Edge-of-your-seat suspense makes for a superb Masters

Honestly, once I knew I wasn’t going to win our office pool, I really didn’t care who won the Masters on Sunday; it was just incredible to see the golf unfold.

No doubt, most golf fans were thinking after Tiger Woods fired a 31 on the front side Sunday at Augusta National that he would probably just take over and pull away from the field on the back nine. But this is a new era with a really good crop of young players emerging. And while even-par on the back nine was a little unexpected from Woods, you can’t take anything away from the players who turned it on down the stretch. That was great golf and great suspense.

What winner Charl Schwartzel did was incredible, chipping in on No. 1, holing out his approach on No. 3, and finishing with four straight birdies. And he did this while Adam Scott and Jason Day went on birdie runs of their own. This wasn’t one guy choking and another guy getting hot; this was superb golf by a whole lot of players. There was so much back and forth, in fact, that CBS had a hard time keeping up with the action.

Just as soon as Schwartzel would roll one in, they would have to cut quickly to Day or to Scott or Luke Donald, or Geoff Ogilvy or Angel Cabrera or K.J. Choi or Woods hitting a great shot or putt. We literally didn’t know who was going to win until Schwartzel landed his approach shot on 18, and even then the slight possibility of a three-putt loomed. Of course, he laid that to rest by draining it for birdie and the two-stroke win.

This is how I like my golf. Suspense until the end, nobody backed into it, despite third-round leader Rory McIlroy’s complete meltdown. This is great theater. No disrespect to Woods’ accomplishments in 2000, but routs are boring, unless you’re just simply a fan of the guy doing it. Even then, I like a little drama in my sporting events, whether it’s an individual sport or a team sport. This was at good as it gets.