Apr6 Masters day tworoundup
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I walked most of David Howell’s round with his father, Ray, who runs an antique shop in Swindon, a lovely man who is walking much better after a skin-graft operation. There is a big team over watching Howell apparently. “The oldies are in one house,” says Ray, “and David is in the other with the young ones. He likes it that way and he is playing a lot of table tennis at nights, to help him stay relaxed.” Table tennis or not, the Englishman got off to a nightmare start, making a double-bogey at the 1st (when he left one in the greenside bunker) and then compounding it with another bogey at the par-5 2nd, when he hooked his drive left into the trees. A penalty drop followed and the wheels looked very wobbly indeed. To his credit, however, the Englishman made extraordinary pars at both the par-3 4th (where he played an unbelievable chip after pulling his tee shot way left) and again at the par-3 6th (holing a 20 footer). And that’s the difference between the Howell of 2007; and the less experienced version four years ago. When the wheels begin to come off, he doesn’t panic now. Birdies followed at the par-5 8th and the 10th, and with that he was right back in the hunt. At the end of a long, difficult day, I can report that team Howell are pretty content to be three shots off the lead at the halfway stage.
Craig Stadler, the winner of a Green Jacket 25 years ago, is enjoying a remarkable week. One of the fastest players in the game, Stadler is now 53, and even though he hasn’t won for four years and had no form coming into this event, the magic of the azaleas and dogwoods seem to have brought the best out of him. After a 2-over par 74 yesterday, he went out in level par today, despite chunking a chip at the 4th. It’s Stadler’s brilliant short game which has kept him in the mix and a back nine 37 got him to three over par for the tournament, only five shots off the lead.
Rory Sabbatini, the South African with a fiery temper, who shot a 1-over-par 73 yesterday, looked to have lost his cool first thing this morning. After missing a short putt for a double-bogey at the 1st, he hurled his putter at his caddie, Kevin Fasbender. Fasbender knows to expect the unexpected with his man, however, and made light of it. Sabbatini finished with a 76, to be five over par.
Tiger Woods was hitting it all over the shop early in his round, both off the tee and with his approach shots. Early bogeys on the 1st, 4th and 7th meant he was losing momentum; but then the world number one played one of the most amazing shots I have ever seen. From the trees on the right of the par-5 8th, he cut the ball fully 70 yards and managed to find the front edge of the green, which inevitably resulted in a birdie. That shot alone was worth the journey across the pond. That is why he is so great to watch. As we all know, Woods is a battler, and played the final six holes in two under par. With nine holes to play it looked as though he might miss only his second ever cut in a major (the first was at last year’s US Open, shortly after his father had died). However, when he holed out on 18, he was right back in the hunt, only five shots behind Wetterich.
And talking of Tiger, we’ve all seen him back off a shot halfway through the backswing – but never with a driver! On the 13th, birds flying over his head distracted him. He was literally inches from hitting ball, when he veered the clubface sharply left. Woods said: “”I felt like I broke my back, my wrist, my neck, legs. I don’t know how those baseball players do it, that check-swing. “I felt like the shaft was going to snap because the head passed forward.” Playing partner Paul Casey added: “Of all the things I’ve seen him do, it was unbelievable. He was fully loaded on the way down and managed to stop himself which was pretty impressive. I don’t know how he didn’t break something.”