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When Augusta National was conceived by Bobby Jones in the early 1930s, he always envisioned that one day possibly the U.S. Open would be played on it. Unfortunely, June in Augusta is unbearable and since the USGA wouldn't change the dates to April or May, that dream never became a reality. But for the contestants of the 2007 Masters they saw a course that in some respects mirrored U.S. Open conditions. Yes there wasn't any of the think rough the is associated with the U.S. Open, the course wasn't at the brink of being unfair like some other U.S. Open courses, Shinnecock one that comes to mind but the overall toughness of Augusta National was unparalleled compared to past years.
One of the reason's that many feel that the concept of the U.S. Open is flawed is the fact that many of the champions are unheralded in scoop and never do much afterwards. Just in a look at some of the champions, players like Steve Jones, Andy North, Orville Moody and Jack Fleck never really amounted to much.
Now on the other hand the winner's list at the Masters has always had a stellar list of winners. Yes Larry Mize slipped through the cracks to win but on the whole just about every Masters champion in the last 50 years have had fine credentials and gone on to win other events and majors.
As an example to show the difference, in the last 50 years, 18 of the 30 Masters champions (not including Zach Johnson) have won more than one major and 15 of them have won either the U.S. Open, British Open or PGA Championship. As for the U.S. Open, in the same 50 years going back to 1956, 21 of the 37 U.S. Open champions won more than one major with 17 of them being either the Masters, British Open or PGA Championship.
| Historically this is the fifth hardest Masters of all time, here is a look at the toughest ones: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year | Scoring average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1956 | 77.183 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1934 | 76.214 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1955 | 76.188 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1966 | 75.885 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 | 75.881 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
I had a funny feeling that this was going to happen this week, that is why on my Masters preview, I felt that even par would win. Since 1999 there have been major changes happening at Augusta National, with close to 500 yards being added to the course, more trees and some light rough. Despite all of these changes we had not seen the bite on the course because rains always softened up the course. But this year we had the "perfect storm", a combination of dry weather in the Augusta area the weeks before the championship and a solid week of dry weather. It was the first time since 1997 that rain didn't fall during the tournament. With this brought the brute force of the new Augusta National, which played more like a U.S. Open than a Masters.
Yes Masters officials softened the course for Sunday's final round, but the numbers were unheard of in recent times at the Masters. As an example, Zach Johnson won with a 289 total. Last year those that finished with a 289 total finished T16th and qualified for the 2007 Masters. This year to get the top-16 ticket to play in the 2008 Masters it took a score of 296.
| Here is a look at the highest winning totals in a major championship since World War II: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Score & Year/major | Winner | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 293 in 1947 British Open | Fred Daly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 293 in 1963 U.S. Open | Julius Boros | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 290 in 1946 British Open | Sam Snead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 290 in 1972 U.S. Open | Jack Nicklaus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 290 in 1999 British Open | Paul Lawrie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 289 in 1954 Masters | Sam Snead | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 289 in 1956 Masters | Jackie Burke, Jr. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 289 in 1968 British Open | Gary Player | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 289 in 2007 Masters | Zach Johnson | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
No matter what, Johnson becomes the 43rd champion at the Masters and only the fifth winner from the Midwest. The others were Horton Smith, Herman Keiser, Tom Watson from Missouri and Bob Goalby from Illinios. Now Johnson hails from the state of Iowa, who up to this year could only claim one winner of a major championship, that being Jack Fleck. We can only hope that Johnson's record doesn't go on the same path that his fellow state-mate went since Fleck only won twice after that at the 1960 Phoenix Open and the 1961 Bakersfield Open.
In looking back at Johnson's career, when he first turned pro in 1998 he kicked around in several development tours, the Prairie Golf Tour, the HGA Hooters Tour and then the Nationwide Tour. In 2003 he achieved the pinnacle of the Nationwide Tour by being their leading money winner and claiming victory in two events.
| Zach Johnson played in his third Masters. Since World War II only six players have won with the same or less experience in the Masters: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Year/ winner | Appearance | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1979 Fuzzy Zoeller | 1st Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1946 Herman Keiser | 2nd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1948 Claude Harmon | 3rd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1969 George Archer | 3rd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1985 Bernhard Langer | 3rd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997 Tiger Woods | 3rd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 Zach Johnson | 3rd Masters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This was Johnson's fourth visit to Augusta National. The first came like a lot of others as a spectator in the 2001 Masters in one of the practice rounds. He was totally stunned over the place, hard to believe that six years later he would win. Johnson played in two Masters, in 2005 in his debut he shot 81 on the way to missing the cut, again giving him no thoughts that maybe this was some special place for him to win on. Last year he finished T32nd. In six Masters rounds his best was his final round 70 last year so there really wasn't any signs that said, hey Zach Johnson was going to win this.
Still in all he did go on to win the Masters.
Keys to victory for Zach Johnson
Of course he has to thank Tiger Woods for not having any kind of game, Woods looked out of sort the whole week but still finished T2nd, just two back.
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Key to his win was just like many other Masters champions, overpowering the par 5s. He played them in 11 under, the only player in double digits and just by chance two ahead of Tiger who played them in nine under.
But Johnson can't really use the word "overpowering" in the way he led the par 5 category.
That's because Johnson is one of the shorter hitters on the PGA Tour. As an example he ranks 162nd out of 186 players in driving distance this year and in his three previous years on tour only got in single digits once when he was 86th in 2005. Last year he was T145th.
So how did he "overpower" the par 5s. He took a lesson out of Billy Casper's book of doing it with your wedge game. You remember the history, Casper in his 1959 U.S. Open victory at Winged Foot laid up everyday on the par 3, third hole because it was out of his reach and made par all four days. Johnson didn't go for a single par 5 in two this week but managed to get it up and down from the fairway 11 out of 16 times. By doing it this way he stayed within his game and took out any chance of making worst than par on the par 5s.
Here are some other keys for his victory:
- Now talking about his "overpowering" game, Johnson average drive was 265.0 which ranked 57 out of the 60 that made the cut, three others that made the cut where worst. Matter of fact if you look at the driving distance of all 96 players in the field, of those that missed the cut only Gary Player and Ben Crenshaw hit it shorter.
Of all the champions at Augusta his 265.0 average is the shortest in the last decade since the climb of distance at Augusta and only one other champion has ranked so low and that was Bernhard Langer whose 244.4 average in 1993 also ranked 57. - Some other stats, Johnson hit 44 of 72 greens which ranked T4th and he took only 112 putts which ranked T12th.
- Johnson made 15 birdies which was one off the most made during the week but of all the champions it's the lowest since Jose Maria Olazabal made 13 in 1999. One ugly claim that Johnson can make this week, his 16 bogeys for the week is the most of any Masters champion, the record before was 14 by Jimmy Demaret in 1950 and Jackie Burke in 1956.
- Johnson 69 on Sunday match the low round on Sunday.
Johnson's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 45 of 56 ..... (T2nd) Driving average: 265.0 ..... (57th) Greens hit: 44 of 72 ....... (T4th) Putts: 112 (28.00 a rd) .... (T10th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 3 1-putt greens: 32 2-putt greens: 31 3-putt greens: 6 Play on par 3s: +3 Play on par 4s: +9 Play on par 5s: -11 Eagles: 0 Birdies: 15 ................ (T3rd) Scrambling: 18 of 28 (64.29%)... (4th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This Win means for Johnson
- In a matter of one round of golf Zach Johnson goes from being a journeyman pro on the PGA Tour to one of the elite. Just like with Rich Beem, Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel and Todd Hamilton Johnson will pretty much get a free pass for the next five years on the PGA Tour and for the next year will play in every elite event. This win will be easily worth over a million dollars in playing those events that the elite winners get into and in endorsements the sky is the limit. At the least financially, this win will be worth $2 million.
- Maybe it's the month of April that Zach Johnson likes so much. He earned his first Nationwide Tour victory on April 27, 2003 at the Rheem Classic in Fort Smith, AR. He then won his first PGA Tour title on April 4, 2004 at the BellSouth Classic in Duluth, GA. Now, he collects his first major championship title on April 8
- Zach Johnson's third-round 76 ties the third highest single round by a Masters winner. The last player to shoot a 76 in a round and go on to win was Jack Nicklaus, 1966, second round.
Here are the highest rounds by Masters champions:
77 by Nick Faldo in the third round in 1989
77 by Sam Snead in the third round in 1952
76 by Jack Nicklaus in second round in 1966
76 by Zach Johnson in third round in 2007 - Zach Johnson becomes the 15th Masters champion to win on Easter Sunday.
- Zach Johnson becomes the first Nationwide Tour graduate to win the Masters Tournament. His win is the 11th major championship by a former Nationwide Tour player
Tiger Woods - Why he lost
hard to image Tiger Woods in a final group at a major championship and not winning.
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There was no two ways about it Tiger was out of sort this week, he never got anything going and he didn't pull off too many spectacular shots in which he is famous for. If it wasn't for the eagle on the 13th hole, he would of added no spice to the final round.
Here are some other keys for his loss:
- Tiger said earlier in the week that he had to keep the ball in play and he didn't do that. He hit only 31 of 56 fairways, which ranked T46th out of 60 players.
- Tiger made only ten birdies all week, that is the lowest number of birdies that he has made in a year playing at the Masters since turning pro.
- Of the ten birdies made, only three of them came on par 4 holes and he didn't birdie a single par 3.
- Woods only had one three putt but in getting it up and down he had the weakest Masters ever in this stat. He only did it 14 of 29 times for a dismal 48.28% as 43 other players did better than him in this stat.
Woods's stats (with rank in parentheses):
Fairways hit: 31 of 56 ..... (T46th) Driving average: 280.4 ..... (T17th) Greens hit: 43 of 72 ....... (T7th) Putts: 117 (29.25 a rd) .... (T28th) Putting breakdown: 0-putt greens: 0 1-putt greens: 28 2-putt greens: 43 3-putt greens: 1 Play on par 3s: +4 Play on par 4s: +8 Play on par 5s: -9 Eagles: 1 Birdies: 10 ................ (T2nd) Scrambling: 14 of 29 (48.28%)... (44th)
Scrambling measures how many times a player gets up and down for par or better on the holes where he missed the green in regulation.
What This loss mean for Woods
- The thought of both a slam in 2006 is ended along with any thought of a Tiger slam, for the time being.
- Tiger Woods' T2nd finish this week marks only the third time in his career that he has been a runner-up at a major championship. Woods now has a total of 24 top-10 finishes in majors. He was solo second at the 2005 U.S. Open and solo second at the 2002 PGA Championship. Woods has a long way to go to catch Jack Nicklaus record total 19 runner-up finishes, but something tells me this isn't a record Tiger is interested in having. Woods also has 21 2nd-place finishes in his PGA Tour career, to go along with his 56 victories.
- An ugly stat, Tiger made 15 bogeys this week, he has only made more one other time in 1995 as an amateur in his first Masters when he made 18. Also this is the first time since being a pro that Tiger Woods didn't have an under par score at Augusta and he has now gone nine rounds since the last time he shot in the 60s at Augusta. That was his 65 in the third round in 2005.
| Here is a look at the times that Tiger Woods didn't have a single round under par in the majors: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Major | Score/finish | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1997 PGA Championship at Winged Foot | 70-70-71-75 finished T29th (par 70) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club | 74-72-71-73 finished T18th (par 70) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1999 British Open at Carnoustie | 74-72-74-74 finished T7th (Par 71) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2003 PGA Championship at Oak Hill | 74-72-73-73 finished T39th (Par 70) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot | 76-76 missed cut (Par 70) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2007 Masters | 73-74-72-72 finished T2nd (Par 72) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
