Well see, that’s why we love sports anime right there. That had everything – a plucky hero trying to break the protagonist’s wall. A fated rival, a cheater wrestling with self-doubt (though not hard enough). A mentor too nervous to watch. An injured veteran trying to limp to the end in her comeback journey. It’s pretty remarkable to see a show transform so completely as Ooi! Tonbo has from one season to the next without losing a step. I’d really love to see where this series goes next, though that’s obviously pretty unlikely in anime form at least.
You have to feel badly for Ema. Her left ankle is ailing so badly that she’s basically swinging completely on her right side, and winds up using her putter as a cane (I’m assuming riding a cart is against the rules for this event). The golf swing is a delicate mechanism, even a single plane one. And if you want to see how badly a jacked leg can mess up a golfer, look no further than Tiger Woods. He has back issues too but it’s really the leg injuries from his auto accident that have derailed his career to the point where he can rarely play a tour event.
All this is heaping pressure on Hinoki, of course. As she sees Tonbo rooting for everyone else and Ema struggling so valiantly, it’s a reminder that she shouldn’t even still be on the course. However badly she feels, if she hasn’t withdrawn it’s not badly enough. “Not a real golfer”? She is right about that at least – no real golfer would do what she’s doing here (well, Patrick Reed maybe). Unless this decision she’s come to on the 18th is to come clean and disqualify herself, I’ll lose whatever sympathy I still have for her.
Tsubura is plugging along as she always does. Head down, thinking, grinding her way through hole after hole. She’s done absolutely nothing wrong of course, which is why it really sucks for her that what happened on the 18th tee did. Ema didn’t mean to do it of course, and Tsubura’s in-the-moment flash of rage was eminently understandable. Not remotely fair by a long shot. But it happened, and it speaks to the quality of her character that she caught herself before she said anything ungracious and did her best to let Ema (who feels worse than anyone for sure) off the hook.
Ultimately, though, this drama is about Tonbo. And really, golf is a uniquely dramatic sport no matter what its detractors say. Unique in the sense that its drama is unlike that of any other sport. It a battle against the course, the elements, and the self, playing out almost in slow motion. Tonbo is having exactly the experience Igarashi wants for her. She’s facing intense pressure, dealing with sweaty palms for the first time in her life. Expectations and fears and doubts. And Igaiga may genuinely believe that’s more important than the result at this stage of her growth (and he’s right) but that doesn’t mean he’s so desperate for her to win that he can’t bring himself to watch the 18th hole.
That pressure was no doubt the cause of yet another wayward drive for Tonbo. But she’s clearly one of those players who seems almost to thrive on playing out of trouble, an intense scrambler. Her drive is so far right that it’s almost on the 5th fairway – lucky in that she has a decent lie, but blocked from playing towards the green by a stand of trees. Or so it seems. But Tonbo is a scrambler to her DNA. She has a homemade shot for every eventuality – in this case the “lasso shot” where she violently hooks the ball. And, in classic Tonbo fashion, miraculously finds the green about ten feet from the hole.
Tonbo does miss that putt (a tough down-hiller) by a whisker. But she posts one-under, leaving the trio on the fairway to try and match or beat her. Ema is already at even par, her ankle having almost entirely given out. Cheater has found the left edge of the fairway, a perfect angle to the right pin position. And Tsubura – thanks to Ema’s untimely pratfall – is practically in Tonbo’s divot. But I can’t imagine she – the ultimate percentage player – would risk a similar type of recovery shot, even if she had the technique to pull it off. It’s anybody’s ballgame here but Tonbo is looking pretty good – though I have a weird feeling Ema could hole out from the trees for a freak eagle or something.
