Best-ever Augusta round gives Cink boost
Stewart Cink closed out Sunday with a 68, his best round of the 58 he’s played at the Masters. He finished 1 over (289), tied for his third-lowest score.
While good, it wasn’t quite good enough.
Cink is in the final year of the five-year Masters exemption that he received for winning the British Open in 2009. Among the ways that he could qualify for next year’s Masters is by finishing among the top 12 this year. He tied for 14th.
Cink has said many times this week that if he didn’t win or finish in the top 12, he would be content to qualify one of the other ways, like winning a PGA Tour event or finishing in the Top 50 of the World Rankings.
Fellow former Georgia Tech standout Larry Mize, who received a lifetime exemption for winning the 1987 tournament, struggled. He matched the 7-over 79 he shot on Saturday with another one on Sunday to finish 16 over. Mize, 55, hadn’t made the cut in the past four Masters.
“Felt good to play the weekend, obviously,” he said. “It wasn’t the weekend I wanted, but I just struggled. As good as I putted on the first two days, especially Friday, that’s as bad as I’ve putted on the weekend.”
After needing 28 putts on Thursday and 23 on Friday, he needed 30 on Saturday and 31 on Sunday.
Fellow Dogs want to be like Bubba
Professional golf is the ultimate individual pursuit. So while other University of Georgia alums playing in the Masters along with Bubba Watson were certainly happy for him, they were more concerned about replacing him than they were celebrating him.
“Hopefully I can be competing with him in the rest of the majors this year,” said Russell Henley, class of 2011. “Hopefully I can get in the rest of the majors.”
Henley and Chris Kirk (class of 2007) both made the cut. But neither would play themselves into the championship mix.
Kirk, playing in his first Masters, played solidly through the weekend, his 71-72 leaving him in a tie for 20th. Henley, playing in his second, came into the third round just six shots off the lead but shot back-to-back 75s to fall to 31st.
The top 12 players plus ties get automatic invites into next year’s Masters.
“I feel like I could have played so much better,” said Kirk, who bogeyed No. 18 for the fourth consecutive day. “That’s what makes me feel very hopeful for my future in this tournament. I played some pretty solid golf and made a few putts here and there. I still feel very optimistic because I think I can play so much better.”
Henley was feeling the same way.
“One or two things every day,” he said. “I feel like my game is getting closer and closer. I finished T-7 last week with a 66 on Sunday. I made the cut at the Masters for the first time. I’m doing a lot of really good things and I’m close to playing some excellent golf.”
A low round early on final day
So what exactly is a Joost Luiten?
Joost — pronounced Yost, as in toast — is actually a common Dutch name. Depending on whom one believes, it comes from a 7th century Breton saint or a 16th century Netherlander artist. In America it is commonly mispronounced like roost, to which he’ll answer without complaint. Depending on where you are in the world, you may hear his last name pronounced “LOOT-en” or “LOUT-en.”
By any pronunciation, Luiten’s name is one worth remembering. The 28-year-old from the Netherlands not only made the cut in his first Masters but also put together one of the best rounds in Sunday’s final round. Starting in the day’s second group, Luiten put an early 67 on the board to which the leaders could aspire.
“It feels really good to shoot 67 on Sunday at the Masters,” Luiten said. “I mean, that’s great for me. It’s always good to shoot 67, but here at the Masters on Sunday, on the final day, feels really good. I look at my tournament, I’m very happy.”
Luiten is a Johnny-come-lately in world golf. He made his way into the Masters field via his No. 45 world ranking, which was based primarily on his play on the European Tour, which he has played regularly only since 2011. He has three career wins, all in Europe, and has played in only nine PGA Tour events.
But his star is rising and he’ll leave Augusta as an infinitely more confident player.
“You learn so much playing in these events, playing tough courses like this, putting yourself in the positions that you need to be in,” Luiten said. “And you take that to the next tournament that you play in and those tournaments will feel easy compared to this.”
Another Aussie first at Augusta
Oliver Goss, the only player among the six amateurs in the field to make the cut, shot a 75 in the fourth round and finished 10 over.
He became the first Australian to receive the Silver Cup given to the amateur with the best score.
“I can’t believe it, to be honest with you,” he said.
Goss, a sophomore at Tennessee, qualified for the Masters as the runner-up to Matthew Fitzpatrick in the U.S. Amateur. Goss said he will play at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst and then decide if he will turn professional.
“If it’s the right time, then it’s the right time,” he said. “But if it isn’t, then that’s fine, too. I’m just looking to turn at the right time because that’s really pivotal when you turn professional in your career.”
Over-50 set plays in mix
After the trials and tribulations they incurred at Augusta National last week, TPC at Sugarloaf is going to feel like a local muni this week for Fred Couples, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Berhard Langer.
All three over-50 players not only made the cut at the Masters but were in the championship mix. And all three will be in Duluth this week for the Champions Tour’s Greater Gwinnett Championship.
Leading the pack was the 50-year-old Jimenez. The cigar-smoking Spaniard rallied on the back nine on Sunday to shoot 71 and finish fourth. It was the best Masters finish by an over-50 player since Sam Snead was third in 1963.
“The people, they take care of themselves,” said Jimenez, who draws chuckles for his unusual stretching routine before each round. “They are being more healthy. If you don’t want to be here at 50, you shouldn’t be here. I love the game, I love competing and probably that is the reason (for his finish).”
Langer was not known a long hitter even in his younger days. But he managed to get around Augusta’s 7,500-yard layout in 69, one of Sunday’s best rounds. He finished tied for eighth.
Couples, who faces down Langer regularly on the Champions Tour, was not surprised.
“The Champions Tour is tough,” he said. “When you’re winning all the time, you stay on your feet and you feel like you’re doing well. Then when you come over here, it would be like winning the lottery for he or I to win this thing, but you never know. If I would have had his round today, I would be sitting here maybe at 4 under and I probably wouldn’t be worried about winning, but it would be a lot better than whatever the heck I shot.”
Couples’ streak of consistency remained intact. The 54-year-old former Masters champion (1992) shot 75 on Sunday to fall from 11th to 20th. But that marked his fifth consecutive Top 20 or better finish since turning 50.
