Yes I’m a golf junkie, and as I watched the final round of this year’s Masters I find myself lamenting that the course changes over the last few years has really taken a lot of the fun out of the event, especially the Back Nine on Sunday. In the past you could always guarantee that someone (not Tiger Woods) would make a come-from-behind charge on the final day: the crowds would be roaring on the back nine, echoing through the trees, and sounding the warning to the leaders that they were being challenged. But the roars have gone quiet, and now we spend Sunday seeing who will make the fewest mistakes that will lead to victory.
As a viewer I love the Masters for its beauty and the many things that make it unique. But now one of those things–the drama it always seemed to provide-may happen much less often than in the past. And if that’s true maybe we’ll all cherish it more when we’re lucky enough to see it happen. But the dramas are what have made this tournament legendary, and somewhere in the process of adding yardage, rough, bunkers, and trees, we’ve replaced birdies and eagles with pars and bogeys. And as we all know, there’s nothing better when you’re playing golf than a “boring par”, but it sure takes the fun out of watching.
