Older champs can't go the distance
Web posted
Saturday, April 08, 2006
Nick Faldo used to come to Augusta the first full week of April thinking about winning a championship.
"Majors are different," Faldo said. "You're not here for a good time, as Huey Lewis would say. It's a mental-stamina week.
''You need bucketfuls of mental stamina at any major. That's part of the equipment you've got to have here to win."
That's the 1996 Nick Faldo talking. That was the last time he won the Masters Tournament.
His drives down Magnolia Lane seem more like memory lane to him in 2006. The lengthening of Augusta National Golf Club makes him far more of a celebrity than a contender, no matter how many buckets of mental stamina he wills up.
"I can't play it now," Faldo said. "I'm just here for fun now. ... I can't compete on a golf course like this. But, fortunately, I can sit here underneath the umbrellas and know that I have three (green) jackets in the locker room over there. So that's fine by me."
Faldo won the Masters in 1989, 1990 and 1996. His average driving distance of 267 yards off the tee puts him about 50 yards behind the longest hitters on the PGA Tour this year.
The consensus of many says the course favors the longer hitters this year.
"I'm missing magic and miracles this week (to be able to compete)," said Faldo, who still wants to make the cut. "I just have to pretend I am Deepak Chopra and go for the miracles this week."
Chris DiMarco lumped Bernhard Langer, Tom Watson and all other older past champions in the same category Monday.
"I bet those guys are not having any fun out here at all this week," DiMarco said, referring to the length the course plays at now.
Imagine how unsettling it must be for golfers whose Masters legacies were already set by the time of Faldo. Tom Watson won the Masters in 1977 and 1981.
He shrugged his shoulders Monday thinking about the latest tweaks. Augusta National is now the second-longest course in major championship history.
"They've really just bumped any short hitters out of the championship consideration equation," Watson said. "Not even within my wildest dream. It's more difficult for shorter hitters. Or those of us who used to have success on this golf course. Long hitters can still get up to where they can hit the proper shots into the greens at this distance. The shorter hitters are faced with a lot of improper shots into the greens."
Langer won his green jackets in 1985 and 1993. The lengthening of Augusta National over the years seems to have stunted his chances of any further successes.
"The changes are obviously trying to make the course tougher and longer and meaner and nastier," Langer said. "It helps the guys that bomb it and almost removes the medium hitters from any contention."
Ben Crenshaw won the Masters in 1984 and 1995, showing that a decade between championships used to be feasible.
He played the revamped Augusta National in November and said it played long then from the member tees, about 1,000 yards shorter than the 7,445 yards from the championship tees.
"It did," Crenshaw said. "I didn't even go to the back tees. I just went and looked."
Staff writers Scott Michaux and David Westin contributed to this article.
Reach Jeff Sentell at (706) 823-3425 or jeff.sentell@augustachronicle.com.
