Last week, I flew in my dad to stay with me for a few days so we could watch the Master's Tournament together. I had it all planned out: TiVo set to ESPN HD for the 4 televised rounds, PC all set to watch pre-show streaming footage at Amen Corner, iPhone loaded with the Master's Scoreboard App and a note pinned to the door: "If you are not Ed McMahon, then please go away."
As the days unfolded, neither of my guys were even close to leading--much less dominating--the field on Thursday, Friday, or (gasp!) Saturday. I was starting to feel like I had just paid 13 bucks to see another crappy Keanu Reeves movie and by the time Sunday morning finally rolled around I was bored.
That is, until I found out that Tiger and Phil were paired for the final round. I didn't even care that neither of them could win the tournament, thefun of watching them battle each other would make up for everything else. As we watched Phil tie the Augusta course record of 30 on the front nine, and watched Tiger grind out what seemed like a comeback, we both realized that THIS was the Master's for us, not the other 75 guys slugging it out for the Green Jacket.
So for us, the Master's started on Sunday morning at 10:35AM when the dynamic duo teed off and ended when Phil plopped his 9 iron in Rae's creek on 12, effectively squashing his momentum and what looked to be a come-from-behind win. More drama unfolded, and a winner was eventually crowned, but the 3 hours of Tiger and Phil on Sunday is something my dad and I will talk about forever.
What do you mean? Johnny Mnemonic wasn't that bad, it had echos of Gibson's brilliance though dimmed by the emotionless Keanu.
Then again, I saw it on video.
Posted by: Rorik | 04/14/2009 at 10:57 PM
This is one of the few whole-family sports events at my house. We turn it on just to see the scores and before we know it, everybody is watching until the end.
Grandma and Grandpa (born in Kentucky) were rooting for Kenny, the girls (former athletes) were watching it like it was American Idol - solo make or break performances with personality. The boy watched as a young golfer who imagines himself playing at Augusta some day. Seeing Tiger and Phil gut it out when we thought there was no chance was a bonus.
The best thing for me is that a 47 year old could be playing the best golf of his life and for 4 days be more than a match for Phil and Tiger.
Posted by: TK | 04/14/2009 at 11:09 AM