DiMarco Has Some Unfinished Business

Chris DiMarco didn’t stay around the Masters very long last year, even if it seemed he did because of all the rain. The first round was washed out Thursday and DiMarco shot an 82 on Friday when they tried to squeeze in 36 holes between the raindrops to get the tournament back on track.

But that didn’t happen. Play was suspended early Friday evening because of darkness with DiMarco still on the course with one hole left, which he would be called back to finish Saturday.

Only DiMarco didn’t come back. In fact, he went home. DiMarco was 16 over par after 35 holes and he knew he wasn’t going to make the cut, so he decided to get out of town, go back to Orlando and watch his son Alexander’s baseball game.

So here we are at today’s fourth and final round of the Masters and the player tied for the lead is the guy who didn’t even want to be here last year.

And that qualifies as nothing less than major irony, even by Masters standards.

Keep in mind that even the tiniest breach of etiquette around here is punishable by extreme measures, such as removing all biscuits and gravy from the breakfast buffet lineup in the locker room.

The members of Augusta National in the green jackets see red when they feel their tournament is getting snubbed.

No one is quite sure how fleeing Augusta National in mid-Masters stacks up in the bad-move department, but it’s safe to say DiMarco probably wasn’t going to get invited to any backyard barbecues at Hootie Johnson’s place until pigs learned to fly directly into the smoker and cook themselves.

That probably is why DiMarco shot a third-round 68 Saturday and went out of his way to say he goofed last year. He said he should have stayed, that he had made a huge mistake, that he knew better now, that the Masters is his favorite tournament and that he certainly meant no disrespect for Augusta National.

We will have to wait and see how DiMarco’s apology works out and whether it appeases whatever power source runs this place. Maybe he has quietly bathed himself in good karma, or maybe it’s time that Phil Mickelson earned some of his own at last.

DiMarco and Mickelson aren’t the only ones with a chance to win, of course, not with proven major champions such as Bernhard Langer and Ernie Els breathing down their necks and emerging star Paul Casey right there with them.

If Mickelson isn’t the best possible winner because of his career-long search for a major title, then DiMarco probably would be next. The 35-year-old transplanted New Yorker has been on the PGA Tour since 1994, but only recently has he had an impact with 27 top 10s the last three years, when he has had two of his three victories.

Through 54 holes, DiMarco doesn’t have a single three-putt, which explains why he is regarded as one of the top putters on tour. Last year he was third in putts per hole (1.723), using his unusual grip that’s nicknamed “psycho” or “claw,” because he touches the grip with only the fingers of his right hand.

Despite what happened here last year, DiMarco’s overall Masters record is better than decent. In his debut in 2001, he led after the first and second rounds and was third going into the last day. He wound up tied for 10th after closing with a 74. In 2002, DiMarco tied for 12th.

Then came last year’s rain-soaked mess, although Mike Weir probably wouldn’t call it that.

It’s time to close the book on that chapter in his Masters life, said DiMarco, who sounded decidedly upbeat and actually downright confident when he considered going into the last day of the Masters with a share of the lead and a chance to win his first major.

That’s far removed from DiMarco’s early pro career in 1997 when he played the Nike Tour and traveled between tournaments in a custom-made van decorated in the orange and blue of the Florida Gators, his alma mater.

DiMarco is a major Gator fan, which brings up this hypothetical question: If the Masters moved from April to the fall and finished on a weekend when the Gators were to play a home game against Florida State, where would he go?

The good news is that DiMarco is never going to have to make that choice. The better news is that today, as long as he stays on the golf course, he has a chance to win the Masters.