This year’s Masters golf tournament was very exciting.
The Masters is the most important golf tournament of the year for professional and amateur golfers. It’s played on the same course every year, in Augusta, Georgia in the U.S.
The winner receives a unique green jacket.*
This year an Australian golfer won the tournament.
Adam Scott beat Argentinian Angel Cabrera in a “sudden-death playoff.”
On the difficult 18th (last) hole, Scott made a great shot that seemed unbeatable. To tie him, Cabrera would have to make a seemingly impossible shot. Scott went to the clubhouse, with everyone fairly certain he’d won.
But that feeling was very brief. Within minutes, Cabrera made his difficult shot and tied it up.
The two golfers had to play another hole to determine the winner. They tied that hole as well and had to play yet another hole.
Scott made an enormous putt, to win the game and the green jacket.
Another winner at the Masters tournament this year was 14-year-old Guan Tianlang from China. He’s an amateur golfer who made a big impression not only with his extraordinary skill but his calm and mature attitude.
At one point in his game, Guan was told that he was playing too slowly and needed to speed up a bit. But Guan wanted to think through every shot and make good decisions. To do that, he needed time.
Eventually he was given a one-stroke penalty for playing too slowly, something that has never been done before at the Masters tournament. That means they added a stroke to his score (in golf the lowest score wins—and every stroke really counts.)
Instead of being devastated or thrown into a tailspin, Guan accepted the penalty in a mature manner.
He said, “I respect the decision they made,” Sports Illustrated magazine reported.
Even with the penalty stroke, Guan was able to make the cut, becoming the only amateur who qualified to play for all four days of the tournament.
Guan is in Grade 8; he’s the youngest golfer to ever play in the Masters.
Guan won the award for the top amateur golfer at the Masters tournament.
He didn’t get a green jacket, but he did inspire millions of golfers in China and around the world with his attitude and his ability.
Related link
The Masters website.
*The first coveted “green jacket” was awarded to the winner of the Masters tournament in 1937. Why a green jacket? You’ll find the interesting answer to that question here.
CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Kathleen Tilly
Writing/Discussion Prompt
The last sentence of the article states, “He didn’t get a green jacket, but he did inspire millions of golfers in China and around the world with his attitude and his ability.”
Why do you think a professional athlete’s attitude is important? Is exceptional skill not enough?
Reading Prompt: Demonstrating Understanding
Read this article carefully and summarize the main idea(s) in 1-2 sentences. In your opinion, is there one main idea or more than one?
Junior
Demonstrate understanding of a variety of texts by summarizing important ideas and citing supporting details (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Intermediate
Demonstrate understanding of increasingly complex texts by summarizing important ideas and citing a variety of details that support the main idea (OME, Reading: 1.4).
Grammar Feature: Ordinal Numbers
When objects are placed in order, we use ordinal numbers to tell what position they are in. For example an object placed at the beginning of a line would be ‘first’ and the next object would be ‘second’.
In the Masters golf tournament, the last hole is the 18th.
What are the ordinal numbers for each of the following: 3, 99, 100, 32, 21, 6, 78?
