**OFFICIAL Masters Tournament Thread - Who's going to be the winner?**

[Patt]

Philly Mick is sh|ttin' the bed right now ... just had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: "Yeah but remember, Tiger shot a 40 on the front 9 and went on to win by 12!"
Me: "Two problems ... a) Phil might not even shoot a 40, and b) as good as he is, his name isn't Eldrick."
Him: "Wanna bet? $20"
Me: "Might as well just give it to me now."

I still would be surprised if Phil missed the cut, but I'm pretty confident I'm getting $20.

 

[Tarrant64]

Originally posted by: Patt
Philly Mick is sh|ttin' the bed right now ... just had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: "Yeah but remember, Tiger shot a 40 on the front 9 and went on to win by 12!"
Me: "Two problems ... a) Phil might not even shoot a 40, and b) as good as he is, his name isn't Eldrick."
Him: "Wanna bet? $20"
Me: "Might as well just give it to me now."

I still would be surprised if Phil missed the cut, but I'm pretty confident I'm getting $20.

I dont' know what the hell is going on with him.

 

[Gibsons]

Originally posted by: Patt
Philly Mick is sh|ttin' the bed right now ... just had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: "Yeah but remember, Tiger shot a 40 on the front 9 and went on to win by 12!"
Me: "Two problems ... a) Phil might not even shoot a 40, and b) as good as he is, his name isn't Eldrick."
Him: "Wanna bet? $20"
Me: "Might as well just give it to me now."

I still would be surprised if Phil missed the cut, but I'm pretty confident I'm getting $20.

Did your friend just take Phil against the field? That's dumb even before Phil went 5 over...

 

[meltdown75]

EEEK Rich Beem is in the lead right now.

I wouldn't want him to win only to repeat the gayest victory dance in the history of professional sports.

 

[Patt]

Originally posted by: Gibsons

Originally posted by: Patt
Philly Mick is sh|ttin' the bed right now ... just had the following conversation with a co-worker:

Him: "Yeah but remember, Tiger shot a 40 on the front 9 and went on to win by 12!"
Me: "Two problems ... a) Phil might not even shoot a 40, and b) as good as he is, his name isn't Eldrick."
Him: "Wanna bet? $20"
Me: "Might as well just give it to me now."

I still would be surprised if Phil missed the cut, but I'm pretty confident I'm getting $20.

Did your friend just take Phil against the field? That's dumb even before Phil went 5 over...

Indeed he did ... I could have understood it before the round maybe ... but this was after knowing this.

 

[Gibsons]

Couples just doubled #12.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Couples just doubled #12.

There will be a lot higher scores than that made at #12 this week. There will be several 7's or higher and there's always a chance for a 9+

 

[dethman]

augusta is eating the players up today.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: Gibsons
Couples just doubled #12.

There will be a lot higher scores than that made at #12 this week. There will be several 7's or higher and there's always a chance for a 9+

Is that the big downhill one with the creek in front of the green? And the entire green severely slopes forward and toward the creek?

 

[Tarrant64]

Yeah.

 

[Patt]

I knew I should have bought that SlingBox last weekend

 

[GuitarDaddy]

Good to see Tom Watson doing well, and schooling many of the youngsters on Augusta's tough greens +1 thru 16. Looks like he will have a good shot to make the cut, may be the only one of the old past champions.

*edit*
Wow, and Fuzzy too. How did I miss that -1 thru 4. Fuzzy loves that course he has always played well there

Being an old guy, I love Augusta's tradition of inviting past champions regardless of how crappy their games have become

 

[Patt]

Masters Radio is pretty sweet :thumbsup:, especially because the Amen Corner Live stream on Masters.org says it is not available in my area

 

[spidey07]

Go to masters.org and click and show leader board. 3 guys in the top 4, this is their FIRST masters. You can filter the scoreboard for first time players.

Wetterich
Henry
J. Singh

But like all majors, the newbies can come out and fire a low round, but the grind of 4 days will beat them up.

 

[dethman]

Originally posted by: spidey07
Go to masters.org and click and show leader board. 3 guys in the top 4, this is their FIRST masters. You can filter the scoreboard for first time players.

Wetterich
Henry
J. Singh

But like all majors, the newbies can come out and fire a low round, but the grind of 4 days will beat them up.

well that's because 10 people are tied for 3rd place. so there's 3 newbies in the top 12.

 

[Tarrant64]

Originally posted by: dethman

Originally posted by: spidey07
Go to masters.org and click and show leader board. 3 guys in the top 4, this is their FIRST masters. You can filter the scoreboard for first time players.

Wetterich
Henry
J. Singh

But like all majors, the newbies can come out and fire a low round, but the grind of 4 days will beat them up.

well that's because 10 people are tied for 3rd place. so there's 3 newbies in the top 12.

It's not unusual to see newbies out in front on the first day. They wont' be there by the end of this thing.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

The course chewed them up today, only 9 subpar rounds. If it plays this tough tomorrow the cut line would be around +8. Such a difference from the normal PGA tourney. Who has the mental toughness to keep it together for four rounds and nab the green jacket?
With Tiger lurking at +1 he still has to be the favorite, but tomorrow will be interesting.

 

[spidey07]

Originally posted by: GuitarDaddy
The course chewed them up today, only 9 subpar rounds. If it plays this tough tomorrow the cut line would be around +8. Such a difference from the normal PGA tourney. Who has the mental toughness to keep it together for four rounds and nab the green jacket?
With Tiger lurking at +1 he still has to be the favorite, but tomorrow will be interesting.

Yeah, guess my -16 was WAY off the mark.

Is it the greens? Be neat to know the stats on putting, greens hit.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

The greens at Augusta are always an issue. But they're not any different than they have been for the last 20 years, so they're not the reason for the scores. At least the putting isn't the reason. Since Augusta added all that length back in 2002 or so they've had a lot of rain around tournament time and that's impacted how the course plays. When the greens are soft the PGA tour guys are good enough to fire at anything. You can't hide flags from a tour player if he can make a 4-iron stop. The Masters Committee has kept saying to wait, that because of the rain and the soft greens nobody had ever seen the real Augusta. They were promising that when the greens were firm and not holding like dartboards the Master would be a whole different ballgame. The course is so long that the guys are hitting long approaches and they have no chance of getting them near the holes. They're missing more greens and they're facing much longer and tougher putts on the greens they do manage to hit. Those greens are the scariest on earth from 15 feet, they're 10 times scarier from 50 feet. If they get some rain the greens will soften up and scores will drop. If it stays dry the scoring will be really tough. If it stays dry and they get any serious wind it's going to be a fight for survival and +5 could win.

 

[spidey07]

Gaghalfrunt,

So the greens are the key to scoring then? Forcing long irons with greens that don't hold (and from looking at a lot of the holes a run up isn't even an option)? Then making them putt/chip these brutal monsters?

In other words you must make a pure, perfect shot to even have a chance a birdie.

That means as you said earlier that par 5s are going to be the key.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

On some of them even a perfect approach won't work. I didn't watch much of the coverage TV, but saw Tiger hit an approach on #10 to a front right pin. He hit a perfect shot, sky high, soft and right at the flag. It bounced 20 feet and then rolled another 30. He had a 50 footer downhill with at least 15 feet of break. He hit an excellent first putt and still had to make a nasty 8 footer to save par. Casey did the same thing and 3 putted from about the same place. That's what Augusta does to these guys. The greens are so severe that any ball that's running on them is at the mercy of the slopes. If they can throw the ball at the hole in the air and stop it they can get it close. If the ball bounces forward on the hard green it catches those insane slopes and shots that look perfect roll down two tiers and instead of a makable 10 footer for birdie you're faced with 45 feet and are just begging to make par. And that's a perfect shot at an accessable flag. There are a lot of suicidal pins at Augusta that no sane person can shoot at, so the players are forced to try to play to 30 feet. Catch a slope at 30 feet with a bad bounce and suddenly the ball is 70 feet from the pin and your chances of 2-putting are no better than 50-50.

Augusta National is a screwy course in that in gives the players TONS of room off the tee. You can miss fairways by 50 yards and have open shots from clean lies in the pine straw. But it's got to be the most penal course on earth around the greens. They're so fast and so severely sloped that a shot that misses by inches can be a double bogey in the blink of an eye. At Augusta it's sometimes better to miss by 100 yards in one direction rather than one inch in a different direction. A tiny error can lead to a 15 foot putt that you can't make stop within 10 feet of the hole. Watch closely, you're going to see hundreds of 4 foot putts that are missed and the player will have a 12 foot putt coming back just because he was on the wrong side of the hole.

 

[spidey07]

Thanks for your input gaghalfrunt.

It adds a ton to watching the game. Sounds like approach is the key (meaning you boom it off the tee just to get a good look at it), give yourself a makable putt, avoid the 3 and move on to the next hole. Miss and you're stuggling for par - up and down will be difficult.

I'm surprised at the scores today. If what you are saying is true then these guys are WORKING just to maintain par and the scores support it.

 

[GuitarDaddy]

I'm lovin it, this is the masters at it's best. Under these type conditions it's the ultimate test of shot making, it's like walking on a highwire with no safety net. Anything less than perfection with your approch shot and your looking at bogey or worse unless you make a couple of excellent shots/putts and save par. To be successful you need to be long, perfect with your approaches, have an impecable short game, and be a wizard with a putter. Not to much to ask

I look for a couple of grinders like DL III and Verplank, both excellent ball strikers to do well if the conditions stay this way. I would think Toms and Vijay also a good chances. For the young guys that scored well today it will be about handling the bad holes that will come in the next three rounds.

 

[Tarrant64]

Weather looks to be another cool day. Not too much wind either.Can't wait for this to get started...

 

[spidey07]

J. Singh - 3 boggies thru the first 6 holes.

Augusta gobbling up the newbies.