for the diminutive, fair-skin 21-year old Rory McElroy, who lead the field in driving length and the tournament for the first three rounds, only to wilt, like others have done for the past 75 years, on Sunday at the Masters. 

Much is made of the “roar in the trees” during play on Augusta’s famed back nine, but young McElroy played the treacherous 10^th hole like you and I would, rattling from tree to tree, on his way to a triple bogey and a sealed fate.  When McElroy’s tee shot ended up near some of the famed little weekend cabins lining the “Camellia” hole, CBS’s Jim Nantz cleverly said that he knew McIlroy wanted to get to Butler Cabin (where the fashion-challenged green jacket is annually presented to the winner) but he still had nine holes to go. 

Earlier that day, the pundits at my little Atlanta golf club failed to see the impending McIlroy collapse (most of them also failed to see Atlanta’s real estate collapse as well), talking about this being his 10^th major, how he was the “next” prodigy, how he had been schooled to be like Tiger, on and on.  (Please note that your blogger thinks McElroy is a great kid with an incredible future sure to include major titles and if I could follow through and turn my shoulders half the way he does, I’d give up this thankless blogging gig in a “New York Minute”.  ((Please read that blog entry as well, bless you.  This is the only commercial interruption the Masters allows me, following their agreement with sponsors, ATT, IBM and Exxon Mobil, providing for only 4 minutes of commercial interruptions an hour for our viewing enjoyment but please change the commercials once in a while.  Thank you))).  Now back to the action.

You had a sense that the trees would play a major role at this year’s Masters, not just because of the echoes they emit, or the sun-drenched shadows they provide or even the unpredictable nature of where they will deflect a golf ball, many times influencing who actually wins.  But even the Masters cannot defy Mother Nature, and just days before the start of the golf proceeding, one of the 61 Magnolia trees lining Magnolia Lane was toppled in a horrific rain storm.   Maybe this was a sign that it is time to let women become members (work with me here), or more likely just bad luck.  Defending champ Phil Mickelson, noting the Masters’ efficiency, joked he was “surprised the tree wasn’t replaced in the first half hour”, but Billy Payne, Augusta chairman (and former Mr. Atlanta Olympics chief, former UGA football star, and a classy guy) said that “150-year old Magnolias are in short supply for transplanting”. 

There is no doubt the club will find a suitable replacement, probably already has.  But falling trees in the former Augusta nursery that is now Augusta National do not happen quietly, just like the young McIlroy’s hard-to-watch, but character-building 80.  Pressure is a hard thing to handle, be it barometric pressure taking down Magnolias, the pressure of the spotlight forcing Butler and Connecticut to shoot brick after brick in the NCAA championship game just days before, or the pressure of sitting on a four shot lead going into Master’s Sunday.  On that day, Charl Schwartzel seemed oblivious to pressure and just about everything else, reeling off four consecutive birdies to win, but young Mr. McIlroy, a rising star with a golf game built to stand the test of time, will be back, stronger and straighter, just like the replacement tree he is sure to drive past in the many years to come.