Masters 1999: O'Meara can't get feeling out of his mind

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O'Meara can't get feeling out of his mind
By Tim Dahlberg
Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Maybe it was the birdie at 15 that got him within a shot. Or the 6-iron tucked close to the pin on the next hole as the pressure increased at about the same rate the late afternoon shadows stretched across Augusta National.
Whatever it was, Mark O'Meara had a feeling about this Masters as he walked off the 16th green on an April Sunday last year and handed his putter to Jerry Higgenbotham.
"I'm going to birdie the last two holes and win this sucker," he told the caddy.
Higgenbotham responded with a quizzical look, not sure what had come over his boss.
Looking back on it, O'Meara wasn't sure, either.
"I don't know why I said that," O'Meara said. "I'm not usually an aggressive person. Maybe I was just trying to use it as a motivating tool."
If he was, it worked.
Only Arnold Palmer had won the Masters by making birdies on the last two holes. O'Meara was about to do it to beat two of the game's best, Fred Couples and David Duval.
A 7-footer for birdie from above the hole put O'Meara into a three-way tie at 8-under at 17. Then a 7-iron to the 18th green was followed by a 20-foot birdie putt that quickly became part of Masters lore.
After nearly 18 years of grinding it out on the PGA Tour -- winning a respectable 14 times -- O'Meara finally had won the tournament that would define his career.
The excitement has yet to fade a year and one more major championship later.
"Watching that putt on 18 still makes the hair stand up on my arms," the 42-year-old O'Meara said.
His win came a year after the runaway victory of Tiger Woods, his neighbor and playing partner. O'Meara says friendly matches the two play in Orlando have sharpened his game and rekindled his competitive fire.
But even Woods couldn't have helped O'Meara roll in the putt of a lifetime, a dramatic stroke that forever changed his golfing career and the way he would be remembered. Before sneaking up from behind after an opening 74, O'Meara's days of being mentioned as a contender in a major tournament seemed to be long gone.
"People were starting to forget that I was in that category," O'Meara said. "They thought, he's 41, he can't win."
O'Meara not only showed he could win, he proved he wouldn't be a one-major wonder only three months later when he beat Brian Watts in a three-hole playoff to win the British Open.
He returns to the Masters Thursday with greater expectations, from himself and others.
"If I don't do as well as I'd like to I'll be disappointed," O'Meara said. "But I know I have that coveted green jacket. At least I've experienced that one time, no matter what happens."
O'Meara remembers marveling at the setting sun and the galleries creating shadows surrounding the 17th hole last year. The moment of beauty relaxed him enough to hit a 9-iron just over the pin for the birdie that would make the Masters a three-way tie with one hole left.
With Duval already in the clubhouse at 8-under, it was left to Couples or O'Meara to make birdie to win. Couples missed the green, while O'Meara put a 7-iron 20 feet to the right of the hole.
Many in the gallery already were headed toward the 10th tee and a playoff when O'Meara calmly rammed in the putt, then raised his arms in jubilation and hugged his caddy.
"I can remember my memories and thoughts coming down the stretch shot by shot," O'Meara said. "It was just an incredible experience."
Coming back to Augusta last month to plan the champion's dinner (sushi appetizers and fajitas), O'Meara relived some of the memories as he played the course for the first time since the Sunday that changed his life.
It was a cool Tuesday with none of the pressure of the Masters as O'Meara, his father and his agent played 18 and had lunch in the clubhouse.
"I could see how wonderful it would be to be a member at Augusta," O'Meara said. "Just to sit in the clubhouse and look out there was a wonderful feeling."
That wasn't the only wonderful feeling O'Meara had.
Standing on the 18th green, he looked for the spot where the hole was cut on that magical day.
"The pin was not exactly where it was, but there was an old cup almost exactly in the same area as where it was on Sunday last year," O'Meara said. "So I put a ball down and said, 'OK, guys, this is the putt I had.' I made it again, right over the old cup. I said, 'That's enough.'
"It brought back a lot of neat memories."