A further truth is, Augusta National was playing like an 18-hole Ouija board this week, and as the third round began Saturday, the Masters was being handled smartly by a bunch of kids from all parts of the world, with some of the elders comfortably mixed in. Remembering Tiger Woods here, but more on Tiger later.
We ponder here to deal with Luke Donald, an educated artist and gentleman who came from England to study at Northwestern University.
Rarely ever do I attempt to pick the winner of a golf tournament, and why I did this time, I'm not sure. I've watched Luke play with admiration.
Picture-book swing, great finish at the top. Solid, sound game in every respect, and smart bunker play. It's a game that should feel right at home on Augusta National, I felt. So, I violated common sense and took the fling.
Then, later in the day news arrived that Luke Donald had won the Par-3 tournament that precedes the Masters. Nice going, you'd say, except that no player has ever won the Par-3 tournament, then gone on and won the Masters. Never. To win the Par-3 was a guarantee you'd never win the Masters. Oh, well, I was already committed, so that was that.
Well, Luke made it around safely Saturday. The "jinx" hadn't stricken his game, and he was only five strokes off the lead when the day ended. So, Sunday, Luke has a chance to dilute this jinx of the Masters.
His game is sharp, his bunker sharpness has bode him well, and I face the final 18 with no apology for my suggestion that this might be Luke Donald's Masters.
There was, of course, the somewhat re-emergence of Tiger Woods -- on this course which has been like a bottle to a baby for him over the years. If there was to be a return to form for Tiger, this would be the most likely location.
There is a publication that proclaims to have conducted the first print interview with him since the dissolution of his marriage. "Live" is the name, a magazine publication of the Daily Mail in England, and we shall reserve more on that until the final scores are posted Sunday.
Depending, of course.
Retired sports columnist Furman Bisher writes occasionally for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This is his 67th year covering the Masters.
