Absolutely 'AMY'~zing!

Did you by any chance happen to catch the final round of the 2010 Masters Tournament on Sunday? If not, you really missed something special. Similar to the Superbowl, where lots of non footballers around the world tune in on that Super Sunday, I'd have to imagine that there are plenty of non golfers that tune in to watch The Masters each year as well.

Largely considered the Holy Grail of golf, Augusta National Golf Club is known worldwide as one of, if not THE most beautiful golf course in the world. Every square inch of its glorious greenness manicured to perfection. It's as if they individually trim every single blade of grass to its appropriate height and then comb them all to ensure they are facing the correct direction.

Mere words can't begin to do justice to the magnificence that is the Augusta National Golf Club. Both Bobby Jones and Clive Roberts created a masterpiece that all other Golf Clubs can only hope to aspire to. The drive down Magnolia Lane, en route to the nearly 100 year old Clubhouse (resembling a Southern Mansion) brings goose bumps to even the biggest names in golf.

Steeped in history, the list of names that have traveled this road and won this Tournament are no doubt the Who's Who of golf. Jones, Sarazen, Snead, Demaret, Hogan, Player, Palmer, Nicklaus, the list goes on. To win here is to place yourself among golfs finest. Truly an honor.

If you play golf, no doubt you've fantasized about making that drive, exploring the Clubhouse, visiting Butler Cabin (where each year the Green Jacket is presented to the winner) and if all goes well, a quick trip up to the Crows Nest where Bobby Jones himself contemplated his golf swing.

Only St. Andrews in Scotland, known as "The Home Of Golf", having held The Open since the early 1800's can be considered in the same class but as far as this side of the pond goes, none can hold a candle to the Augusta National Golf Club.

Unfortunately, this year CBS tried their best to mess things up but luckily for us viewers, they were unable to succeed. Doing all they could to transform the Masters Tournament into the "Tiger Show", touting his comeback to competitive golf as the most important thing to happen in the golf world since Jack Nicklaus first picked up a shortened golf club made for him by his father, Tiger more or less became a non factor about the time he reached Amen Corner.

While I'll admit Tiger did play well considering this was his first time playing after his five month layoff, they continually attempted to give the impression that he was the only golfer with a chance to win and it would be up to him to make the mistake that would cost him the Green Jacket. Definitely not fair to the forty some other World Class golfers on the course, all playing their hearts out for a Green Jacket.

The roller coaster ride that is Sunday at The Masters was never a disappointment. Didn't matter who you were rooting for, birdies, bogeys, even a few eagles were seen flyin' around those hallowed grounds. At times the roars were deafening, becoming a distraction to quite a few of the players as the course is designed with the tee boxes rather close to the greens. Many a player was forced to back away from their ball, choosing to wait for the galleries reactions to other golfers shots before proceeding ahead to their own.

Luckily for me, my faves continued to produce one thrill packed shot after another. I had narrowed my choice of winners down to two, either of which deserved to win it after their remarkable displays of shot making skill throughout the week.

Since I first discovered this wonderfully cruel game known as golf way back in the mid 1980's, Fred Couples has been a fixture at the top of countless Leaderboards. With his sweet as molasses swing, a tempo that could put a baby to sleep and a demeanor for all to envy, "Boom Booms" fan base is truly global.

To this day I can still remember the first time I asked him for an autograph. It was sometime during the late 1980's, on one of my first visits to La Costa Country Club for the Tournament of Champions that I had my first up close and personal interaction with one of my Idols.

Freddie was making his way to the practice putting green and summoning up all my courage, I interrupted him long enough to ask him to autograph my visor. All the while smiling, he made it seem as if he had nothing better to do, like I wasn't bothering him at all. A very pleasant experience to say the least.

Contrast that with an interaction I had with Greg Norman around this same time. While walking from the practice tee to the putting green, I asked "The Shark" for an autograph to which he politely declined. His response to me was that since it was drizzling a bit, he wouldn't sign autographs. I even offered to hold his umbrella for him while he signed my visor (that's how star struck I was) but again, he replied with a resounding NO!

Hard to believe that both of these episodes, along with quite a few others (like the day Arnold Palmer smiled at me, making me feel like I was the only fan in the Gallery) have continued to stick in my mind over the last twenty or so years but that's how much I idolized these guys back then. In my mind they had succeeded in conquering a game that I honestly felt could never be conquered and I held great respect and admiration towards them. I still do to this day.

And while I still have great respect for Greg, I must admit that my interaction with Freddie that day truly taught me much more about Fred, the person than it did about Fred, the golfer. Freddie is the epitome of a true gentleman and someone I could only hope to emulate.

So, to see him in contention all week, especially since he's been battling career ending back problems over the last few years was most definitely a wonderful experience.

And of course there's Phil, Tigers closest rival. Both of them have consistently been #1 and #2 in the World at any given time throughout the last decade or more. Battling each other since the Junior Golf days, they've been trying to top each other for quite some time.

Phil, having grown up in San Diego, has been a well known fixture in the local golf community since he was very young. From Junior Golf to the Pro Tour, his name has definitely become synonymous with golf in San Diego. From the little Par 3 Course at Presidio Hills to the long ocean swept fairways of Torrey Pines, everybody's heard of Phil.

Back in the mid 1980's, my friends and I would try to cure our golf fever by getting in a few holes here and there, whenever possible. Rarely having lots of spare time, let alone any spare cash, I'm not ashamed to admit that we had found a few secret spots scattered around town. Hidden jewels that, given the right time of the day (usually weekdays after work), would afford us an opportunity to 'sneak on' and play a few holes.

Always looking for the perfect gap in the groups while continually keeping our eyes peeled for the dreaded Marshall's Cart, blending in was as much an art as it was a science.

One such day stands out as being just a bit more special than some of the others. Balboa Golf Course, a City owned municipal course right in the middle of town, is set up in such a way to where the front nine sends you out to the furthest edge of the property and then back towards the Clubhouse as you round the turn, right around the eighth or ninth hole.

As we made our way down the trail to hide out among the trees at the back of the Tee Box on No. 4, things were looking good as far as an opening was concerned. The groups were beginning to thin out because by this time in the afternoon, it was impossible to get in eighteen holes, let alone nine which meant that they'd be stranded way out on the far end of the course just about the time it got dark. This lead to a long, cold drive back to the Clubhouse in the dark, something not many were up for.

It was around this time that the Starter would let the High School Team tee off on the 1st hole and walk as many holes as they could get in. Seemed as if they were allowed to practice pretty much every afternoon, Monday thru Friday. At least during the school year. There were about three or four foursomes of them so no problem letting them go by. Heck, they certainly had more right to be there than we did, that's for sure. HA!

Not that my buddies and I were any good but we always played the Blue Tees. We wanted to experience all the course had to offer, definitely wanted to get our moneys worth. The High School Team also played from the Blues. No surprise there, they wanted their moneys worth as well.

So as we sat on the bench, waiting for our opening to materialize, the last of the High School groups walk up to the tee box and we give them the signal to go ahead and play through. Not sure who was more nervous, them or us. They didn't want to look like hacks when they tee'd off, figuring we MUST know how to play if we're on the blue tees and we didn't want to get busted for sneakin' on. Oh, the anxiety of it all!

Keeping in mind that these kids were about ten years younger than we were, we weren't too worried about them schoolin' us. As I mentioned, we could hit it OK back then so no worries. At least not until this tall, lanky kid walked up to the tee. My only thought was C'mon, hurry up and hit it before another group comes up and we lose our turn.

Then, it gets even weirder. This kid ended up standing on the wrong side of the ball. Yep, a Lefty. Up to this point I don't think any of us had actually seen a left handed set of golf clubs, let alone a real, live golfer that could actually use them. Like a goofy footed surfer, the whole thing just seemed so wrong.

Yet, right in front of us stood this kid and I'll be the first to admit that I kinda felt sorry for him. I mean, golf is hard enough from the right side of the ball but it's gotta be nearly impossible to play from the wrong side. How was he ever going to enjoy this brutal game swinging left handed, let alone be any good? Then he swung....and EVERYTHING changed!

Hole No. 4 is a rather long (seemed like it at the time anyway), narrowish par four and to be honest, up to that point I'd never seen a tee shot hit that far on that hole. EVER! It started out low, rising slightly as it rocketed forward until it fell to the grass, landing soft as a feather. SWEET!

My buddies and I looked at each other, none of us saying a word. As they left the tee, we all mumbled under our breath in unison, "Holy Crap, did you see that?" Which of course we had. I mean, how could you miss it? You don't see shots like that everyday. Especially not at Balboa and for sure not from some high school kid standing on the wrong side of the ball. Yet, there it was. Well, actually it was so far out there we could hardly see it but we still knew it was out there somewhere.

Yep, you guessed it. That was the first time I'd ever seen Phil Mickelson hit a golf ball and it no doubt left some kind of an impression on me. So much so that it seems as if it was yesterday. None of us said another word until they were far enough in front of us so as not to hear us. Heck, we were pretty much speechless at that point.

We proceeded to tee off, knowing full well that we had just been put in our place. Schooled by a high schooler and I gotta admit, it didn't feel good. We obviously had a lot to learn about the game of golf. With our tails tucked neatly between our legs, we forged ahead with a new respect for the Pros out there actually making a living playing this game.

I've watched Phil play at a few different tournaments since then, Torrey Pines, La Costa, even Riviera and he never ceases to impress. He's a true gentleman, both on and off the course.

So to see him take control of his game and control of The Masters Tournament last Sunday was truly a thing of beauty. Nobody handed the Green Jacket to him, he took it! He EARNED IT! He played the best he's played in quite some time and nobody deserved to win it more than he did.

Add to it everything that he and his beautiful wife Amy, his Mother Mary, his entire family has had to endure over this past year and in my book there couldn't be a more deserving champion. Congratulations Phil, Absolutely 'AMY'zing!

If you can relate to the game of golf, the mental toughness required and the drive to chase your burning desires and to never give up, despite the odds not being in your favor, I'd enjoy hearing your thoughts in the comment box below. If you know of anyone that might enjoy this post I'd appreciate it if you'd share it with them. Thank you.

(This post was originally written on April 12, 2010 but in the interest of keeping my Blog more uniform, I have recently been updating all of my posts to reflect the new format. While the layout itself has changed, the text itself remains for the most part unchanged.)