Observations from the Masters

Here are a few thoughts and observations from the Masters.

Okay, let us have our moment of smug satisfaction and then be done with it. We picked Phil as our Sentimental Favorite before the tournament started and then zeroed in on him as our choice before the final two rounds. It was a good gut feeling by the Eye On Golf staff. It's an even better feeling to see him win.

Tiger contended as we expected, but his game was way off. His swing was all over the place. There is no consistency to his swing plane and tempo. That’s what happens when you have no confidence in your game.

For everyone trying to improve his golf score, the value of a stellar short game should be glaringly evident. Mickelson hit 54 of 72 greens and got the ball up and down 14 times. That’s a remarkable 77.78%. And that’s why he won.

This may have possibly been the best weekend ever for spectacular golf. We try not to do the “best ever” stuff too much, but, if you watched, you cannot disagree. What we can conclude from all this is that finally the course has returned to a state where great play rewards with great scores (and thus excitement for the fans), but the errant shot will still be punished.

Phil’s victory is the shot in the arm that golf needed this year. All the talk and print has been about Tiger this year and he hadn’t hit a ball in competition until Thursday. In a very unscientific survey, we talk with local golfers who to a man said that all they wanted to hear about Tiger wasthe quality of his play on the golf course. Maybe now we can get back to golf.

As always there is only one man who can win the Grand Slam in 2010. Will he? Your thoughts, please.