The Masters leaves us with more questions than answers

It seemed that The Masters was arriving at just the right time to give the 2011 golf season a sense of direction.

Surely, Augusta National would provide a test that could help answer some of our biggest questions. Was Phil Mickelson’s win in Houston a precursor to a fourth green jacket? Could Westwood or Donald breakthrough? What’s up with that Tiger guy?

In a sense, many felt The Masters would provide fans golf’s equivalent of a state of the union address. With Woods’ game in flux and a new crop of twenty-somethings trying to fill the power void, trying to handicap the 2011 Masters was a crapshoot.

Isn’t it fitting, then, that instead of getting some closure from the season’s first major, we just have more questions.

As the tournament progressed, it seemed the storylines emerging would satiate the golf community’s growing curiosity. Yet, when the dust settled and back-nine fireworks ceased, we got Charl Schwartzel. The unheralded South African played beautifully, but Sunday’s final round was a head-scratcher that left too many questions unanswered.

Is Tiger Woods back? : My generation grew up expecting three certainties in life: Death. Taxes. Tiger Woods. To see Tiger struggle so mightily this past year has been a shock to the senses. A leaky swing can be fixed, but shoddy confidence can’t. His trademark steely resolve was replaced by a striking lack of mojo. Perhaps Charlie Sheen stole all of his tiger blood. Given Tiger’s track record at Augusta National, there was certainly reason for optimism. This was the place he finished tied for fourth after a four-month, self-imposed exile from golf. 

On Friday, there was some pep in the step of the four-time Green Jacket winner. He hooked his approach to the par-4 18th around a few Georgia pines and converted the subsequent birdie putt to post a six-under 66. Woods needed to prove he could play this well in consecutive rounds. Almost on cue, he finished with a third-round-74 and it looked like it was Rory McIlroy’s to lose. In his traditional Sunday red, Tiger was Tiger again. He had his bite back. After a masterful approach to the par-5 eighth, Woods drained an eight-foot eagle putt for a share of the lead. A fist pump and a huge Augusta roar seemed to foreshadow a fifth Green Jacket. It wasn’t meant to be, though, as an uneven back-nine doomed him. Was his play a sign of things to come or just Augusta fool’s gold? Your guess is as good as mine.

With Woods struggling, would there be a passing of the torch? : In the past year, golf has been dominated by a youth movement. With old stars like Vijay Singh, Ernie Els and Retief Goosen fading, the slack has been picked up by golfers in their “roaring twenties.” Could one of these young guns cement himself as Tiger’s heir apparent? Rory McIlroy stormed to the lead with an impressive opening-round 65. The ninth-ranked player in the world became the second-youngest player in Masters history to hold a 54-hole lead. (Tiger Woods) The parallels didn’t end there. Woods was 21 when he won the 1997 Masters and had entered with two victories. McIlroy, also 21-years-old and with two worldwide victories, looked like he was fortifying his standing as golf’s next big thing. Then, it all came crashing down. With several players charging, McIlroy hit his tee shot at the 10th so far left, it might as well have been in Jacksonville. Game over.  Poor Rory was in the midst of a Greg Norman-esque collapse. With his face in his hands, he looked totally defeated. The lead he had held for 63 holes was lost and so was the possibility of being anointed “The Next Tiger.”

Not to take anything away from Schwartzel’s impressive performance, but his victory will be overshadowed by Tiger’s charge, Rory’s collapse and the questions that they left unanswered.