AUGUSTA -- Standing at the entrance to the sturdy old clubhouse at Augusta National was the sturdy figure of Chubby Chandler, who is a sports agent. Not just "a" sports agent, but the guy who is to European golf what the departed Mark McCormick used to be over here.
Chubby (Andrew to his mama) calls the signals on a herd of European Tour's hotshot golfers, and you're safe in saying that he has the tools to operate his own tour.
Ernie Els, Lee Westwood, Louis Oosthuizen, Rory McIlroy, Darren Clarke and a passel of others still on the make. Clients all.
Chubby is a likable cuss, a friendly hand at any introduction, and he stands out in a crowd, on any continent. There is, however, one, weapon missing in his arsenal, one sitting quietly to the side while a bunch of his comrades march to and from the interview sessions at the 75th Masters. That's right, 75.
Actually, it would appear that Luke Donald belongs more to Our Side than to the European. He graduated from Northwestern, has a second home in Detroit, migrates evenly from our country to Europe. It struck me as rather unusual that Donald would not have been included among the pre-Masters interviews this week.
He did win the Accenture World Match Play in Arizona earlier in the year and last year finished second in the Tour Championship, Northern Trust and the Deutsche Bank Championship. All of this amounts to a No. 4 rank among world players, which is nothing to be taken lightly.
Now, there are circumstances. For years it was generally conceded that the only guys who had a chance at winning the Masters were the big bombers. Now, that doesn't mean 300- to 325-yard swingers. A big bomber in those times fell somewhere between 275-290 yards, or thereabout. Tiger Woods came along and stretched that out to 300 yards and more. When he won in 2001, he was the last of the 300-yard champions off the tee.
Then Mike Weir came along, and Trevor Immelman and Zach Johnson, all modest in length off the tee. Johnson, for instance, won in 2007 never once challenging the Pink Dogwood, the Yellow Jasmine, the Azalea or the Firethorn, all par-5s, in two. This, I would say, is Luke Donald's kind of game.
It's not my habit to predict winners of golf tournaments.
It's treacherous territory. Picking Derby winners, you have a fairer chance. You know where the horse spent the night and that he's not having trouble at home. Ye gods, whoever would have picked Graeme McDowell to win the U.S. Open -- and at Pebble Beach?
I'm not suggesting that Luke Donald will win the Masters this week, but I like his kind of game for the Augusta National acreage. His becalmed nature, and not only that, his rank, fourth in the world.
Well, let's give him a shot. Get in line, and imagine how he'd look in a green jacket. Maybe he'll get Chubby Chandler's interest then.
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