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Of Spieth and Tiger and Phil, to name a few

By Mike Dudurich for The 4 min read

There has always been a great deal of hype and nostalgia about the Masters.

Some of it may seem a bit contrived, but the overwhelming majority is not. Part of that is because the tournament has always been held at Augusta National Golf Club and it has become so familiar to those who walk the hallowed grounds as well as the millions who watch every minute they can on television.

Anything can happen there.

Things like a 21-year-old getting his first look at the Masters last year and, after his second-place finish warmup, took the tournament by the horns Thursday morning and has been in control every second since.

Jordan Spieth has talent, that’s been known for some time now. But nobody knew the depth of the poise this kid possessed until his display the last three days.

It would be foolish to crown him as the new best thing in the game if the last three days were all we had to go on. But he’s been doing this for months. His last three starts resulted in finishes of first, second and second.

He’s done a lot to placate the worriers about how golf could survive after the inevitable decline of Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

And how does it happen that not long after Spieth breaks the Masters 36-hole scoring record with a 14-under par total on Friday, his friend and mentor, Ben Crenshaw, plays his last competitive round at the Masters after 44 years.

Showing the kind of respect you would expect from a youngster like Spieth, he was behind the 18th green to congratulate his fellow Texan.

It made you stop and think as the sun set on Friday. What was the more impressive accomplishment to that point, Spieth’s 14-under through two rounds or Tiger’s two-under par for 36 holes?

Spieth has been so dominant that Charlie Hoffman, who was nine-under par after 36 holes would have held the lead in 13 of the last 20 years.

But it’s not only Spieth’s playing like the No. 1 player in the world this week, the Masters has provided a spectacular site for the debut of Tiger Woods, who hadn’t played competitively since February. His decision to come back at Augusta National was judged as very risky, but Woods has played well and in most years would be in the thick of things at six-under par.

This isn’t most years, however, and Woods is firmly entrenched in the second flight of this one.

Phil Mickelson would be considered to be in the mix of most tournaments, but because of how Spieth has played, the big lefty needs a spectacular round and some missteps from the leader to really mix it up.

And, of course, while it seems like a long time ago, the Champions Dinner was held Tuesday night and Arnold Palmer broke the ice on what had become a stiff, stuffy event with a very emotional talk that implored the younger champions to stay humble, stay approachable with golf fans who have long followed the careers of these greats.

It doesn’t take much to get Palmer emotional these days and he even got choked up talking about it on Golf Channel the day after. The King is 85 and he loves every minute of this tournament each year and no doubt had a blast watching it unfold to this point.

He’ll be doing what a lot of us will be doing today. Getting done what needs to be done this morning, get things in order at his place at Bay Hill and settle in for what should be one of the all-time best last round of the Masters ever.

And, in the process, we’ll be watching to see if there will be anything else that could only happen on that great course in Augusta.

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If you have an interesting story about your club or course or an individual who has done something special, let me know. Send your story ideas to mike.dudurich@gmail.com.

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