Does the Masters have a "lie to win"?
As the first Grand Slam of the year, he is the leader of the four major competitions with the green jacket, the supreme symbol of honor. The intensity of the Masters, as well as the super difficulty of Augusta, has made countless heroes in history bend their backs... Moving out the word "lying to win" seems a bit offensive.
However, the Masters do have a precedent of "lying down to win" with overwhelming victories.
Woods scored a 12-stroke win in 1997
The most famous example is in 1997, when the new professional Tiger Woods entered the no-man's land at Augusta, and after three rounds, he established a nine-stroke lead, and finally won a 12-stroke victory, setting a record for a masters sweep that no one has yet matched.
There is also Jordan Spieth in 2015, from the first day, Peter Pan established a 3-stroke advantage, and then for the next three days, he kept the distance from the second place between 5, 4 and 4 in each round, and finally "the light boat has passed the mountain" and easily harvested the first green jacket in his life.
However, in the long history of the American Masters, these are only enough to be passed on, but they are extremely small probability of "orphan cases". Who dares to claim to be "conquering" Augusta, the most numerous Grand Slam course in golf history, will in turn show their fangs and bite you to death, making you forever on the list of shame of the four major tournaments that have been overturned...
The world's number one at the crossroads
Norman became Augusta's biggest crash man
6-stroke lead to the crown? You go to see Greg Norman in 1996, the first round of the best 63 in history, 54 holes to shake off the second place Nick Faldo 6, everyone thought that the Australian "Great White Sharks" was about to lie down to win on Sunday - did not expect the opening 5 bogeys, and the 12th hole kick-off, so that he was already overtaken when he walked out of Amen Point! In the end, the +6 78 shot, so that Norman had to watch the loss of Faldo 5, became the most tragic counterattack record in the history of the Grand Slam "victim".
5-stroke lead? For Ed Sneed in 1979, it was a permanent pain. The three-round 6 gave him his first chance to hit a Grand Slam title with a 5-stroke advantage, and although the inexperienced American suffered twists and turns on the final day, Snyder was still 3 strokes ahead until the final 3 holes. However, in Augusta's last 3 holes, he swallowed 3 bogeys! He was dragged into a 3-man plus-hole match and ended up losing to Foz Zorer and finishing second.
In 2011, Wheat hit that strange house and burst out of 80
4-stroke lead? Well, we have to mention Rory McIlroy. In 2011, at the age of 21, he took the 4-stroke advantage and looked like he was about to become the second youngest champion in the history of the Masters, but with the 10th hole kicking off the tree, deflected in front of a white house that Augusta had never hit before, swallowed three bogeys, and four double bogeys on the 12th hole, he finally only let him hand over 80! In the end, I actually lost 10 strokes, regrettably missing the first time in my life , and the best chance to win a green jacket so far. So far, the Masters is still the only piece of the puzzle missing from McIlroy's "Grand Slam", and this year has fallen behind by 10 strokes, which means that he is 32 years old, and he will have to wait at least another year...
And what about the current leader, Scotty Schoffler? It seems to be at a crossroads of history and the future. He led alone by a 3-stroke advantage, becoming the 29th in Masters history, with a three-round lead of 3 or more. But as we've listed before, that's not enough to guarantee the green jacket — in fact, of the 28 people before Schoffler, only 19 won the final championship, with a success rate of less than 68%.
World No. 1 Schoffler led the three-stroke charge
And if you accurate the 54-hole lead to the number of "3 strokes", there are 12 people before Schoffler. Among them, 7 won the championship, and the winning percentage further dropped to 58.3%. The good news is that the last 3 "3-stroke leaders"—Patrick Rhett (2018), Vijay Singer (2000), and Craig Stadler (1982)—have all turned their advantages into victories. In other words, the last stormtrooper to screw up a 3-stroke advantage dates back to Hubert Green in 1978...
There is also a historical statistic that seems to be a "positive" for Schoffler – he made the Masters for the sixth time in the history of the Masters, ushering in the "world number one" lead to the championship - before him, in addition to the Norman crash in 1996, Ian Woosnan (19912001/2002), Tiger Woods (2001/2002), Dustin Johnson (2020) all defended the glory of the ball king with the Green Jacket championship (83% win rate).
Schoffler consulted Spieth
Schoffler won three PGA Tour games in 42 days
The previous 5 races won 3 PGA Tour championships, making Schoffler soar to the sky, and before the game, it became a favorite to win the championship with a hot hand to block the Killing Buddha. However, it is interesting that the previous 3 times the PGA Tour won the championship, except for the special format of the hole race, he was never the leader of the three rounds, and he was the last to win the counterattack! Before this Masters, Schoffler had twice reached the PGA Tour final round as the leader, and whether it was the 2021 Houston Open or the 2020 American Express, he missed the good game, ranking second and third respectively...
On the move day in the early hours of this morning, Schaufler extended his lead to as many as 6 strokes, but from the 12th hole he swallowed three bogeys in four holes. So, on Saturday's cloudy, windy afternoon, for two hours, Schoffler was challenged to keep his lead.
Schaufler's last hole was looking for the ball in the bushes
On the final hole, Schaufler's kick-off deflected into the bushes, but he cleverly used the rules to minimize his losses to a mere bogey after a more comfortable "drop point" free throw, ensuring he ended with the only three-round red letter (69-67-71) in the game, giving him the historic opportunity to compete for the title by a 3-stroke advantage.
"On such a difficult and windy day, it is already very good to be able to play a negative shot. I am very happy to be able to play a performance that satisfies me! The 25-year-old Schoffler said after the game, "I asked Spieth for some Augusta's course strategy, and overall I benefited a lot, and if I can finally win the championship tomorrow, it will be the best result!" ”
Schoffler practiced in the dark under the lights
After the game, Schoffler did not leave the Augusta National Golf Club, but came to the practice range, practiced until around 8 p.m. in the dark, becoming the last player in the game to finish practicing - the winner of the Grand Slam who did so twice the last time, one was Li Haotong at the 2020 PGA Championship, and the other was Bryson De Chambo of the same year's US Open, the former regretting to fold, the latter winning the championship.
People who came over said: Leading is a kind of suffering
Being able to take a big lead in a Grand Slam is a beautiful thing that cannot be sought. However, it can also become a big burden. Golf must fight with the sky and the earth, but also a battle with one's own heart. For the leader, it is often a torment to play a good number of strokes while at the same time fighting the feeling of uneasiness.
Those former champions who are "passers-by" feel this way.
Garcia, who has crashed several times, was disgraced before the 2017 Masters
"If Schoffler can play his performance in the last year, the Masters title is in his pocket. There is no doubt about that. Sergio Garcia, who won the Augusta championship in 2017, said, but his second half of the sentence also revealed the meaning of caution, "But this is never easy, because this is his first time to lead the Grand Slam championship, and it is at Augusta' stadium, everything is possible on the final day, I hope he can be ready." ”
Vijay Singer, who won the Masters in 2000, kept the 3-stroke lead until the end of the game. But the Fijian veteran admits that it is much harder to lead the championship than everyone thinks: "In my own experience, it is not so much that you want to win, but that you are afraid of losing." If someone catches up, you start to get a little nervous..."
Schoffler is about to face the most important battle of his career
"Probably the most stressful nights of my life, and the most intense 18 holes, were when I was ahead of the curve." Justin Thomas said, "No matter how many strokes you lead, you'll hear someone say that no one has ever messed up on the PGA Tour with how many strokes to lead." So, it's really hard. ”
Webb Simpson took a 7-stroke lead after three rounds of the 2018 Players' Championship, and in the final round he fended off the onslaught of many pursuers and finally held on to a 4-stroke victory: "You have to keep your head up at all times. For example, if I only lead two shots, then I will be more aggressive and try to keep catching birds. But if you're already 6 or 7 strokes ahead, be conservative. ”
Schaufler with caddie Scott
Simpson continued: "The good thing about Schoffler is that he has a good caddie (Ted Scott, who helped Baba Watson win the Green Jacket twice). It's a big good thing for him to keep his mindset up, plus he's been in great shape lately. This time, it's hard not to bet on him. ”
In the last two Masters tournaments, Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama have both locked in the green jacket with a 4-stroke lead in hand. However, even though DJ won by 5 in 2020, he later revealed to reporters that his body felt unprecedented "nervousness and discomfort" as he tried to seal the win on the final few holes.
No one can tell Schoffler how to get the title on Sunday. Yes, he's been invincible lately, but as Garcia says, in Augusta, everything is different. Just like in 2016, Spieth was only 8 holes away from defending his title, walking into Amen Point with a 4-stroke lead, only to be disillusioned to be 1 shot behind after just two holes... The rapid change of the final round has put the so-called "par advantage" in a precarious state at any time – this year, it is Scotty Schoffler's turn to meet such an ultimate challenge.
Opportunities, and pressures, are there.
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