Steve Flesch

OK, confession right off the top: I watched the Sunday round.

I'd said Thursday on the radio (700 WLW, 6-9 weeknights, call me) I wasnt watching because the paper didnt send me and I was a baby. True and true. I watched Sunday so I could talk about it Monday night. I did it for you, in other words. And here's what happened to S. Flesch:

He misclubbed at 12, dropped his tee ball in Rae's Creek and came unhinged.

No sport owns your head like golf. Of all T. Woods' attributes, his brain should be No.1. Tiger wills himself to play well when it matters. (Well, mostly. Yesterday he played like a mortal. He played MUNI-ficently, flubbing putt after large putt.) On a difficult windy day when keeping it together emotionally was Job One, only Trevor Immelman pulled it off.

You could almost see Flesch flying apart. He'd played very well for the better part of 3 days, but Sunday he was hanging on. He was 2 behind when his 8-iron at 12 hung in the wind and came straight down, like it was a duck that ran into some shotgun pellets. And that was it.

The concentration needed to stay close abandoned him. It was like watching a climber on a sheer cliff, losing his grip finger by finger: Double at 12, bogey 14, 15, 16 (mother, make it stop) and 17.
He'll remember that tee ball at 12 the rest of his life.

The "Tiger-proofing'' of the Masters has made it play much more like a US Open. Sunday charges are rare, thrilling comebacks are the same. Graphic yesterday: 16 of the last 17 winners have started the final round in the last twosome of the day. So much for drama.

Immelman was steady, that's all. Daring and heroic used to win this event. Now, steady wins. Steady can be dull. Immelman even dunked his tee shot at 16.

Flesch was Open-steady for 65 holes. He played great off the tee, very good from the fairway. If he'd made a few more putts...

And if he'd picked a 7-iron instead of an 8 on 12, we might have a Cincinnati Masters champ this AM. As it is, Flesch should be proud of the effort, and understand more completely than any of the rest of us the mental Everest a Masters champion must climb.