Masterful Choke for Tiger-Lefty Rivalry

Quick, who won the Masters Sunday? Come on, first name, too.

This might be a first, when the winner of the Masters goes down as the answer to the trivia question. But this is going to be remembered as the Masters that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson didn't win, assuming long term memories don't twist one of them into the green jacket someday. Also, some older guy (Kenny Perry) didn't win, either.

The winner? Well, Augusta National is always the answer to that. The Masters always has that touchy feeling from all that history, the drama and personal tales, and, of course, from Jim Nantz's goo.

Somehow, his mush works wonderfully there.

So I hate to sound sacrilegious, but once the thrill was past on Angel Cabrera's tree-smacking, back-door victory, the word "choke" kept coming to mind.

Tiger, Phil, Kenny. Phil again. Even Cabrera matched those three, hitting that tree on 18, but it bounced out beautifully, luckily. And he's the champ by default.

But is that fair? There is no meaner word in sports than choke, and maybe we should look again at what that word really means, and what that finish Sunday meant, particularly to Woods and Mickelson.

Ten years ago, Jean Van de Velde created what is considered the template for choking at the British Open, taking a three-stroke lead to the final hole before finding rough, water and sand. I argued at the time that he hadn't choked at all, that he hadn't belonged there in the first place.

If Joe Blow woke up and found himself in the lead in the fifth set of the Wimbledon final, he might not close the deal, either.

So maybe that's knocking Perry more than he deserves. He's not Joe Blow. But he has that little hitch in his swing, where he seems to stop at the top and change directions. And he's a solid player who played solidly until that Charles Barkley swing, the old Barkley swing, wouldn't let him finish the deal.



The big choke of the day, the biggest loser of the tournament, was Phil Mickelson, even though he played those first nine holes better, maybe, than anyone ever had. Mickelson had what might well be his last chance at a legacy of greatness.

Tiger Woods? He'll be fine. But he did choke, too, with bogeys on each of the final two holes.

The thing is, Woods did not seem to be bothered by Mickelson's run on the front nine so much as by his struggles with his own swing.

"I hit so bad today warming up,'' he said. "I was hitting quick hooks, blocks, you name it. I hit it all on the range, and then on the very first hole, I almost hit it into (the eighth) fairway. It's one of the worst tee shots I've ever hit starting out.''

But when it got to the end, Mickelson crumbled, and we've seen that before. With him, it always seems that Woods has something to do with it.

See, Mickelson is fighting Woods, while Woods is fighting history.

Choking is about letting your brain ruin the performance that your body was about to produce. The pressure is on, and some people use it and some people fold under it.

Perry, even with those bogeys on the last two holes, didn't finish any lower than his skill was going to allow. Mickelson, though, was there in 2006 at Winged Foot, when he had a shot at winning his third straight major. Instead, he went for too much in what is now known as his, "I am such an idiot"' moment.

But now at 38, he had another chance.

Three major titles have already guaranteed him a decent legacy, but at this point, he's still just the Woods patsy. When a great player can't beat the greatest of all time, that should probably be expected. But Mickelson was supposed to be the guy.

Think about the setting Sunday: Mickelson and Woods together in the same pairing. Final round. Augusta National. Woods in the red. Both started seven strokes back. And for nine holes, Mickelson gave another example of the greatness inside.

But that 12th hole. It's the one place every golfer in the world knows that you don't get too aggressive. Mickelson hit a 9-iron when he should have hit 8, and went into Rae's Creek for a double-bogey.

From there, his putting fell apart, too. He missed a four-foot putt on 15 that would have put him in a tie for the lead.

"I didn't trust my read,'' he said. "I didn't commit.''

When he was done, having shot a 67 to Woods' 68, someone talked to him about going head-to-head with his rival. Woods and Mickelson are bosom enemies, and that's not meant as a shot at Mickelson's physique.

"It was fun,'' Mickelson told reporters. "We've had some good matches in the past, but I'm usually on the wrong end of it.''

This took me back several years when Mickelson bombed out in the final round of the Masters and I talked to him under the big tree past the 18th green. He was all smiles.

It was clear right then that something was missing.

"It was terrible.'' That's how Woods described the day Sunday.

And that's a very Woods-like thing to say.

He just seemed rusty, playing his first major since having knee surgery. But he did seem a little nervous, too.

"I fought my swing all day and just kind of Band-Aided around and almost won the tournament with a Band-Aid swing today.''

Mickelson said you play for the chance to win on the back nine. And Woods, who had that chance, felt he had been cheated out of something.

In some ways, nothing changed, other than for the guy who won.