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Friday, April 7, 2006
Els carries baggage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Jeff Schultz
Augusta — Two years ago, Phil Mickelson dropped an 18-foot putt at the 18th hole in Augusta and became airborne, thereby ensuring two athletic feats most presumed forever comatose: a majors win and any semblance of elevation.
After the leap, it’s believed he landed on Ernie Els.
Els was on the putting green and seemingly headed for a playoff in 2004 when Mickelson de-collared himself. In 12 previous Masters, Els has finished second twice and in the top 10 six times.
A man has only so much room on the shelf for participation trophies.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen with Ernie this weekend because I don’t know if he’s thinking about the past or not,” said Andrew “Chubby” Chandler, Els’ agent. “But I wouldn’t be surprised if he hasn’t given it a thought. He might just feel proud about his career as he looks back.”
Albeit, a career with a hole. Els hardly is the only guy missing a green jacket, and he has won three majors. It just seems like while things break right at the U.S. Open (two wins), things break down in Augusta.
He started Friday’s second round 1-under, and birdied three of the first eight holes. But on the par-4 10th hole, traditionally one of the toughest at Augusta, Els pulled his tee shot, bounced it off a tree, and finished with a double-bogey.
He shot a 71 for the second day in a row. At 2-under, he is within striking range of the lead. Again.
“I’ve got a chance, you know?” Els said, smiling.
“I haven’t quite been in the lead here, yet, through two rounds but I think I’m going to be in pretty good shape. I’ve got to try and sneak something into the 60s over the weekend and see what happens. At least I know I won’t have to try and shoot 65 to win [given the difficulty of the course and generally high scores].”
Els joked earlier in the week that he had “no problem with the No. 13,” a reference to this being his 13th Masters. “I’ve done almost everything but win. I’ve been close. You just keep going.”
But there are other issues. He won three PGA tournaments and finished second among the money leaders in 2004. But he hasn’t won a Tour event in 18 months. He played in only 11 last year, the result of a torn left ACL while on vacation with his family in the Mediterranean. A week after the British Open, Els was in an inner tube being pulled by a boat when his “freakish” injury occurred.
Something about risk-taking during the golf-season also hit home.
“We all have things we do off the course, and what happened to me was just kind of freakish,” he said. “But you think about that after it happened. You feel like a bit of a [fool]. You shouldn’t have done it. … Obviously I’ll probably think about it more before I do things like that during the golfing season.”
He says the knee is fine. But he’s also popping anti-inflammatory pills this week as a precaution, particularly given the walks at hilly Augusta National. A seventh-place finish at Doral and an eighth at the TPC two weeks ago gave him reason to believe he could compete at the Masters.
“I think he had a bit of anxiety before [about the injury],” Chandler said. “But you can’t expect to come back to where you were right away. He enjoyed the fact he had five months off with his family [after the surgery].
“It’s almost like part one of his career has finished and part two has started. It’ll be interesting to see what happens.”
Els was in the same grouping with Mickelson in the first two rounds. Both are at 2-under, meaning they could be paired again Sunday. If Mickelson wins again, Els might want to take a step back.
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Good goodbye for Coody
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Augusta — Last year it was Jack Nicklaus (65) playing it out on the ninth green, the world breathlessly awaiting the benediction to his career in the Masters. The year before, it had been Arnold Palmer (74), shooting 84-84 and out, a farewell with tears.
Now, it was Charles Coody, modest — “I’m no hall of fame player,” sly humor, good nature, just a good ol’ Texas country boy. He would be playing his 112th and last round on these hallowed grounds. He’d played a round to forget on Thursday, an 89, bottom of the leaderboard, so he wouldn’t be attracting a crushing crowd, wanting his round hole-by-hole. Good ol’ Charlie, a few quiet moments together, a slap on the back, and see ya.
Then the scores came up on the big leaderboard at the 18th hole. “Leaders Thru 17: Purdy 4, Jobe 4, Coody 19,” all numbers in green, meaning over par.
Wait a minute! Coody plus-19? Wasn’t he plus-17 the day before, and wouldn’t that mean he had a round of 74 going? Sure enough, the 68-year-old was leading the two young guys from the PGA Tour by two strokes. Just to make sure, he looked at his final putt a long time from several angles, then carefully rolled it in, downhill from 15 feet. He’d finished with 74, two strokes over Ted Purdy and Brandt Jobe, not to mention better than both Palmer’s and Nicklaus’ last rounds.
“I was 1-under par through 15, and I was thinking even par, but I made a couple of bad swings,” he said. “I still left a few out there.”
He came out of the scorer’s cabin, and instead of having a nice little head-to-head, Charles Coody of Abilene was swarmed. They were there from England, Ireland, Canada, not to mention West Palm Beach and Dallas. They leaned heavily against the restraining rope, their tape recorders extended like hungry little birds waiting to be fed. Suddenly, everybody wanted a piece of him. They had satisfied their urge temporarily, talking first with the son and caddie, Kyle, who was feeling pretty good about his old man.
“He played great,” Kyle said. “It was a great day for both of us,” and all the Coodys.
Charlie had been at this a long time, and golf has always been a business for him, with an occasional injection of glory. Like the year he won the Masters and earned his right to Green Jacket status. That would have been 1971, when he birdied the 15th and 16th holes and beat Nicklaus and Johnny Miller, “two yellow-haired kids,” by two strokes. The purse was $25,000. For the last 36 holes, he gets $5,000, the going rate for champions indulging in their last run to glory.
But golf, the business. “The first tournament I played, I finished 16th and won $640. I thought I’d struck gold. I’d just been married, and to pay bills, I’d borrowed $500 from my mother. My wife had borrowed $700 from her mother, so we were $1,200 in debt before we even cut the cake.”
So this would be the end of the line. “It’s definite. It’s time to go,” he said. “It’s good to finish with a good round, but I’d already made up my mind last Sunday. If I kept playing, 160 would have been a good score. It’s beyond my length now. There are about eight par 5s out there for me. My handicap here would be about 7 or 8.”
Back home in Abilene, he has his own course, the Diamondback Golf Club. “There, I’d probably be scratch.”
It’s over for him in the Masters, by his own choice, though he’ll probably be back to play in the Par-3 Contest and a few rounds with Kyle. He’ll always have the closing to dwell on when he wants to lie back and mellow out. The crowd around the semicircle 18th green had seemed to be rather small. Then Charles Coody sank that last putt, and suddenly the sound cascaded into a roar, something to be sealed away in memory. The 74.
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