Is There Anyone That Can Close Out a Golf Tournament These Days?

As I sat back and relived the 2009 Masters this afternoon through the power of DVR, I could not help but begin asking myself a question that could wind up defining this generation of the PGA Tour.

Is there no one, other than Tiger Woods and a tiny handful of others, that can close out a golf tournament?

Major championship meltdowns have happened throughout the course of history and will, without question, continue to happen in the future.

However, it seems to happen considerably more often in this day and age than at any other time in the sport’s recent history.

Just have a brief look at the major champions over the past four years.

The 2006 U.S. Open at Winged Foot is, and always will be, remembered for Phil Mickelson’s improbable meltdown on the 72nd hole rather than Geoff Ogilvy’s first major championship win.

Although Mickelson fell furthest and hardest on that fateful Sunday, both Jim Furyk and Colin Montgomerie fell pretty hard themselves.

Sitting just one stroke behind Mickelson at the time, Furyk limped home at the 2006 U.S. Open with bogeys on the 15th and 18th holes. 

Not long after Furyk’s disappointing finish, Montgomerie approached the 18th hole tied with Mickelson at plus-4 for the tournament.

After a perfect drive, Montgomerie, who is widely regarded as one of the best iron players on the planet, completely flubbed his approach shot and eventually finished the tournament with a double bogey six.

There’s no point in even reliving Mickelson’s astonishing meltdown—we’ve all seen it replayed hundreds of times by this point.

Let’s jump ahead to Padraig Harrington’s first major championship win at the 2007 British Open.

Heading to the 72nd hole with the tournament lead, Harrington found the creek with his tee shot and finally managed to make a five-foot putt to finish up with a double bogey and went to the clubhouse trailing Sergio Garcia by one stroke.

Garcia came to the 18th hole needing a par to win and a bogey to tie.

Garcia, who is also one of the best ball strikers in the world, found the green side bunker with his second shot and lipped out a five-foot putt that would have given him his first major championship win.

Harrington, of course, won the playoff, and Garcia blamed the golf gods, of all people, for his defeat.

Although conditions were tough at last year’s Masters, Trevor Immelman limped home with a final round 75 and still won by two strokes over Woods, who was the only one to make any kind of a move up the board, as indifferent as his Sunday charge was.

This, however, is not something that’s only happening at the majors.

Just look at the tournaments so far this year.

Let’s start with Woods’ win at Bay Hill a few weeks ago.

Sure, he really turned it on down the stretch, but he was by no means at his best. He was just lucky that Sean O’Hair, who began the day holding a six-stroke lead, happened to completely fall apart from the opening tee shot of the day.

Holding the lead at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic, Steve Stricker shot a final round 77 on a course that was not overly difficult.

At the 2009 FBR Open, Charley Hoffman missed a short birdie putt on the 18th, and just a short time later, Kenny Perry came through and recorded a bogey when a par would have won him the tournament outright. Perry would go on to win in a sudden death playoff.

At the Northern Trust Open, Stricker once again faltered down the stretch when he bogeyed the 72nd hole and wound up losing by a single stroke to Mickelson.

At the Transitions Championship, 54-hole leader Tom Lehman shot a final round 75, albeit he is nearly 50 years old and will be off to the Champions Tour soon. But eventual winner Retief Goosen also limped home with a bogey at the 16th, and after hitting his approach shot to the worst possible location on the 18th, he barely snuck in his par putt for the win.

At the Shell Houston Open just two weeks ago, Paul Casey came to the 72nd hole on Sunday needing a par to win. 

As you might have expected, Casey bogeyed the 18th and was fortunate that J.B. Holmes couldn't handle the heat either and duck-hooked his drive into the lake on the first hole of the sudden death playoff. 

Although Casey hit a terrible tee shot himself—he found the fairway bunker for the second consecutive time on the 18th—he still managed to win with a sloppy par.

Then we come to the 2009 Masters.

The tournament just took place yesterday, so I don’t see a need to relive the agony for a third time in two days.

But what we saw yesterday evening was clearly a case of three men all trying their absolute hardest to throw away the 2009 Masters.

Cabrera just happened to play average golf in the playoff and was able to fall into his second major championship win in the past three years.

Being a big fan of the PGA Tour, I don’t want to believe it, but the evidence is overwhelming, and this is something that could quite possibly eat into Tiger Woods' legacy one day. 

Obviously Woods has established himself as "head and shoulders" above everyone on the PGA Tour and would probably still manage to win nearly as often if he were actually challenged by a group of players.

Furthermore, there is a much larger group of players on today's PGA Tour that have the physical ability to win any given tournament, which makes winning today arguably more difficult than at any other time in the game's history.

However, we would be naive to believe that when Woods’ career is over and done with, and he has likely shattered Jack Nicklaus' record of major championship wins, that the issue of his competition will not come up.

Woods will more than likely wind up being the greatest golfer to have ever played the game, if he is not there already.

But he also might be entering his prime during an era of the PGA Tour that could one day be referred to as the "Era of Meltdowns."