Tiger’s Famous Chip

Haven’t heard about it? You’ll be seeing this chip shot for the rest of your life. Your children and your children’s children will see it as well. And, damn you Chris DiMarco. You could have spared us from the endless replays, those highlight reruns during rain delays, from the golf analyst commentary, with your own chip shot to win the Masters Golf Tournament. Chris DiMarco had a chance on the final hole. His approach shot was short and Tiger Woods was in a right side bunker. Tiger made a poor recovery from the sand, his second bad shot in a row. Chris lined up his chip and struck it nicely. But, he had three grams too much weight on the swing and he was lined up two centimeters to the right of the cup. They say golf is a game of inches. Chris missed by less than that. The ball hit the hole but didn’t go down. If it had, DiMarco a quality player who plays consistently but doesn’t often win, would have been famous for at least a year. Tiger had set up the drama on the par three 16th hole. His approach was long and left him with a very difficult chip. You see the 16th green slopes radically from right to left. The proper shot for the Sunday pin placement is to hit the ball twenty feet above the hole and let it dribble down the slope. Earlier, a young golfer named Trevor Immelman had done just that and watched his tee shot slide down the slippery grade and drop in the hole for an ace. Now Tiger was faced with this shot in reverse. He had to chip the ball up the slope on the correct angle, die it at just the right spot and let gravity bring the ball down the hill. It had been done before. Davis Love had the same shot a few years back and made it. But that one didn’t mean anything. It was a trick shot, really. Kind of like a carom in billiards. What happened was dramatic and spectacular for several reasons. What happened will insure that no Nike executive will need Viagra for several months. Tiger hit his chip. It bounded up the slope of the green and when its uphill energy gave out, the ball stopped, then very slowly began to roll back down the hill. It gathered speed. The CBS television director called for a close up and all the viewer could see was the green, the ball and the cup with a portion of the flag sticking up.
It was clearly a good shot. Tiger’s par was guaranteed. He would remain one shot ahead if DiMarco missed his putt. There was now no chance of Tiger Woods making bogey and allowing Chris DiMarco into the tournament. At this point the gods of golf took over; as did the gods who look after big corporate entities like Nike. The ball began to break towards the hole. My god it was going to go in! No. It was running out of juice. It will hang on lip. An easy tap in. The camera shot becomes tighter. The ball makes what seems to be a final turn. It stops. Part of the ball is actually over the hole. Then, in a twist that Nike couldn’t duplicate if they spent a month trying, the ball, seemingly in slow motion, made one more rotation, revealing the Nike swoosh logo in all its glory and dropped for a birdie and a two shot lead. Tiger was so overcome he bogeyed the next two holes to allow DiMarco to tie him and force a sudden death playoff. Tiger regrouped and birdied the first playoff hole to win his fourth Masters. The gods of golf and Nike had spoken. This was a day for super heroes. Chris will have to wait. And we will have to watch Tiger’s chip for eternity.

Comments

[Kirsten]

I just like your new picture!