Mark O'Meara, one of the game's quiet men, spoke volumes with his clubs at Augusta National yesterday, when capturing the 62nd US Masters in a breathtaking finish. The 41-year-old, who happens to be a close friend and neighbour of last year's champion, Tiger Woods, birdied the final two holes to win by a stroke from David Duval and the 1992 champion, Fred Couples.
The tension and drama of a final round played in glorious sunshine characterised everything that is special about this springtime celebration of golf. A threeway play-off seemed the likely climax until O'Meara, at his 15th attempt, eventually broke through by sinking a 20-footer, downhill on the final green.
"This is a great day for me and my family," he said afterwards. "If I were to put a major at the the top of my list, this would be it. I needed to be patient today and I'm proud of the way I handled myself, mentally and emotionally. It's been a long time coming."
Earlier in the afternoon, with cheers for a resurgent Jack Nicklaus echoing through the pines, there could hardly have been a better stage for the finest performance by an Irishman in the history of the event. It was delivered by Darren Clarke, who shot a final round of 69 for a three-under-par aggregate of 285.
Here was a showing to gladden the heart and lift Clarke towards the higher level to which he aspires. Indeed by shooting a final 36 holes of 136 - eight under par - for a share of eighth place alongside such luminaries as Woods, British Open champion Justin Leonard and Colin Montgomerie, he has already served notice of better to come.
"I've had a fantastic week - it's been a wonderful experience," he said afterwards, having earned $89,600 his biggest cheque on this side of the Atlantic. "My goal was to be invited back next year (through a place in the top-24 finishers) and I've done that with a bit to spare."
He went on: "I couldn't wait to get out on the course today, I felt so good about myself. And this performance is particularly welcome because in previous visits over here I played poorly. Now I'm really looking forward to Hilton Head (the MCI Classic) this week."
Meanwhile, as supporting roles go, the effort of the indefatigable Nicklaus was pure joy to behold. Self-deprecatingly, the great man had warned that all he could hope to do was "throw a scare into some of those young guys". He later admitted, however, that, deep down, he had set himself a final round target of 66.
"As things turned out, I would have been two strokes short," he said, after a 68. "I don't know whether this will be my last Masters, whether my (arthritic) hips will let me go on. But if this is it, I've had a pretty good one to finish things off."
Standing ovations greeted him on every hole and one could almost sense an extra spring in the steps of the fifty-somethings in the gallery, as they watched their contemporary roll back the years. Nicklaus birdied the second (two putts) and third holes (chipin) and though the real meat of final-day combat was still some way off, the second of those birdies brought a crescendo of cheering reminiscent of his victory charge down the back stretch here in 1986. It was against this background that Clarke began a final-day surge.
Having started the day on level par for the tournament for a share of 14th place Clarke soon got into red figures. From a blocked drive down the second, he hit a threewood recovery into the right front bunker. Then came a recovery to 10 feet left of the pin and he holed the putt for a four.
Just as Nicklaus would do a short while later, Clarke also birdied the third, this time with a marvellous putt from the back right of the green. Perfectly judged for pace from all of 50 feet, it dipped into the hole for an unexpected boost.
Clarke went on to give one of these strokes back to a demanding course by three-putting the short fourth, but made a good save from
3 1/2 feet at the seventh, he birdied the long eighth by pitching to nine feet. Then came the ideal end to a sparkling outward journey.
On the homeward journey, he retained admirable control of his swing, moving the ball right or left as appropriate. And when a 15footer found the target for a birdie on the 11th, he actually improved to a share of sixth place on the leaderboard.
But his game lost momentum when, at the notoriously dangerous 12th, he three-putted to drop a stroke, sending an over-zealous first effort five feet past the target. Now, fighting to regain composure, he failed to make birdie at either the 13th or 15th, where he was in greenside bunkers and dropped a stroke at the 14th where he was short in two.
The the old fire was soon rekindled. Facing a dangerous, right to left sliding eight-footer at the 16th, he stroked it confidently into the hole. And he completed the round in regulation for a splendid day's work. Clearly, the putter had done its work but more important was the new-found maturity Clarke showed while making the cut on Friday with a second round of 73.
O'Meara, who had started the day sharing second place with Paul Azinger and Phil Mickelson, two strokes behind leader Couples, got right into the heart of battle with successive birdies at the second, third and fourth to be seven under par at that stage. In fact his only slip of the round was a bogey at the 10th.
Winner of 14 titles on the American Tour, having won the 1979 US Amateur Championship, O'Meara will be familiar to European enthusiasts from his victory in the Lancome Trophy last September and third-place finishes in the British Open in 1985 and 1991.
The undoing of Couples, who was with O'Meara in the final pairing, came at the long 13th where, instead of an expected birdie to go nine under par, he found Rae's Creek to run up a double-bogey seven. "That was one, big blunder," he admitted.
Then, typically sporting, he added: "Obviously I'm very disappointed to have lost, but I'm thrilled to death for Mark. It was fantastic they way he held things together, particular his putting."
Duval actually managed to get to nine under with a birdie at the 15th for the outright lead. But he forfeited his chance by threeputting the 16th. Still, he insisted afterwards: "It would be stupid for me to be disappointed after shooting a final round of 66. It should have been good enough. Unfortunately for me, it wasn't."
It was a day for low scoring and nobody capitalised more on reasonably receptive greens than David Thoms, a 31-year-old from Louisiana. Playing in his first Masters, he showed his more illustrious colleagues the way, with a blistering last nine holes of seven under par, for a record-equalling inward half of 29.
Meanwhile, the European challenge generally held up well, even if nobody actually challenged for the title. Ian Woosnam, the 1991 champion, finished 3,3,3 - par, birdie, birdie - for a closing 70 and an aggregate of 287. Per-Ulrik Johansson had the disappointment of a bogey at the 18th, to slip down to a share of 12th place with the 1994 champion, Jose-Maria Olazabal, and others.
O'Meara had often joked to his friend Woods that he needed shots at the par fives if they were to have a fair match. As the 22-yearold slipped the green jacket onto him in the Butler Cabin, he smiled and said: "Now that you're champion, I'm the one who'll be needing shots." It had been a remarkable day.
