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Martha v Hootie: 4th hole | ||||||
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May 26, 2003; Source: AnyoneForTee.com Augusta's first par 3 calls for tough choices  Martha felt she was on a roll. One of her supporters, wearing a 'Go Martha' button on her lapel, brought news of Annika Sorenstam's exploits at the Bank of America Colonial, where the solitary woman was taking on the entire men's PGA Tour!Martha suddenly realised the irony, and the remarkable coincidence, of the combats she and Annika were leading. Annika was challenging the men in a tournament sponsored by Bank of America, and she was challenging Hootie, ex-Chairman of that same bank! She pointed this out in her most matter-of-fact voice to Hootie. "I'm just playing a round of golf at Augusta, Ma'am, what they do in Texas is their own business," he said calmly, although his grim expression and the vein throbbing at his temple suggested otherwise. It was Martha's honour. She surveyed her tee-shot. There was the narrowest of openings on the front left of the green, and bunkers either side of it. She knew she couldn't carry the green.  "Play up short Martha," said Fanny, trying to pre-empt any heroics, while handing her the nine-wood.
"My thinking too, Fanny", said Martha, and tried to hit an easy shot in the general direction of the left bunker. She caught it out of the toe, and the ball went low and right towards the front bunker, rolling up about twenty yards short, and leaving her a horrible pitch over the sand to the pin.Hootie pulled himself together. He was darned if he was going to let these women get to him. "Five-wood Fluff," he called, and hit a beautiful soft shot to the heart of the green, leaving himself an uphill eighteen-footer for a birdie. He sighed deeply, and marched towards the green, feeling a little better about himself. Alex Hay: "Well Martha, that's just what you don't want to do when you're trying to play safe. Ken Brown is up there for us, what sort of a shot does she have, Kenneth?" Ken Brown: "It's not really that hard a shot, Alex, just a simple pitch over the bunker to an uphill green, and plenty of green to work with, but in the circumstances, for a nervous amateur, probably a bit of a tweaker. She'll need to keep her head well down on this one."  Martha studied her shot, and much of her confidence of only two minutes ago melted away. Unless she went left, away from the bunker, first and then tried to roll it up to the pin, she would have to attempt the pitch over sand. Even with her two shots, she didn't like the safe option, with Hootie lying so close in one. "Gotta go for it, Fanny," she said, reaching in the bag for the pitching wedge. "Swing it long and soft, Martha, and keep looking at the ground all the way through," said the faithful caddie.
Martha tried hard, but nerves got the better of her. She was looking up well before contact, and the long, flowing swing skulled the ball onto the green and through the back, coming to rest just short of the trees.Peter Alliss: "Ooh, a stinker! Well, that's only to be expected, in the circumstances. Has she got a backswing there, Ken?" Ken Brown: "She has, Peter, but it's a horrible shot, all downhill, and the bunker waiting if she's too long." Martha could see the problem only too well. Wanting to avoid another thin, she decided to try the old 'Texas wedge', but she'd have to give it a rap to get it through the fringe. The ball leapt off the putter face and careered down the green, on line, but definitely heading for the bunker. As it neared the hole it began to curve gently and by a miracle slammed into the pin and bounced off, finishing a good ten feet away, just below the hole. "Three, net one," called Fanny, while Martha got her breath back.  Hootie knew he must hole now, to regain the initiative. But try as he might, the prospect of a return downhiller, perhaps for a half, held him back. He struck a good putt, but came up a foot short. "I'll hole out," he barked, not wanting to dwell on this one. He made his three."Easy Martha," said Fanny, "we won't get lucky twice on one hole. Just lag it and take the half." Martha did as she was told, and came up eighteen inches short. She looked briefly over at Hootie, then realised that even old-fashioned southern courtesy might not stretch so far as to concede this one. She bent to her putt, closed her eyes and swung, and was rewarded with the cheerful hollow sound of the ball hitting the bottom of the cup.  Peter Alliss: "Martha's been a bit lucky there, if truth be told, but it's all part of the game. So, a half in net three, our first half of the match. Hootie stays one-up."Hootie trudged towards the 5th tee. He'd played his best. His time would come. She wouldn't be lucky all day. He passed another Martha supporter, wearing a Masters cap, and adorned with a 'Go Martha' button. "If only she would," he thought. | ||||||
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You can follow the match score on the official scorecard by clicking here. To read the earlier match reports, please click on the hole number: 1 2 3 | ||||||
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All the beautiful images of Augusta National used in this story can be seen on the official Masters website www.masters.org This page © Copyright 2003 by DuffersGolf | ||||||
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