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Sunday, April 14
Shaky start sinks Goosen's chances
By Jeff Bradley
ESPN The Magazine
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- At least Retief Goosen was honest Saturday night. When asked how he thought he'd handle playing in the final pairing at The Masters with Tiger Woods, he said he would try to block everything out and play his own game.
The key word was "try." Goosen knew it would not be easy.
|  | | Retief Goosen didn't make a birdie on Sunday until the 15th hole. |
And, sure enough, after playing so consistently through 54 holes -- Goosen was the only player in the field to shoot in the 60s in each of the first three rounds -- he could not find that peaceful zone golfer's seek on Sunday.
Entering the day tied with Woods at 11-under, Goosen bogeyed the first hole, falling immediately off the lead by a stroke, and you could sense immediately the 2002 Masters was going to be familiar, undramatic tale that would end with Woods slipping on a green jacket for a third time.
"I was nervous for the first four or five holes," Goosen said. "I pretty much deflated myself, hitting three three-putts in the first eight holes. No one really put any pressure on him. He was able to cruise in. You know Tiger's not going to make many mistakes, so you know you're going to have to make some birdies to beat him."
Call it the Tiger Effect. When Woods leads a major going into the final round, you can count on two things happening. One, Woods will play solid golf. Two, challengers will fall apart. The world's greatest player seems to bring out the worst in everyone.
"Tiger's the only leader where you don't have any hope that he'll falter," said Phil Mickelson. "With other guys, you have the hope they'll fall three or four off, but it won't happen with him.. So you have to go after him. And that can lead to bogeys."
"Like Nicklaus, like Palmer, Tiger's playing great golf," said Davis Love III. "There are guys who can (play with him), but they just aren't doing it."
Of the five players who entered Sunday's within four strokes of Woods -- a veritable Who's Who of the game's best players -- only Mickelson, who shot 71, played a round under par.
On the back-nine, as the challengers became desperate, it got ugly. Ernie Els took a triple-bogey 8 on the 13th. Vijay Singh took a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 15th.
Goosen, the reigning U.S. Open champion, hit his first drive of the day into the trees and took a bogey, and it was an omen of things to come. He did not card a birdie until the 15th hole, when it was too little and way too late. When Goosen rolled in a long birdie putt on the 16th, he shrugged his shoulders and smiled, as if to say, "Oh well."
"I hit my irons really terribly today," said Goosen. "I didn't give myself many chances for birdies. But it was great playing with Tiger. I think in a few years, he'll be considered the greatest player of all time. Greater even than Jack Nicklaus. I'm looking forward to playing more with him in the years to come. I'll try to do better next time."
Again, the key word is "try."
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Green Pants?