In what is slowly becoming an annual tradition, I have decided to post my ramblings on The Masters golf tourney throughout the day. Today is Day 1, Thursday!
Updates will appear on the top of this post!
4:30pm: well here we are at the end of day 1. Biggest surprise has to be Jordan on top of the leaderboard by 2 shots. Not only that but he is 8 shots better than Tiger at the same point in his career. He is the man to beat no question. Of the other Top 5, McIlroy us the closest but had an up and down round with 3 bogeys and an eagle. Day was 5 under at one point but ended the day even. Bubba actually scored worse than the other Watson, Tom Watson and Adam Scott at plus 4? Woof. Let's not even talk about Fowler who got a snowman on his card and a snowman +8 overall. There are some solid players chasing Jordan including Justin Rise but if Jordan comes out firing tomorrow, watch out!
2:30pm: "The wind has upset Bubba." That was seriously just said on the telecast. Bubba has notorious rabbit ears, picking up all the comments from the gallery and sometimes will go into a mental tailspin about them. Apparently now he is in a tailspin about the wind, a new low.
2:00pm: Jordan might be at -6 but Day and Lowry are giving chase at -5. It is interesting that Augusta is yielding some really low scores. It's possible we can see a -15 or above to win the tourney. Or maybe the committee will turn in their underground weather system beneath the greens and make them lightening quick for tomorrow, we will see!
12:10pm: You can't stop Jordan you can only hope to contain him. That is my takeaway from this morning's action. A 6 under 66 is legit and he is now the favorite bar none. Biggest surprise of the morning? Scott being 2 over. I know he wanted Steve Williams on his bag and it can't be just the caddy but seriously what is going on?
11:25am: We are midday through round 1 and only Spieth and Day are on the first page amongst the top dogs. It's a long tourney but for all the hype around Scott Watson and a Lefty it's guys like Snedeker, Berger and Poluter (Poluter!) that are up there. I would love to see what happens with some of these guys on the weekend, especially Sneds after his round of the decade at Torrey Pines earlier this year.
10:30am: Jordan continues to do what Jordan does, make clutch putts and contend for Masters. It will be interesting to see if an early start makes a difference with guys going off at later times. So far there is no difference for Bubba who is 2 under through two holes. My feelings for Bubba aside, I do respect his record here at this course, it's pretty impressive. Also impressive? The Augusta Chronicle's App which has great stories and pics. Check them out on Twitter
8:30am: Because the course is much longer than it used to be and because they mow the grass toward the freakin tee boxes, the course favors the longer hitters. The Bubbas, the Rorys, etc. For those reasons, a lot of golf writers have written off guys like Zach Johnson who it it shorter and rely on their wedge game. Well all Zach is doing is leading the tourney at the moment with a -2. At a course like Augusta, knowledge of the breaks and the bounces is just as important as being able to hit it long. I will be interesting to see if Zach keeps it up but I'm not writing him off yet.
8:00am: Now we are getting into the meat of the course for the featured groups including the crazy 4th which is a par 3 that was Tiger-proofed (it played 205 in 1986) and is now 240 yards long with a huge bunker in the front of the green. I know long par 3's are the norm on tour but I think 240 is a bit much.
Of course, what do I know? A bunch of the pros hit irons into this thing so it will just be my problem if I ever get lucky enough to play the course not theirs.
7:30am: It looks cold and windy there at ANGC and I love it! I know the Masters is the traditional golf season kick off tourney so those in the North and Midwest are craving the sun and warmer temps via TV but I always thought that aside from the greens, the greatest defense the course has is the elements. If you have perfect conditions for a perfect course you get Jordan going to -18 under. Give me the rain and the wind and let's see how everyone stacks up.
7:00am: In a welcomed change, the Featured Groups won't just stay on one group but will follow a few around. After watching Ricky and the amateur muck it up out there, its a good thing we have Spieth, Casey and Bryson another "amateur" to follow around. I actually don't have a thing against Bryson, I just think that if he earned his ticket in an amateur event, it doesn't mean that he has to still be an amateur for the Masters. Then we won't have to keep up whatever fiction there is of him not being sponsored (although everyone assumes those are already lined up for immediately after the tourney).
6:45am: Geoff Shackelford has picked Ricky Fowler as his Masters winner. Ricky responds to the pick by promptly slicing the hell out of his tee shot on 1 into the pine straw then banging it off a few trees.
That's why I am keeping my Masters pick close to the vest, don't want to put bad juju out there. I think everyone but Zach Johnson would want this hole back again based on all the bark/pine straw they destroyed getting here.
6:15am: Good morning everyone! The 80th Masters is underway. Jim Herman is -1 so far this morning, feeling his oats after his win last week in Houston. Meanwhile, live coverage has begun over at Masters.com (http://www.masters.com/en_US/watch/index.html) which is the best golf website/App in the biz. Meanwhile it is waaay early here in Los Angeles and I need some coffee. Meanwhile, Rory's weirdo Nike snake ad is playing on Golf Channel. We should be all thankful that the Masters limits ads during broadcasts and that they tend to choose ads that won't bury in you brain like Rory's Rolex ad (and no I WON'T post a link to that here).
All images poorly photographed from Masters.com/CBS are their property and their use herein is for commentary and criticism purposes only and no rights are claimed to the copyright thereto.
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