Ah it’s April. March Madness is wrapping up. The sun is staying up later. Birds can be heard chirping again which may or may not be a welcome sound.

April also signifies that golf tournament down in Georgia called The Masters. It is also the Super Bowl of golf. This realization came to me in grade 8. The Monday after the 1996 Masters all my classmates were talking about the final round that year. Of course who could forget Greg Norman’s epic six stroke collapse to eventual champion Nick Faldo.

This is just one of the many great Masters moments. The course and setup lends itself to amazing moments every year. Based on the play of the world’s best golfers, the 2013 edition will not let us down.

Tiger Woods has found his game with three early season wins. A slew of young challengers are ready to take the green jacket away from the odds on favorite Woods.

Now before starting my Internet marketing business, I use to be a Golf Professional. And every Sunday I would sit in front of the TV for 4+ hours waiting for the drama and amazing moments to unfold.

But you don’t have to be a Golf Professional like me to enjoy this event. To get you in the spirit of Masters week, I wanted to share with you five great moments in Masters final round history.

#5
Golf has changed a lot over the years. The technology advancements have made the game easier in many regards.

However it has made curving the golf ball difficult. Players are not able to put as much spin on the ball to curve like they use to.

That’s why I love the way 2012 Master Champion Bubba Watson plays golf.

After all, what’s not to love about a guy who can hit it in the woods and recover like this….

#4
Before Tiger there was Boom Boom better know as Fred Couples. Couples plays the game aggressive. He hits it long, has a great touch around the greens and his carefree attitude is adored by golf fans everywhere.

So when Freddie was in contention to win the 1992 Masters, everyone was pulling hard for him. But all Freddie fans know he has to battle the choke factor.

This was evident when his ball almost fell victim to Rae’s Creek on the famous par 3 12th. The golf gods were shinning down on Freddie this day though. Instead of having his ball roll back in the water like all others, his stayed up on the bank.

This stroke of good fortune was the reason Freddie was able to hit the chip close and escape with a par 3. That was the difference as he won by two strokes.

Take it away Mr. Cheadle…..

#3
In 2010 Phil Mickelson was chasing down his 3rd green jacket. But in between him and the 13th green was a tree and Rae’s Creek.

Many would choose to layup and try to make birdie another way. Not golf’s biggest show man…..

#2
2005 was a year where it looked like Tiger might falter in a final round. He had never been beaten heading into a final round of a major with the lead.

That all might have changed if this didn’t happen….

#1
Professional Golf is a young man’s game. But the game’s greatest wasn’t having any of that in 1986.

At the age of 46 Jack Nicklaus was on the verge of something really, really special. Heading into the final round Jack was 4 shots back but there was a bunch of golfers in front of him. Passing all of them would take a low round and some major collapses.

Well, that’s what happened. As the players in front of him started to see his name rise on the leaderboard, they all crumbled like cookies.

By the time he reached the 17th, he was tied for the lead. Here’s his birdie putt to take sole possession of the lead….

Augusta National is the golf course on the planet. When the best golfers in the world tee it up there, amazing moments are bound to happen.

No matter if you’re a golfer or not, I suggest you at least tune in for the back nine on Sunday. Here’s a list of TV times.

See you on the couch!

Author Bio

Jordan J. Caron is former Golf Professional turned Internet marketing consultant. Every Masters Sunday he can be found on a coach somewhere drinking a few Scotch’s and eating some terribly unhealthy food.

Deadspin recently got a hold of an audio recording of Huntingdon College director of golf Matt Mahanic ripping his team a new one after a poor performance at a tournament in Alabama.

Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for 2007 Huntingdon graduate Mahanic) somebody on the bus was recording the whole thing on their phone.  The fun starts around 1:55 in the clip above.  I’m putting the highlights after the break given the NSFW language, but one thing really stood out to me:

Mahanic makes a big deal out his father asking him at the tournament “why the f*** are you recruiting these kids?”.  Recruiting?  In D-III where they can’t offer athletic scholarships?  Maybe somebody can fill me in, but D-III golf seems about like high school golf as far as I can tell.  If you’re a player on that team, why on earth would you put up with somebody (who only happens to be 5 years older than you) chewing you out like that when you’re not even getting a scholarship out of the deal?

That would be like Bob on the company softball team cursing out the rest of the team after a loss.  You’d tell Bob to go pound sand and put his stapler in jello when you got back to the office.

Read the highlights after the break:

“That is fucking horrendous. Horrendous that nobody can shoot fucking par on that golf course. That is the most fucking embarrassed I’ve ever been in my life, having to walk around that fucking scoreboard and look at those other fucking coaches—Fucking 11 teams beat us this week! Eleven fucking teams! Goddamnit!”

“I gotta fucking go up there and watch that bullshit you four call golf! Like watching fucking paint dry! My dad looked and me and said, ‘Why the fuck are you recruiting these kids?’”

“I’m ready to lose my fucking mind. There is no fucking helping you! …Fucking not a big deal, though. It’s not a big deal. Fucking hunky-dory.”

“We fucking don’t deserve shit. Fucking—we haven’t broke 300 all year. Four fucking chances in nice weather, and we haven’t broken 300 yet. Fuck me.”

“I don’t want to hear a fucking word out of anybody until we get back to Kentucky[?]. Put your fucking headphones on, go to sleep, I don’t give a shit. I had to watch you play golf for the last 54 fucking holes. Please do not let me hear your fucking voice right now.”

Will Ferrell really likes bean burritos and lukewarm iced tea.  He’d also like to play in Scotland but being on the no-fly list has made that rather difficult…

Golf.com

This is pretty cool.  Mercedes decided to see if they could catch a golf ball in the air with an SLS.  Apparently this is now some kind of world record according to Guiness (farthest golf shot caught in a moving car – 275 meters).  The golfer was Jake Shepherd and the driver was former F1 driver, David Coulthard.  Check out the behind the scenes video after the break.

You’ve probably heard of Casey Martin before.  His lawsuit and eventual victory at the Supreme Court gave him the right to use a golf cart in PGA Tour competitions.  It turned out to not make much of a difference as Martin lost his tour card and eventually became the golf coach at Oregon.  He qualified for the Open last week and now will be making his first US Open appearance since 1998 (also at Olympic).

If you’re at all interested in Casey’s story, this is a great video.  Martin is entertaining, engaging, and humble.  Regardless of what you think of the Supreme Court’s ruling in his case, it’s hard not to pull for the guy.