Jimmy White can lay claim to being the most unfortunate sportsperson on this list, having lost an incredible six World Championship finals, including five in a row between 1990 and 1994. He had a victory and two runner-up finishes at the Masters before Sunday's less-than-stellar finish. Stenson ended up shooting 20-under-par, the lowest 72-hole score in a major championship.
Spanish golfer Sergio Garcia is on the front page of the country's papers on Monday morning following his dramatic win over Justin Rose in the US Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Georgia on Sunday night. Garcia bogeyed 10, bogeyed 11, and, already down two strokes, bounced his drive off a tree and into the bushes on 13. He felt a kaleidoscope of things before his 37-year-old pulse finally slowed enough to win the Masters in a playoff over Justin Rose. I'm not going to lie; it's not the golf course that I'm most comfortable in, because I've become more of a fader than a drawer of the ball, and this golf course is asking you to hit a lot of draws.
"I have no doubt that history will place its own special mark on the 81st playing of the Masters".
Jordan's Spieth surge back up the leaderboard at the Masters came up short when sputtered out of the gate at the start of Sunday's final round. A decade ago, he stood over a six-foot putt on the 18th green at Carnoustie to win the Open Championship. Now I'll have to answer, I don't know if I'll be the best player to have only won one major.
Rose certainly was convinced, the Olympic champion going toe-to-toe with Garcia in a back-nine battle that at times played out like a heavyweight fight. Not in this Masters, where he shot 71-69-70-69.
We're now on the 15th fairway, and Sergio's trimmed a shot - he's down one. But, he hit wedge to 7 feet and escaped with par.
"All those things helped a lot", Garcia said.
"I knew I needed to make that putt to stay with it". But in the past, I would have started going at my caddie 'why doesn't it go through and whatever?' But I was like, well, if that's what is supposed to happen, let it happen. In his specific case though, there was a sense of empathy amongst golf fans who were cheering for him on Sunday because at some point in life we've all been there.
United States sends aircraft carrier close to North Korea waters
The Trump White House is anxious Pyongyang is just months away from marrying nuclear and long-range missile technology to put the US West Coast within striking distance.
His 12-foot birdie putt at the first extra hole dropped into the cup at the par-four 18th, triggering a massive cheer from an Augusta National gallery that began chanting his name after willing him across the line. "Whoops", he says. "This AT&T service is too good".
"It's been such a long time coming", added Garcia, who shared a warm embrace with Rose and a passionate one with his fiancee. You know about the meltdown when he kicked a sign and threw one of his shoes in a tantrum over a ruling in a European Tour event.
So it was heartfelt congratulations that Rose gave Garcia on the 18 green when it was over.
Perhaps you remember speed-skater Elise Christie's 2014 Winter Olympics, or perhaps it's faded from memory - we're sure it remains firmly with the 26-year-old.
"Obviously this is something I wanted to do for a long time but, you know, it never felt like a horror movie", Garcia said afterward. "I think that they realized that he paid his dues, and they realized that he's been close so many times".
"I need to change my golf ball".
Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus, the remaining members of golf's "Big Three", wiped away their tears, Jack lifted his cap to the sky, and they opened the tournament by smacking a couple of drives into the first fairway.
Recently he has been playing with Callaway's GBB Epic woods but made a decision to change to TaylorMade's 2017 M2 fairway woods just before the tournament as they were giving him the lower spin rates he was looking for, but chose to stick with the Callaway driver.
Comments