As far as I am concerned, Masters Sunday (Easter Sunday too) is one of the best days in the golfing year. It's second only to the three days of the Ryder Cup. I prefer it to the final days of the other three Major Championships because on Masters Sunday, you pretty much always know what you're getting. Augusta National (at least the back nine) is the only course with whose general layout and important features all diligent professional golf fans know without ever having been to the tournament. I love the US Open, Open Championship, and PGA for sure, but the Masters has a mystique all its own. Naturally, I was glued to the television all afternoon.
I was disappointed by two things today. First, that Kenny Perry wasn't able to close the deal and sail into the annals of golf history as the elder statesman of the Major Championships. Don't get me wrong; Cabrera is a very good champion--it amused me that the shirt he wore today looked like the same one in which he won the 2007 US Open--but Perry's everyman personality and his genuine appreciation for the game and for his fans would have made excellent inhabitants of the Green Jacket. We didn't get to see the assorted triumphs of the equally unassuming Chad Campbell validated either. Instead we got El Pato, the Seve of the South, which isn't too bad either.
My second disappointment was just the extension of the unapologetic, unabashed Tiger idolatry that permeates the golf media. Yes, the man is undoubtedly the greatest player of the age and probably the best ever. Yes, he and Mickelson provided some fireworks during the afternoon. But when CBS shows most of Perry's and Cabrera's and Campbell's early shots on tape delay because they're sticking every step of the way to Tiger and Phil, it gets on my nerves. The networks really need to make a better effort of exposing viewers to many of the Tour's other characters in an interesting way, in my opinion. Otherwise, when Tiger exits the stage after cementing his legacy as the game's greatest player (which I would guess will come before 2015 or so), there will be very little in the way of compelling personalities to keep many viewers interested because it'll have been all-Tiger, all-the-time for years.
Other than those grievances, I had a nice time watching the coverage. There's nothing that makes me more excited to play golf than watching good golf on TV. The weather's going to be pretty decent here in Connecticut tomorrow, so I hope to avail myself of a round at one of the area's golf courses tomorrow (exact course TBD), on which I will report.
Cheers.
--Tim
