April 11, 2005
PUT ON YOUR PANTS AND JACKET
Consider it a quest. (Note, see updated link below.)
If you didn't see the last round of the Masters golf tournament yesterday, you missed one of the truly great TV sports moments in history. Even if you don't like golf or know the players, the chip shot that Tiger Woods hit on the 16th hole at Augusta was one for the ages.
From just left of the hole, on the fringe of the rough, about 5 feet lower than the hole, Woods hit a chip shot that looked like it was headed toward Atlanta. Then when it bounced on the green, it hit the brakes, made a sharp right turn and drifted agonizingly slow toward the cup. The ball came to a complete stop on the lip of the edge of the rim of the precipice, decided to recite the Gettysburg Address as the TV cameras lovingly came in for a closeup of the Nike logo, and then dropped slow-motion into the bottom of the hole as delicately as one of the Augusta azaleas lining the green.
My finger couldn't get to the TiVo remote quick enough to watch it over and over like some sort of Nicklausian version of Pavlov's dog.
For me, that shot ranks up there with seeing the USA beat the Russians in Olympic hockey. It's up there with Larry Bird stealing the ball in 1987 against the Detroit Pistons in the Eastern Conference finals one point down with five seconds left and then unhesitatingly feeding a cutting Dennis Johnson for the winning basket. And it's as sweet as the reverse-shovel relay flip by Derek Jeter to catcher Jorge Posada in Game 3 of the 2001 Division Series against the A's.
Here's how ESPN.com's golf writer put it: [Link]
If you haven't seen his chip on the par-3, 16th hole, you will -- about a million times. All he did was bump the ball onto the granite-hard green, and then watch as it rolled to cup's edge, hang there for a full three seconds, and drop into hole. Maybe it was the weight of the grass stain on the ball that made the difference. Maybe it was the karma of an old man sitting in a rental house."Under the circumstances, one of the best [shots] I've ever hit," he said later.
UPDATE: Here's the video of the chip in question, courtesy of Drew, aka Mr. "You Want A Piece of This?": [Link]
Posted by Jeff at April 11, 2005 08:02 AMHere is the Link...Had to find it this morning myself:
http://mastersvideo.virage.com/vss-bin/vss_SR/masters/search?&template=results.tmpl&query7=%22hole%20no.%2016%22&offset=10&
Nice Pics on my Camera...Jackass!!!
Posted by: Drew at April 11, 2005 08:43 AMWondermous, wasn't it? We were watching while playing a game of pool. Wills won a game and it was my rack. I said "I will rack after Tiger takes this shot"
I could NOT believe it. We held our breath...I watched it hit the ground, and roll and head towards the hole and I thought "Ahh he's got it!"
Then it stopped. I yelled "You have GOT to be SHITTING me!"
And then, it went. We both jumped up and started yelling and hi-fiving each other. I even got teary eyed...
And I don't like golf.
:O)
Posted by: jen at April 11, 2005 11:13 PMNotice how the 'hang time' gets longer every time the story is retold? I firmly believe that the roar of the crowd around the hole added to the screams of TV watchers pushed the ball in the cup!
Posted by: emil at April 12, 2005 08:12 AM