The Masters on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk April 6

Welcome to The Masters on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk

A unique series of blogs taking you inside the history of Golf''s First Major and looking ahead to the 2013 Masters, as well as providing updates on the play and reports from each day of the first major of the golf season.

I hope you enjoy the series which will publish articles each day between April 1 and 15 EXCLUSIVELY on www.HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk

All feedback is appreciated.

Enjoy.

Matt.

Throughout the different eras of golf there have been keen rivalries between golfers whether it was the Morris and Park families in the early days of The Open Championship, or the Great Triumvirate of Vardon, Taylor and Braid, or the American Triumvirate of Hogan, Snead and Nelson. The Big Three of Palmer, Player and Nicklaus were fierce rivals on the golf course but friends off it, then there are the more contemporary rivalries of Watson and Nicklaus, Faldo and Norman, Seve and the world and Europe and the United States. Usually there is a degree of animosity in sport where rivalry is concerned but in golf it usually stays on the golf course, but it can be said of a rivalry in the modern era that the two protagonists did not have much time for each other until a few years ago, despite being raised in the same part of California in the 1970's and 80's and sharing more than a home state in common.

California has been the birthplace of many of the greatest golfers in the history of American golf; Ken Venturi, Johnny Miller, Dave Stockton and Scott Simpson all hail from the Golden State and many of the young golfers of today such as Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan and Anthony Kim also were born in California. Without question though the most successful golfers ever to be born in California are Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, and despite being five years apart in age the two have done battle at the top of the professional game since 1996 and their rivalry has defined the PGA Tour and The Masters Tournament in the last sixteen years.

Phil Mickelson was born in San Diego on June 16, 1970 in the week of the 1970 US Open which was won by Tony Jacklin at Hazeltine National, is father Phil Mickelson Sr. was an airline pilot and former naval aviator and he taught Phil Jr. the game at a young age, his career enabled him to play several times a week and the Mickelson's had an extensive practice facility at their home. Following graduating from high school Mickelson attended Arizona State University and graduated in 1992, his outrageous talent at a young age saw him win the NCAA Championship in 1989, 1990 and 1992 and win as an amateur on the PGA Tour in 1991 at the Tucson Open, and in 1990 he completed the double of NCAA and US Amateur Championships. Mickelson's first win as a professional would come on the course he honed his game, the Buick Invitational of California in 1993 came 13 years after his World Junior title and built on the reputation he had for being the best young golfer in the world and a future Major Champion. In the early 1980's Mickelson competed in the same event, although a different age group, as Eldrick Woods in the World Junior Golf Championship and little did he know the relationship they would go on to “enjoy” in the future.

Eldrick Woods was born in Cypress, a borough of Los Angeles, in December 1975 to parents of American and Thai origin. His father Earl Woods was a US Army Infantry Officer who left with the rank of lieutenant colonel and his mother Kultida is from Thailand and they would support Woods from a very young age to develop as a golfer and compete across the country in junior tournaments. Tiger grew up playing at the U.S. Military golf courses of South California and honed the game which would go on to make him arguably the greatest junior and amateur golfer ever to live, winning hundreds of tournaments across the country. Woods would win 6 World Junior Golf Championships at differing age levels before creating history by winning 3 consecutive USGA Amateur Junior Championships and 3 consecutive US Amateur Championships along with the NCAA title. Woods would emulate Phil Mickelson by winning the 1996 NCAA Championship and US Amateur Championship in the final summer of his unrivalled amateur career.

The two were talked about in the media as the two greatest American golfers and they would fill the top two in the Official World Golf Rankings for many months between 2000 and 2010 but actual head-to-head showdowns were rare due to the fickle nature of the game, however the two have on occasion had the opportunity to play alongside each other on the grandest stage as well as regular events. In 2001 Tiger was bidding to make golfing history by winning a fourth successive Major Championship and a second Masters title, following rounds of 68 and 69 respectively on Saturday Tiger and Phil were paired in the final group of the tournament, it was set to be the ultimate showdown on the ultimate golf course with Mickelson having the opportunity to finally break through for a Major win and end Tiger's chances of a version of the grand slam. Woods would bogey the first hole on Sunday to fall back into a tie with Mickelson but Phil was unable to take advantage and despite a final round of 70 he couldn't keep pace with Tiger who posted a 68 including a birdie at the 72^nd hole to clinch the “Tiger Slam”.

The two would go on to have epic battles at Doral and TPC Boston, each winning the tournament once respectively and they would contend at other majors but never actually playing together until the 2009 Masters. In the time between 2001 and 2009 Woods and Mickelson's relationship would become decidedly frosty and the handshake between the two on the first tee at Augusta that Sunday afternoon was certainly not to be mistaken for being a warm one. Some observers say it all stems back to comments made by Phil Mickelson about Tiger's equipment in the 2003 season – when asked to clarify the relationship between the two Phil said “In my mind, Tiger and I don't have issues between us. Well, maybe one. He hates that I can fly it past him now [off the tee]. "He has a faster swing speed than I do, but he has inferior equipment. Tiger is the only player who is good enough to overcome the equipment he's stuck with." 

In 2004 at the Ryder Cup in Michigan Hal Sutton made the decision that shocked the world and both Mickelson and Woods, he paired the two best golfers in the world together to play Colin Montgomerie and Padraig Harrington in the first match of the Ryder Cup. It was a plan doomed to fail from the very beginning and when Phil Mickelson shanked a 3-wood on the 18^th hole the look on Tiger Woods' face was priceless, it was a relationship that at that point in time made no sense to try and foster during a critical Ryder Cup match. So after years of competing against each other and seven or eight years of animosity between the pair they came to the 2009 Masters. It was Woods' first major since his comeback from an injury which ended his 2008 season early and following rounds of 71 and 70 respectively Mickelson and Woods were paired together in the final round, starting out seven shots behind the leaders Angel Cabrera and Kenny Perry. 

The roars on that Sunday had more than a few echoes of the 1986 Masters and Jack Nicklaus's epic comeback as Phil Mickelson birdied 6 holes on the outward nine to tie the record for a first nine score at Augusta of 30 strokes with Johnny Miller, Greg Norman and KJ Choi. At the same time Tiger was also charging and birdies on 13, 15 and 16 to tie Mickelson at 10-under-par, just two shots off the lead. However Woods was to make bogeys on the final two holes and Phil would bogey 18 as well to see the pair fall to 8 and 9 under par respectively and out of contention. It was terribly exciting while it lasted though.

The rivalry has evolved and changed but one thing remains constant, when the two are paired together it is like nothing else in golf. At the 2012 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-am the two started as the penultimate group and duelled on Sunday, Mickelson winning by a significant 11 shot margin on the day but its impact on television ratings and the on-course atmosphere cannot be underestimated, Woods v Mickelson is still The Rivalry.

Tomorrow on 

The Masters on HooperstarGolfer.blogspot.co.uk

 – Masters Sunday 2011