2017 Masters: 5 Bold But Problematic Predictions
It wouldn’t be a complete Masters experience without a Sunday back nine choke.
Final round chokes at Augusta National are the stuff of Masters legend.
With 5 bogeys and 2 doubles on his final round card, Greg Norman tossed away a 6 shot lead at the 1996 Masters, later explaining that his game fell apart when he started tinkering with his swing in mid-round. When it was over, Norman finished runner-up to Nick Faldo, who didn’t tinker with his swing.
In 2009 it looked to everybody that Kenny Perry had The Masters clinched. With 2 holes remaining, he had a 2 shot edge over Angel Cabrea. Then it happened. His short irons stopped working. Cabrea won in a 2 hole playoff and Perry summed up his choke moment this way:
"It just seems like when I get down to those deals, I can’t seem to execute. Great players make it happen, and your average players don’t."
Rory McIlroy’s 2011 back nine meltdown on Sunday is one of the most painful choke demonstrations I’ve ever seen. A duck-hook to the woods, a double bogey, a 4-putt on the 12th, and a swim in Rae’s Creek took the young golf star from a starting 4 shot lead to an 80 and a T15 finish.
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McIlroy watched while Charl Schwartzl slipped on the green jacket and claimed his first Major championship title.
And then there’s Jordan Spieth, who also fell victim to the back 9 at Augusta National on Sunday afternoon. It was looking like a back-to-back, wire-to-wire victory for Spieth. With a 5 shot lead, the bogeys 10 and 11 didn’t need to signal the end of the dream. But they destroyed Spieth’s rhythm and unbalanced his mental game. The result – a disaster of almost unbelievable proportions on the 12th. Spieth tumbled and Danny Willett’s life was forever changed.
Will there be a Sunday choke this year?