The Masters -- Final Round

OK, so let's start by congratulating Charl Schwartzel. His final round was the stuff of legend. He holed out for an eagle 2 on the 3d hole, and he birdied the last four holes to win the tournament -- something that I don't think has ever been done. So good for him. However, let's be honest: this is almost certainly a fluke performance similar to the one we saw from Louis Oosthuizen last year at the British Open. Schwartzel may have a game that is particularly suited to Augusta, in which case we may see him contend there again. But the odds are that we won't hear much from him going forward.

And that is why the two most important people at this Masters -- from the longer-term perspective of golf history -- were Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods. They were the only players with a chance to win who have the talent to truly impose order on the current chaos that rules golf. If Tiger had followed up his front-nine 31 with a back-nine 32, he would probably have won the tournament and thereby served notice on everyone that HE WAS BACK. On the other hand, if McIlroy had dominated today the way he dominated the other three days of the tournament, he would have told everyone that there's a new sheriff in town, and every major tournament for the next ten years might have organized itself around McIlroy's play.

But they both failed. Tiger simply could not make any putts when he absolutely needed to, and he came in with a 36 that was never going to win. That wasn't too surprising; something has gone wrong with Tiger's putting, and it's not clear that he will ever regain the confidence on the greens he used to have. McIlroy's implosion was much more serious and was downright alarming -- he shot an unbelievable 43 on the back nine, one of the worst performances ever seen in major championship golf. And now, until he breaks through and wins one of these things, everyone (including McIlroy himself) will wonder if he is just too soft mentally to ever be a great champion.

So golf remains rudderless, and we can look forward to more majors like the last four -- chaotic dramas in which whoever happens to be hot that weekend walks away with the crown. It can be entertaining if, like today, a lot of guys play well down the stretch. It can also be an unholy mess with guys choking all over the place, like last year's PGA and U.S. Opens. But from the perspective of golf history, tournaments like these have very little meaning. When was the last time you heard someone mention Bob Tway or Scott Simpson? Great champions don't just play great occasionally; they do it time after time and year after year. And based on what we saw today, Tiger and Phil are still the only two great champions left. McIlroy may be able to join them, but he will have to learn a lot more about how to deal with pressure.

One final point. In 1975, at the age of 35, Jack Nicklaus won the Masters, giving him a total of 15 major championships. Tiger is 35 with only 14 majors, so he has fallen behind Nicklaus's pace for the first time in many years.

By the way, thanks to Eric and Matthew for helping out with the Masters coverage. It made everything a lot more fun.

1. C. Schwartzel (RSA): -14 (69+71+68+66=274)
T2. J. Day (AUS): -12 (72+64+72+68=276)
T2. A. Scott (AUS): -12 (72+70+67+67=276)
T4. T. Woods: -10 (71+66+74+67=278)
T4. G. Ogilvy (AUS): -10 (69+69+73+67=278)
T4. L. Donald (ENG): -10 (72+68+69+69=278)
7. A. Cabrera (ARG): -9 (71+70+67+71=279)
T8. B. Van Pelt: -8 (73+69+68+70=280)
T8. K.J. Choi (KOR): -8 (67+70+71+72=280)
10. R. Palmer: -6 (71+72+69+70=282)


T15. R. McIlroy (NIR): -4 (65+69+70+80=284)