2009 Masters Recap

While the names of Tiger and Lefty echoed through the greens and fairways at Augusta National this weekend, it was neither of these names that would be making a sound come the end of the 2009 Masters Golf Tournament. Rather this event belonged to three relatively unknown PGA tour members. Angel Cabrera, Kenny Perry, and Chad Campbell were able to outlast Tiger and Phil Michelson and were all tied for the lead at the end of 72 holes at 12 under par. For only third time in Masters history and seventh time in a major event had the championship come down to a three way tie break. After one playoff hole Argentinian born Angel Cabrera came out victorious when he scored a birdie on 18 will both other players got par.

While I was happy to see Angel Cabrera win his second ever green jacket, I was very much rooting for Kenny Perry to win. The man is turning 50 years old at the end of the month and is running out of time to win a major tournament which has eluded him for the past 30 years. Realistically this was probably his last chance to win a Masters especially since he will most likely join the senior tour in just a few months. Kenny Perry is one of the most down to earth people in sports. He has three daughters and still lives in the same Virginian town that he was born in. The population in this town is roughly 7000 and Kenny Perry has devoted much of his winning to building and maintaing a public town golf club. A man like this deserves to win such a tournament, and I would have liked to see him pull off the upset.

The question for many aging sports athletes is when to hang up the cleates or in this case the clubs. While Kenny Perry says he would like to try agin later this year for another Masters win it is highly unlikely that he will ever get the chance that he just had to finally get over the hump and win a green jacket. The question then becomes is it better to end off a career so close to the top or risk continuing to play knowing that chances are you will never win but there is in fact still a chance. NHL players like Ray Bourque or Dave Andrychuch or NBA star Alonzo Mourning will attest to the best career move they made was to come back even past their prime and these men finally one championships. NFL quarterback Brett Farve might tend to disagree. No matter what there is never a right answer you just got to hope that what ever and athletes decision is they choose not to regret it.