Friday, April 8, 2011

Sports and Age

Anyone who knows me will not be surprised that I wanted to do a post on the Masters.  Indeed, this week marks the 25th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus’ sixth Masters victory at age 46.  All of the retrospectives reveal that our conceptions of age have changed considerably since 1986.  Nicklaus was considered over the hill at 46 and his two major victories in 1980 at age 40 were considered remarkable.  Fast forward to the present and 40 year-old Phil Mickelson is the favorite to win this week.  Furthermore, we have seen 45 and over golfers in the mix in a number of majors over the last few years, most remarkably when a 59 year-old Tom Watson came a putt away from winning the 2009 British Open.  Fred Couples (51) has a chance to win over this weekend in Augusta just as he did last year.  Shaping up to be an interesting weekend.

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