European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 16, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday april 16, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 2555th masters european Mastery Likely to grow commentary a give me Golf clubs fresh air and a Beautiful partner and you can keep the Golf clubs and the fresh air. A a Jack Benny. By Jim Litke the associated press Augusta a. In a roundabout Way that immortal line from or. Benny tells you Why american golfers done twin the masters any More. Simply put their minds Are elsewhere. / a major like the masters is to tournament Golf what cutting a Diamond is to cutting your Lawn. Unlike the stops on the pea tour you done twin a major just because its there. No winning the masters demands precision patience and imaginative flair and most important of All the kind of stubborn Pride that refuses to Settle for second Best. Unfortunately precious few american golfers today fit that Bill of particulars. Those who do a Jack Nicklaus Lee Trevino and Tom Watson come immediately to mind a Are reaching an age where their skills or the nerves or both will desert them somewhere Over the course of four grueling rounds. And few in the generation behind them distracted by the easy Money that makes millionaires out of even mediocre players seem prepared to succeed them. And so for chauvinists who still believe the Only Good Golf being played today is in California or Florida and a few Points in Between the news sunday from Augusta National was All bad. Adding in welshman Ian Woosnam a Victory europeans have now won seven of the last dozen masters including the last four. And the end is hardly in sight. Woosnam is Only 33, As Are two other members of the so called foreign a big six a a England a Nick Faldo and Germany a Bernhard Langer a and the oldest of the Bunch is 36-year-old Greg Norman. Granted seve Ballesteros seems and recently has been playing much older than 34, but Jose Maria Olazabal another Brilliant spaniard who was runner up to Woosnam on sunday is Only 25. By contrast the youngest american to put a real scare into Woosnam during sundays final round was 39-year-old Ben Crenshaw who wound up third at9-under. Ian Woosnam of Wales delivers another blow to . Fortunes in major tournaments. Sure Steve Pate age 29 finished with the same total and fellow americans Jodie Mudd 30 and Andrew Magee 28 finished just another stroke farther Back a but who from that Trio would you have backed against Woosnam in a playoff and just about every other american who mounted a credible threat at one Point or another during this years tournament is already pushing 40 or on the Long Side of it Nicklaus is 51 Raymond Floyd 48 Hale Irwin who tied for fifth is 45 Lanty Wadkins and Tom Watson who shared third place with Crenshaw and Pate arc both 41. A couple of other americans who might have met the Challenge a fuzzy Zoeller Larry Mize and Mark Mccumber a were heard from but Only briefly and faintly at that Curtis strange probably the Best this country can Muster for a major on any Given Day remained mired in his slump. After sundays round was in the books Watson who Clung to Woosnam until the 72nd Hole before falling Back was asked to explain the european domination at the masters in recent years a i guess Quot he said Simp Quot louvre better  but Watson was not guessing the big six already Hae six Green jackets Between them seen it of expand the group to include enigmatic Scot Sandy  and most of the members of that group Are just hitting their Sonde. And none of their Menean contemporaries appears Nipa red to get in their was. Not when the Man who tilled the 50th spot on the pea Mone list could a bankroll nearly $300,000 without winning a single tournament. Consider Wayne Levi Payne Stewart Paul a Inger Mudd Mark Calcavecchia and Fred couples All finished in the top 10 Money win nets each made at least three Qixiu Lieis of a million dollars Anil they have ill of two majors among them. Those same chauvinists deterred to above Are most Likely to cite the Lack of the europeans Success in both the . Open and the pea championship but there is an answer for that As Well. Its True that no foreign player has won the . Onen since 1981 w Hen australian d a v i d g r a n a m d i d a n d o n by t w o a  t r a Lian Wayne Grady last year and a Graham again in 1979 have won the pea. But unlike the masters both of those tournaments place severe restrictions on the number of foreign entries and if those arc Ever relaxed pronunciation guides will become hot items in the network television Booths. Alter All Macri cans won All but two British opens from 1970 until 1983, but Only one Calcavecchia since then. Competition on the european tour these Days is sharper the Money is smaller and so the players Are hungrier. It has been for the past few years. Shoemaking is better and More developed on the other Side of the Atlantic because the weather is generally rougher during the season and the courses Are not nearly As Well groomed nor As predictable As the cookie Cutter Layouts used for most tour events Here. Trying to be diplomatic Woosnam tackled the same question put to Watson this Way Quot you be Only got a Tew solid players right  and unless they get their minds Back on business its Only going to get  seeks bid Augusta a. A Lee Trevino says hell have to find another Way to gain entry into the masters next year. He even said he wants an invitation to return to an Augusta National layout he once said Wasny to suited to his game. A a that a impossible a Trevino answered when someone asked him How he Felt after playing in his last masters on sunday Trevino birdied the final Hole to close at 71 for 291, not Good enough to secure at least a 24th-place finish one that assures an invitation to the next masters he lied for 49th. A there Are other ways a he said reeling off the masters criteria that include finishes in the top 16 in the . Open the top eight in the pea or As Trevino put it a win the British  a i done to want to even talk about it a a Trevino said of the possibility he might not be Back. Three into 18 leaves one by Ron Sirak Augusta a. A it came to this. Three golfers tied for the Lead in the masters with one Hole to play. And Only one of them could Par it on sunday the 18th at Augusta National is not one of the toughest holes on the course. It does no to Swallow up Golf balls and spit out quadruple bogeys the Way that no. 12 does. It does no to tantalize you with Eagle possibilities and then hand you Back a 7 the Way that no.13 does. But it is the last Hole of the masters. And when the championship is on the line and the crowds Are 20 deep around the Green and you arc standing on the tee with the memories of Hogan and Snead and Palmer and Nicklaus it is More than just 405 Yards of grass it is a pathway to history a door to immortality. Jose Maria Olazabal got. There first and often at Augusta that a a Good position to be in. In this tournament the Only Safe place to be is in the clubhouse. And 18 proved to be no Day at the Beach for Olazabal. His drive found the trap on the left Side of the Fairway the same trap that Sandy Lyle made Birdie from on the last Day to win the masters in 1988. No such Luck for the spaniard. He blasted his second shot out of the trap into the Bunker that guards the key to Victory Green in the front. A i hit an 8-Iron out of the Fairway Bunker because it was the Only club i could get Over the lip of the trap a Olazabal said. A. A / a. A another last this one 35 feet Short of the Hole on the tier below the pin. A a that a one of the toughest Bunker shots a he said. A i came very close to getting the Ball on the upper  ,. Lie left the putt Short and finished at 10 under Par with Only the Hope that somehow both torn Watson and Ian Woosnam would bogey 18 and there would be a playoff. He got half of his wish. Watson drove first still carrying the Honor from his dramatic Eagle at no. 15, his second Eagle in three holes that pulled him into a tie for the Lead. But the magic was gone. Watson drove with a 3-Wood but missed the Fairway wide right his Ball snuggling among the Pine Needles. Then Woosnam drove. Another booming drive from the 5-� foot-4 welshman but left far left fortunately into a practice Fairway Between the 9th, 8th and 18th fairways. Watson was much worse of. He had no Choice but to punch the Ball up near the Green where he caught the same Sand trap that did in Olazabal. Woosnam then played the role of traffic cop scout and shot maker As he first waved the gallery out of his Way jumped up to try to see the Green then jogged to the top of the Hill to get a glimpse before hitting his Ball onto the left fringe Short of the the Flag. Watson had the same nearly impossible Bunker shot that Olazabal had laced and got nearly the same result about 30 feet past the Hole. It was a Par putt he would slam past the Hole and miss coming Back for a tournament ending double bogey. A i had a Good line on the putt a wat son said. A i was just trying to put the Ball in the cup and i missed  meanwhile. Woosnam chipped to about eight feet from the Hole. No Gimme by any stretch of the imagination. Especially when it Means your first major tournament. Especially when it Means that even though you Are ranked no. 1 in the world you can tinally prove in a major tournament that Vou Are As Good As anyone in the world. Time froze As he stood Over the Ball. Then he stroked it cleanly into the Bottom of the cup. Quot it s something you a dream about a Woosnam said. Quot it s a dream come