(Jordan Spieth watches his tee shot on the sixth hole during the fourth round of the Masters golf tournament Sunday, April 12, 2015, in Augusta, Ga. He is the first Texan to win since “Gentle Ben” Crenshaw in 1984. AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)
I was literally walking on air after the famiily visit over the weekend, and it was the first one with grand vistas of a human-scale city. The bonus was the playing of the Masters Tournament, one in which favorable course conditions and soft greens enabled some eye-watering scoring.
I watched coverage of almost all of the four days of play. Funny- I hate golf in person, and one of the great pleasures of life was putting the bag of clubs in the garage and ignoring it. I do love watching the pros perform, though, particularly if I have the bar stocked and nothing competing for my scattered attention.
There was not much doubt about what was going to happen as Jordan Spieth cruised coolly through his fourth day in the lead, first time in 39 years someone has pulled that off.
Some of the legends threatened to add drama; Phil, Rory, Tiger and Bubba all joined to add anticipation for fireworks on the final round. It was a great tournament, and it started with the symbolic opening t-shots of Arnold, Gary and Jack connected the event to the grand days I remember watching on the first color television my parents purchased.
If Jordan Spieth had stayed at the University of Texas, he would have been playing for the Longhorns at a tournament sanctioned by the NCAA, not the members and patrons of the Augusta National Golf Club. Dropping out in 2012 turned out to be a pretty good career move, though I am sure his parents had some qualms about it. It is probably a comfort to them that Jordan has pocketed over $14 million in purses since he went on the Tour.
Michael Greller, his caddie, is said to have made $375 grand in the last two months. Three years ago he was a middle-school math teacher, and came to Augusta as a fan.
Jordan set low-scoring records for the first two rounds (130), first three (200), and a only bogey on the final hole yesterday meant he had to share the record for 72 holes (270) with Tiger. He shot more birdies (28) than anyone in the last 78 years.
Amazing. I fell asleep in my brown chair before the final bogey brought Jordan into the clubhouse as the champion, and did not spill a thing. I missed the ceremony where last year’s champ slips the celebrated kelly-green jacket on the new one. Apparently the tailored version of the blazer is only given for the year. It is then supposed to be returned to Augusta National, where it is available for the emeritus champions to wear when they are on the facility.
When I woke up and was blinking, I heard that most all the champions honored the tradition. The late, great Seve Ballesteros took his back to Spain. He said that if Augusta National wanted it back, they could just come and get it.
So far they haven’t.
Great tournament. I took me far away from thinking about anything else except what a fine day it was, how much I have waited for Spring, and that some of the rituals of this great land are comforting indeed. I like tradition, but I have a grudging admiration for Seve’s attitude:
“Come and get it!”
Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303