Golf Masters

Over the next two weeks, FanHouse will be delivering any and all awards for the 2009 PGA and LPGA Tour season. It will be a collection of anything that needs to be awarded, from Player of the Year, to Best Shot of '09 to Breakthrough Twitterer. It is, simply named, The Green Jacket awards.

The saying goes, "I'd rather be lucky than good," and anyone that has been paired with a random twosome on a beautiful summer day has probably heard it after a bounce goes their way or a high lip decides to let the ball in the side-door.

On the PGA Tour, that saying holds true just like for any hacker -- a guy hits a poor tee shot only to have it kick off the lip of the bunker, roll through the second cut and find itself perched up in the fairway, awaiting a short iron to set up another birdie. The biggest breaks usually come in the biggest tournaments, and 2009 was no different. So what was the luckiest break of the year?

Tiger Woods won five times in 2009, but for the fourth time in his 13-year career, he was shutout in the majors. That may not be cause for concern for Woods, but it gives fans and the media something to talk about. It also makes the "How would you rank the major championships?" question a lot more interesting.

With only one tournament left on the PGA Tour calender, now seems like as good a time as any to make my case. Obviously, this will be a scientifically rigorous endeavor, and I hope that you would treat the results accordingly. Or don't. Whatever, let's get to it.

In reverse order, the most exciting majors of 2009:

Tiger Woods made a quick trip to Washington D.C. this week to host a press conference, chat with the president, and get people excited for his upcoming tournament, the AT&T National Championship, July 2-5. Woods spoke on just about everything (he knows how to say "take out the trash" in Swedish!), but the main focus was on the Masters and how Tiger was just a hair off with his game.

In an effort to keep our golf visitors well informed on what is going on around the Internet, Range Balls will be our new weekly link dump. Every Tuesday during golf season, we will toss out some of the most interesting things we came across. If you have a tip, e-mail us at fanhousegolf@gmail.com. Enjoy the links.

--Condoleezza Rice followed Tiger Woods this week at the Masters and gave her full report on the experience. The best line -- "We set out for the course and I soon learned that you don't "follow Tiger."" [The Daily Beast]

--Angel Cabrera did something no other golfer has ever done at Augusta -- he won the Masters using Ping Golf clubs. [The Shop]

--I'll give The Golf Channel this -- when thinking about "The Big Break," the producers have realized that sex does sell. Here is the first of three interviews with Kim Kouwabunpat, from the upcoming show. [Bushwood Country Club]

--The Masters golf ratings are out, and this might surprise you -- it wasn't the highest during the Phil Mickelson -- Tiger duel. The ratings hit 9.4/23 when those two were on the course and 10.0/21 during the playoff. [Golfweek]

--Jill McGill gives us a little insight into the life of a LPGA golfer. [Armchair Golf Blog]

The year 1999 was a long time ago. Justin Timberlake was a guy in a band called 'N Sync. People were buying bottled water and canned goods in fear of something called Y2K. Oh, and it was probably the last time Sergio Garcia was popular, when he battled Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship, falling just short but touching golf fans everywhere.

Now, Garcia just continues to rub people the wrong way. He waggled his way around Bethpage Black at the U.S. Open in 2002. He spit in a cup after a missed putt in the 2007 Doral Open. He blamed anyone and everyone for his loss in the 2007 British Open. Now? Sergio let Augusta National, golf's sanctuary, have it, lashing out about the course conditions, saying, "I don't like it, to tell you the truth. I don't think it's fair, and, you know, it's just too tricky."

Follow me after the jump for full video of Garcia's ridiculous rant.

Quick, who won the Masters Sunday? Come on, first name, too.

This might be a first, when the winner of the Masters goes down as the answer to the trivia question. But this is going to be remembered as the Masters that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson didn't win, assuming long term memories don't twist one of them into the green jacket someday. Also, some older guy (Kenny Perry) didn't win, either.

Every Monday during the PGA Tour season, Monday Pin Placement will run as a wrap-up of the weekend's action. Basically, we'll focus on what you missed while you were out grinding on the putting green.

In 1996, Greg Norman had one of the most epic collapses in the history of golf. Carrying a six-shot lead into the final round of that year's Masters, Norman was set to finally grab that green jacket that had eluded him for so long.

You all know the story. Norman wound up losing the tournament to Nick Faldo and in accordance with the old saying "a picture is worth a thousand words," has this lasting image that summed up his experience at Augusta. After a final round 78, Norman had two choices: he could duck out of Augusta or he could face the music. Norman responded courageously by heading into the press room and answering all questions asked of him for 45 minutes. He earned the respect of darn near any golfer that has played the game.

The final day of the 2009 Masters certainly unfolded in a bizarre fashion, but after Kenny Perry pulled his second shot on the 10th hole left of the green and failed to get up and down, Angel Cabrera had two putts to win the tournament on the second sudden-death playoff hole and became the last golfer standing in a Sunday slugfest at Augusta.

Perry seemed locked to win the tournament, holding a two-stroke lead with just two holes to play, but he finished bogey-bogey down the stretch, allowing playing partner Cabrera and Chad Campbell to join him in a sudden-death playoff.

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