What we learned from the Masters 2013

Adam Scott claimed his first major title at Augusta last week in what was perhaps the most gripping final day of the Masters for some time.  In a week where many records were broken, mostly by Guan Tianlang who became the youngest player ever to make the cut at 14, Adam Scott broke another in becoming the first Australian to claim a Green Jacket.  It has been long speculated that Adam Scott was the best player never to have claimed a Major; this view was reinforced when he threw the Open away in spectacular fashion last year and I suspect I was not the only one who thought that that might damage him mentally but he bounced back well to win last week.  A lot happened last week, as it always does at Majors, and here are a few things the golfing world can take away from Augusta.

Adam Scott has always been an amazing talent; his iron striking is first class and he is widely regarded as having the best swing on Tour.  Scott has now broken his Major duck and more are surely to follow, I expect Scott to claim at least another 2 before he retires, however that might hinge on something else.

Adam Scott was yet another winner of a Major with an Anchored Putter and has thus brought the debate back into the fold.  If the proposed ban on Anchoring goes through, all methods of belly putter would become illegal except that of Matt Kuchar who holds it against his left arm.  This could have disastrous effects on recent Major Champions such as Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson and of course, our latest Masters Champion, Adam Scott.

This one pains me a little, but even I have to admit that Tiger seems back to his best.  Though we will never really know, one can speculate that, without the 2 shot penalty on Friday that seriously halted his momentum, he could have claimed his 5^th Green Jacket. 

However, while Tiger is back to somewhere near his best, that doesn’t allow him to have his own set of rules.  The 2 shot penalty was farcical even if the rules about TV evidence have changed and anybody else would have been DQ’d.  It wasn’t what he did that seems so wrong it’s the fact that he said without fear that he  had done it deliberately to give himself an easier shot, if that’s not cheating then what is nowadays?

Guan Tianlang will be a future star and his performance in the Masters was fantastic however it does reopen the debate about whether 14 years old is too young to play with the Pro’s.  His performance no doubt proves that he is capable enough as a player but the pressure and the spotlight can damage someone so young and maybe regulations could be imposed to prevent it going any lower, although having said that, there is a 12 year old due to play in the China Masters and that is definitely too young!

While it would be nice to believe it, an Over 50’s player will probably never win a Major.  At the Open in 2009 Tom Watson came agonisingly close to a Major win at the age of 59 and this week the likes of Couples (who always plays well at Augusta) and Langer shone for a while but the reality is, the youth of today is too good and as we all saw, Couples and Langer fell away at the weekend.  When you see the likes of a 14 year old making the cut at Majors, the average age of a winner is only going in one direction. 

 

FF