Tiger, Goose chasing Johnson

After Friday I had my eye on Ogilvy, Toms, Appleby, Vijay and, of course, Tiger. After Saturday I had my eye on Appleby, Goosen, Harrington, Kelly and, of course, Tiger. On the Sunday morning Sports Reporter they talked only of Tiger and Phil. Phil? He was dead by Sunday morning! I sat yelling at the TV, 'Shit, man, Goosen was the only guy that actually looked good on Saturday and he's got the same score as fading Phil!'

And for a while it looked like Goosen was gonna get it done. But he bogey-ed 12 and ended up one over on the last 10 holes, not good enough (if he'd started his charge on Friday he may well have buried the field). Harrington stuck an eagle on 13 and looked relevant for a few minutes but he gave it back soon enough. Tiger looked frustrated out there and he was not crisp at all. I think he was so flustered by the weather and the over-par finishes on the first 3 days that he felt like he was playing poor when in fact the jacket was his for the taking. Appleby is a bad weather player, which worked for him on blustery Friday and Saturday but Sunday afternoon looked sunny and lovely on my TV, his advantage shriveled and despite coming back from an early double bogey, he never looked up for the comeback. Sabbatini made a couple of amazing shots but I kept waiting for his double bogey. Kelly had a good looking eagle on 13 but couldn't cut into the lead; I like him though, he's got moxy. Vijay hung around but 3 bogeys on the back 9 put him pretty far down the leaderboard.

One guy I never at any point had my eye on was Zach Johnson. I didn't even think to pay attention to him until he stuck back-to-back birds on 13 and 14. A great victory for Johnson. He saw that the Masters was winnable this year and he kept his cool with Tiger charging behind him. I suspect the narrative will be the 'crazy cold weather Masters' where Johnson held off charging champions to sneak a major. Or will it be the coming-out of Zach Johnson (though he doesn't seem like the 'coming-out' type to me)? Might we be telling the tale of how Zach held off Tiger and Vijay and Retief and Phil and then went on to dominate the tour for years and years? Could be, we'll see. He's an ice-water-in-the-veins type and yet he's nerve-rackingly humble, could be a powerful combo for a golfer.