Final Thoughts On The Masters, Sergio Garcia’s First Tweet, Plus What Tiger Woods And Others Had To Say

Sergio Garcia Twitter


After the third round of the Masters, I tweeted out a poll asking people who they thought would be slipping on the Green Jacket come Sunday night. Of 3,153 votes, 74% of people thought it would either be Jordan Spieth or Rickie Fowler. Only 14% expected Sergio Garcia or Justin Rose to win.

masters tweet

Then Sunday’s round started. And players with late tee times started to hit the eject button. Spieth and Fowler slowly slipped out of contention. After nine holes, Charley Hoffman and Ryan Moore were no where to be found. Players who started the day too far back to make a serious run were the only players making runs. The worst case scenario almost came to fruition.

I would have never been able to forgive myself for putting that out in the universe on Sunday morning if Schwartzel won. Amazingly, that exact scenario would have played out, but thankfully, Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose were up to the task of playing good golf and that nightmare never became a reality. For me, Rose and Garcia also saved a really lackluster Sunday. Until Sergio made par on 13, the whole day was kind of uneventful. Sure, Kuchar made an ace on 15 to record yet another backdoor top ten and Thomas Pieters and Charl Schwartzel played good golf, but we all knew they were never really going to contend unless Garcia and Rose both collapsed.

But the Masters did what the Masters always does: it gave us an exciting ending and the final five holes plus the playoff were must-see TV.

Speaking of TV… The coverage, again, was a disappointment. I know I am supposed to be grateful that we even get the luxury of online streaming and featured groups, but the choices for those groups is highly questionable. First, how you offer Featured groups and you don’t include Phil Mickelson is mind-numbing. And second, why lock-in Friday’s groups before you even know how people play on Thursday? No one in the Willett, Stenson, Cabrerra group made the cut, and yet that is what the stream served us. The ANGC needs to be more flexible on such things. And they also need to get ProTracer on the broadcast. This is 2017, it wouldn’t ruin the experience if we got to see some shot-shapes.

All in all, it was a great week that was capped off by a heart-pumping finish that saw Sergio Garcia finally win a major. Considering his immense talent, and now that he’s tasted winning on golf’s biggest stage, this might not be the only one he wins.

The Reactions….As people do in 2017, all of his peers tweeted their congratulations. Even Tiger Woods.

 

And the list goes on… Congrats, Sergio. Well played, indeed.