Columnist Dean Juipe: Foreigner treads on U.S. parade

Dean Juipe

Monday, April 14, 2003 | 9:42 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4084.

The smirk that has been on George W. Bush's face for the past few days has nothing to do with golf or the Masters, yet if the president had been at Augusta National on Sunday he wouldn't have changed expressions until the 18th hole.

Ugh, Canada. At least it's still in North America. And at least Canada's Mike Weir makes for an excellent Masters champion.

Yet with the usually strong contingent of European players in a temporary decline, the leader board at the season's first major was bursting with Americans. Only Weir, a lithe lefty from Ontario, had a chance to keep the Star Spangled Banner from playing in the background during the coronation, and to Bush's regret he did it.

That lump in Len Mattiace's throat was lodged there not by patriotism but by the pressure of protecting a lead in a tournament in which he was a long shot to win. Three up on Weir (for a couple of moments) with two holes to play, this New York native choked on 18 and then again on the first hole of the sudden-death playoff, handing the title to Weir on the proverbial gilded platter.

Bush, almost giddy because of the success of the U.S. war with Iraq, was likely readying a few triumphant remarks on American domination until Mattiace faltered. But perhaps the subtext can be saved: With the European golfers slumping, America (and, it turns out, Canada) may have to go it alone this year.

The Masters wasn't quite an all-American affair, but Weir was born near the border and has played regularly on the PGA Tour since 1998. Yes, he's still a big hockey fan but he has also trimmed a few of the "ayes" from his vocabulary.

He's a pleasant fellow and a deserving champion, making almost no mistakes during a final-round 68 and surviving a precariously long putt at the first overtime hole.

He got the win when Mattiace slipped back into his Everyman profile and not only bogeyed No. 18 but hit no fewer than three consecutive bad shots on the first -- and only -- playoff hole. He'll be haunted by the meltdown.

But at least he was in the running, which is more than most of the Europeans can say.

The Masters is a tradition-rich tournament and one the Europeans usually play very well. But as a group they're in somewhat of a nosedive here in the early stages of 2003, and it may not have anything to do with their reluctance to take up arms.

Of the 12 Masters between 1988 and '99, European players won eight times. In 1992, the top four players in the world were Europeans.

But now Paul Lawrie, who won the British Open in 1999, stands as the last European to win a major and only one European -- Ireland's Padraig Harrington -- is presently ranked in the world's top 10.

Harrington missed the cut at Augusta National, as did fellow Europeans such as Ian Woosnam, Colin Montgomerie, Niclas Fath, Sandy Lyle, Bernhard Langer and Thomas Levet. Of those who did play through the weekend, Jose Maria Olazabal had the best finish with a tie for eighth.

Earning a check but little in the way of attention were a handful of other Europeans who seem stuck on the second tier, notably Sergio Garcia, Darren Clarke and Justin Rose.

With those players out of the title picture, Weir and the Americans went about the business of determining a champion in a tournament that would not be won by Tiger Woods for the first time in three years. Jeff Maggert started the day ahead but went eight over on two holes (Nos. 3 and 12) to slip back while Phil Mickelson and Jim Furyk dabbled with the top spot before finishing third and fourth, respectively.

It was an interesting event, with Weir overcoming the mental anguish of a poor back nine Saturday and the fact he was "put on the clock" for slow play. Steady thereafter, he won his first major championship in part by evading "Eisenhower's Tree," a landmark of sorts that juts into the 17th fairway and one that got its name for repeatedly ruining the former U.S. president's day.

At a tournament in which the right of free speech tried at times to supersede the golf -- what with picketers and protesters all around -- a foreigner slipped in to hoist the trophy.

Perhaps it's the prime minister's turn to gloat.

archive