Tom Watson wants to fill in the creek in front. The Golden Bear says play safe if the pin is on the right. McIlroy defied the conventional wisdom and won
There’s hot, and then there’s the back nine on Sunday at Augusta when there are five players within two shots of the lead. The TV weathermen reckoned it was 30C but then they weren’t down at Amen Corner when Rory McIlroy was standing on the tee at Augusta National’s 12th hole, that little rinky-dink 155-yard par three, tied for the lead and waiting for the wind to drop long enough that he could get his shot off. Four days ago, they asked Tom Watson what was the one change he’d make to this golf course if he could. Watson didn’t blink. “I’d fill in that creek in front of No 12.”
“Touché” said Gary Player.
“Good move,” added Jack Nicklaus.
“The 12th is the critical hole on the golf course, to be honest with you, and I think everybody here understands that,” Watson said. Player nodded his head. “That hole,” he said, in his own inimitable way, “has crippled more men than polio.” And yes, everyone in the room blinked when he said it. Point is, no matter how big your lead is, you haven’t won the tournament till your tee shot is safely across the water. Just ask Jordan Spieth, who coughed up a five-shot lead when he scored a quadruple bogey there in 2016, and seems to have been playing with a twitch ever since.
