Firstly, apologies for the long absence. I have been very busy with work and did not have much time to blog forcing a break of sorts.

Coming back to the topic at hand.. strong and diverse opinions are usually among sports fans and in sports columns on who should be the sports person of the year around this time of the year. for 2006 though, the answer seems obvious as Roger Federer has had a near perfect year with 3 grand slam wins and a dream win-loss record of 92-5. Yet, we find sports awards going to people other than Roger Federer and some people are, as a result, not happy about this. Chris Baldwin of travelgolf.com writes:

…athlete of the year deserves to go to …, the most dominant athlete in any sport. That without question is tennis’ Roger Federer….

Tiger Woods winning AP Male Athlete of the Year only proves how embarrassingly provincial Americans can be. Too bad there aren’t enough U.S. sports fans like Tiger and me who can see the entire sports world.

It is no secret that this is true regarding Americans, particularly where sport is concerned. They focus mostly on US sports and hardly on sports from around the world. However, I do not see why this should be a reason to be agitated about. English football fans focus much more, or in a lot of cases, almost entirely on their own league. Even when we analyse teams sports fans follow, a lot of people only keep indepth track of their own team and not the entire league be it any sport. The basic nature of sport is that you root for you own team and revel in the roller coaster ride following a team provides.

When a sports award does the same, it shouldn’t cause any alarm. The Associated Press has been awarding the Americans for many years now and it is nothing new. BBC gives out a similar award and to compensate, they also gives out the overseas version.

Perhaps it is best that we accept there will be natural bias in awards, one which any group or panel cannot avoid. Even the Laureus award conferred by a very international panel cannot be said to be unbiased. We do not have a nominee from each country in the panel and each member of the panel cannot be expected to know the weightage of each achievement in various sports. If we look at the award winners, they are popular sports persons from more main stream sports. It is arguably the best award out there and yet it cannot be said that it can be bereft of biases.

Awards help celebrate sporting achievements and that should be that. The real trophies have already been won - on the sporting field.

Another major win then. There is no limit to how great his accomplishments can be when he is finished.

To win his latest major, he identified a flaw and was good enough to rectify it the next day. Guardian has more:

“I told Hank (coach Haney) that I saw what I did yesterday on 16 on the highlights last night on TV,” Woods said, referring to his three-putt bogey in the third round. “I saw how my putter blade went back, and I didn’t like that very much at all. I rehearsed it a little bit last night, came out this morning and I just felt like, hey, this is back to how I putted two weeks ago at the Buick.” …

… Woods, 30, made another tactical move that paid off on Sunday, relying on his five-wood off the tee to place the ball at the corners of the many doglegs among Medinah’s holes.

I had read a Time Magazine cover article a few years back on how Woods changed his swing because he was unhappy with the unpredictability of it despite winning. The big decision meant that Woods had a slack period but eventually it paid off. That is just one of the many instances through which we have got a peek into the strong mind which he possesses.

Woods is confident of his ability and is not afraid to take risks or initial hiccups. To a smaller degree, some thing similar was witnessed on Sunday:

He began the day by hitting five-wood off the tee after opening each of his first three rounds with errant shots using his three-wood.

What a champ.

Today saw one reiterate his greatness while another became a champion after a great performance.

A young kid held a go Tiger banner along with a USA flag on it cheering Tiger on. That kid didn’t know it yet but he was forming emotional bonds with Tiger, golf and sport in general. The attachment means that we share the highs and lows of the sports persons and the teams we follow while we watch our sport. Tiger had no Earl to hug as he usually used to have. He cried and you couldn’t help but feel sad as well.

Even Deadspin cannot come up with a sarcastic comment after a perfect performance by Woods this week as they admit adding:

And we’ll probably not see anything like it again. Just minutes after he left the green, he did a television interview with barely any hints that he had just cried as hard as you’ll ever see anyone cry. It was amazing. No puffy eyes, red nose, wet cheeks. Just a couple of hard swallows, and other than that, all calm smiles.

Huge discipline apart from the hard work and talent is required to achieve what you do in sport. You do wonder at the composure and the discipline some of these sportspersons display outside the playing arena as well. For example, just look at Agassi answering questions thrown by media persons. Even the most outrageous questions are answered with cool finesee. The composure is staggering.

It is an exciting age to live in. Not only do we have Woods who will become the greatest sportsperson of our generation when he retires if things keep on going on track. We also have a Federer in tennis; Armstrong retired a year back and Schumacher is in the fag end of his career. Every generation produces it’s greats. However, I am sure that ages from now, people will marvel how these sportspersons could have been that good in a very competitive era.

How else can you explain Federer facing a match point against Olivier Rochus or this? Sport is a leveller and we see that every day.

CNN tracks Federer’s progress on grass this week:

Federer had struggled all week here beating Indian qualifier Rohan Bopanna 7-6 6-2 in the first round before battling over three sets to defeat France’s Richard Gasquet 7-6 6-7 6-4.

On a given day, any individual or team can defeat any one else. We think that the oft stated any thing can happen in sport is not always true. Then, we see Bangladesh defeat Australia in tests and Senegal defeat France in football. We know instantly that any thing can indeed happen in sport.

It always occurs when we least expect it. The unpredictability is thrilling and is one of the many factors which draws us to sport. It is a far more important aspect than we usually realise.

Michelle Wie is achieving what few women have managed - competing in a man dominated professional sport. CNN reports:

Sixteen-year-old Michelle Wie on Friday became the first women to make the cut in a major men’s tour event for 61 years at Incheon, South Korea.

Wie fired four birdies on her way to a three-under 69 in the second round of the Asian Tour’s SK Telecom Open to put at her at five under.

The last woman to make the final two rounds of a senior men’s event was Babe Zaharias at the 1945 Los Angeles Open.

Babe Zaharias did it in another era. That no one managed it till now in golf, since then, is testimonial to the increasing standards in golf, and gives some understanding to what Wie is achieving. Analysts and golf writers say that we might only start understanding what Tiger Woods achieved in golf, the barriers he broke and what he meant to golf only after many years of the Woods retirement.

(more…)

Phil Mickelson won the Green Jacket for 2nd time in 3 years. He was so comfortable by the end that he could bogey the 18th in the final round without much cause for concern.

Damon Hack in The New York Times reports:

ince April 2004, Mickelson has gone from a golfer with no majors in 42 tries as a professional to a golfer to winning three of the last nine, more than any competitor during that stretch.”In ‘04 when I won, I felt this great feeling of relief,” said Mickelson, 35, who ended the tournament at seven-under-par 281 and took home $1.26 million. “This time, it’s a great feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment to come out on top.

Jim Litke of CNNSI focusses on Mickelson playing with two drivers in his bag:

The last somebody to play a major with two drivers in the bag was Ian Woosnam in the final round of the 2001 British Open. He was trying out both at the range and his caddie forgot to leave one behind - a mistake that cost the Welshman a two-stroke penalty, a shot at winning, $300,000 in prize money and the chance to lock up a spot on Europe’s Ryder Cup team. Mickelson, on the other hand, never, ever does anything accidentally.

Mickelson looked solid right through the little play on Day 3 and the marathon day 4. A deserved winner. From being arguably the best player not to win a Major, Mickelson has gone on to win twice now. Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post writes:

Few had the gall to speak the words aloud with so many years remaining in Lefty’s career, but the possibility existed that, despite his enormous gifts and even greater popularity, Mickelson might end his career with the most disappointing record in the history of major tournament golf. The more he didn’t win such crowns, the more Mickelson tied himself into a psychological pretzel by deflecting questions on the subject, resorting to “joy of competing” pop psychology and saying his time would come… Now, with plenty of prime seasons ahead of him, Mickelson and his fans can wonder where he will finish in the list of long-hitting multiple-Masters winners such as Sam Snead, Seve Ballesteros and perhaps someday even Tom Watson and Arnold Palmer.

With rain being the most significant feature on Day 3 at Augusta, Day 4 will see golfers having to play a lot more than the routine 18 holes. A marathon day of classic golf lays in store. CNNSI’s Chris Lewis sums up the situation:

One thing’s for sure: Sunday will be a long day for the leaders. Playing 30 or so holes will be bad news for some, and good news for others. Gym-rats like Singh (2 under) and Tiger Woods (2 under) will have a clear advantage. At the other end of the spectrum are the ailment-addled. Couples and Mediate, a two-man cranky-back brigade, figure to have a rough time. Ernie Els is admittedly still on the rebound from July 2005 knee surgery, and Augusta National, wet or dry, is a tough walk.

Chad Campbell still has a 1 shot lead. The leader board is tight:

-6 Chad Campbell (after 4 holes*) (US)
-5 Tim Clark (SA) (5), Rocco Mediate (4) (US)
-3 Tiger Woods (9), Padraig Harrington (Ire) (6), Phil Mickelson (5) (All US)
-2 Stephen Ames (Can) (9), Retief Goosen (SA) (9), Ernie Els (SA) (5), Vijay Singh (Fij) (4), Fred Couples (4) (US)

This means that quite a few people have the chance to win the Augusta. But the spotlight is on Campbell. Thomas Boswell of The Washington Post writes at length on Campbell.

In 17 majors, Campbell has missed the cut nine times. He has cracked the top 15 once. Yet on that occasion, he was a gritty runner-up to Shaun Micheel in the ‘03 PGA Championship at Oak Hill. “He played great at Oak Hill,” Mickelson said. “He’s won some big tournaments — Bay Hill, the Tour Championship. “Now, Campbell seems to understand that he is at a crossroads where high-powered talent and low-wattage temperament must make peace with each other if the whole person is to move forward to his normal goals.

The question on every one’s mind is ‘Who will be wearing the green jacket at the end of the final day?’ The fascinating aspect is no one is quite sure. This isn’t a new phenomena as Augusta more often than not manages to build up to a memorable final day. Every one is big on the anticipation given the history and the present leaderboard. I can’t wait to see what happens!

First the uncool new hairstyle of Marat Safin:

I dread what the Anti Foolish Haircut Association would say on this. And I have not shown pictures of the Safin hair with the hair band yet from his recent Davis Cup match.

Okay here it is:

Now that I have completely spoiled your mood, here is Sergio Garcia and his cool orange pants from Day 1 at Augusta:

Images courtesy Eurosport, Davis Cup and Golf365 respectively.

Augusta Masters main draw sees no Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer for the first time in over 50 years. The tournament will be off a bit of the usual sheen because of this despite them competing in the par-three contest which precedes the actual tournament. It is always a great site to see Nicklaus and Palmer compete at Augusta even though they do not make the cut for the last two days.

The crowd cheering, the old men still showing sparks of brilliance - has been a pleasure to watch.

Update: Cam Cole from National Post has written on his memories of Jack Nicklaus at Augusta in a piece titled One for the Ages which is quite a good read.

Arjun Atwal’s performed impressively at the Buick Invitational. He again showed improvement is required in finishing off tournaments. That will hopefully improve in the future. The Telegraph, Calcutta, reports:

Arjun Atwal came close to winning his maiden PGA Tour title, but in the end finished tied fourth after missing three close putts in the last three holes of the $ 5.4 million Buick Invitational at the Torrey Pines.Atwal (71) missed a four-footer on the closing 18th and was shut out of the three-way play-off which was won by Tiger Woods, who himself birdied the 18th to get into extra time.