Masters 2016
Maybe…Yes
Sir! The Masters is upon us.
Before
we get any further I must inform you the entire broadcast of the 1986 Masters
is available for one week only on masters.com.
It is a fascinating watch to see just how unexpected the Golden Bear’s
victory was. If you haven’t seen it, I
strongly encourage you to stop reading this and watch it. Among other incredible things it contains the
great Ben Wright call after Jack’s eagle on 15, “There’s life in the old bear
yet!”
Up
here in the north, only the heartiest of men and women will be out on the golf
course with snow forecast this weekend.
Thankfully, our good friends in Augusta are hosting the finest sporting
event of the year this weekend so we can just enjoy the action on whatever
platform you choose to watch it from.
The
birds are chirping, the flowers are blooming, and Nantz has found a new
tie. The champions have filled up on
Texas BBQ, and chocolate chip cookies and ice cream. Jack and Gary are ready to hit that tee ball
tomorrow morning to get us started. By
the end of the weekend someone is going to be wearing a green jacket and we are
fortunate enough to get to see it unfold.
The Amateurs
In an event
started by the greatest amateur of all time, the amateurs will always have a
spot amongst the competitors. Some of
them have higher hopes than others but there are six amateurs this year , US
Amateur Champion and runner-up, the British Amateur champion, the Asia-Pacific
Amateur champion, the Latin America amateur champion, and the Mid-Amateur champion.
Romain
Langasque- British Amateur Champion- The French are known for a number of
great things, most especially the croissant.
Great golfers are not one of them.
In my history as a golf fan there have only been two Frenchmen I can
remember, Victor and Jean. Only time
will tell if Romain will be the next great, but he will be in Augusta thanks to
his victory at the British Amateur championship last year. Last year at the British Open there were
amateurs everywhere with Paul Dunne leading and Ollie Schneiderjans storming up
the leaderboard on Sunday. Mostly unnoticed because no one had ever heard of
him Romain also made the cut.
Cheng Jin- Asia-Pacific
Amateur Championship & Paul Chaplet- Latin
America champion- I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we are probably
one or two years from the a player in the Masters being born in the 2000s. Cheng was born in 1998 and just turned 18. Paul is 16 and was born in 1999. Both qualified by winning these regional
amateur tournaments that Augusta National had a big hand in starting in an
effort to “grow the game” in these regions.
Derek Bard- US
Amateur Runner Up-
Derek was the final victim of Bryson DeChambeau’s coronation as the best
amateur golfer in America last summer.
Derek continues to attend and play for Virginia where he is having a
pretty good junior season. There was one
potentially great player in the US Amateur final last year and it wasn’t Derek.
Sammy Schmitz-
US Mid-Amateur Champion- As I say every year, the mid-amateur champion is
often the worst player in the field, and is most likely the only person playing
who won’t be a pro golfer. Nobody had a
better way to qualify for this year’s Masters though. At the mid am last summer at St. John’s
Island Sammy was leading the final by 2 holes with four to play. The 15th hole is a 290 yard par
4. Sammy pulled out his driver and aced
it to move to three up with three to play.
I am sure his opponent was in shock and Sammy won the tournament and his
place in the field on the next hole.
To
diminish his hopes even more, Sammy is from Minnesota, has a job and a family. In order to get some practice and soak up the
perks of getting into the Masters by playing Augusta National, Sammy raised
$25K on go fund me to pay for trips. I
am sure this helped, but he is competing against people who have spent years
and all of the last few months doing nothing but playing competitive golf.
Bryson
DeChambeau- US Amateur Champion- At this point he is an amateur in name
only since he has already announced he is turning pro next week. But he is the most interesting man in golf at
this point. He brings the mind of a
scientist to the game of golf, which in a field lacking Robert Karllson is
desperately needed. The biggest and main
reason for his intrigue is the length of his clubs. All of his irons are the same length because
he then only has to make one swing. I
read an interview Jim Nantz did, and in it he mentioned if Bryson were to win
it would revolutionize the game since everyone would at least try this
concept.
Due
to some SMU related NCAA violations (surprisingly, not Larry Brown related),
Bryson is unable to defend his NCAA championship this spring and as a result he
dropped out of college and has played a number of events this fall/winter with
a fair amount of success. He has also
been borrowing DVDs of past Masters from Nantz to study the greens. I can’t wait to see this guy, and expect to
see him play well.
Past Champions
(who are no longer good)
The greatest
perk of winning The Masters is you get a green jacket. But one of the other great perks is you get
to play the rest of your life, no matter how old or bad you get. Until they gently suggest it is time.
Sandy Lyle- The 1988
champion has had some success the past few years which is always a
surprise. However, this year he has made
a fellow middle aged golfer’s dream come true.
Sandy has accepted the offer of Esteban Toledo to caddie for him this
year. Esteban is a long time middling player
and realized last year that he was likely not going to qualify for the Masters
as a player. He asked Gentle Ben
Crenshaw if he could caddie for him last year, but because he it was his last
Masters Ben stuck with his man Carl Jackson and they trained Jordan Spieth and
Michael Greller about how to navigate Augusta.
This year, Esteban asked Sandy and after some thought he allowed him the
honor to work for free and donate $10,000 to a charity of Sandy’s choice.
Larry Mize- Larry lists
his interests outside of golf as fishing, all sports and piano. Does this mean he doesn’t consider fishing a
sport or he enjoys doing the fishing but watching sports on TV? Anyway, he is currently 82nd on
the Senior Tour money list so his chances of success are very low.
Mark O’Meara- Mark is living
the quiet life these days just being on the senior tour. However, his son is making waves in the
clothing world with his brand, Duvin, which to quote their website, “was
started by four lifetime friends in the name of dudeness.” I can’t say I am a likely customer, but if
you are a surfer check it out.
Ian Woosnam- Woozy was
lamenting his exclusion from the world golf hall of fame recently and said, “It is disappointing. Maybe
I’m not in the limelight as much as other people who keep themselves in the
limelight but that’s because I’m a quiet person. I don’t want to be in the
limelight. Maybe that’s why I have been forgotten a little bit. But listen, if
I don’t get in there it won’t be the end of the world.” The good news for Woozy is if he wanted to
remain under the radar he chose a great year to celebrate his 25th
anniversary of winning the smallest green jacket, because this year we are
celebrating the ’86 Masters instead of the ’91 Masters. If he is lucky they might do a throwback cut
in for a minute early in the broadcast Friday to talk ’91 Masters.
Angel Cabrera- Angel has
always been a bit of a wild card, a guy with tremendous talent and stretches of
what seems to be disinterested play and then short periods where you wonder why
this guy isn’t one of the all-time great players. In the first two majors of the year we return
to the sites of his two greatest triumphs.
By father’s day he could be halfway to the grand slam, but I doubt it. His best finish this year is a 42nd
in Palm Springs.
Fred- Get Better
Fred!! See you in August at the Senior
Open! (Fred is hurt and won’t be playing)
Bernhard Langer- As will be
discussed again; the ban on anchoring the putter to your body went into effect
when the calendar turned to 2016.
Bernhard was probably the most vocal critic of the new rule (Webb is
right up there too) and so far has had the most controversy related to it. While many of the guys who were anchoring
changed putters, Bernhard is still using almost the exact same stroke with the
long putter but right before he putts he moves it an inch off of his
chest. It is often hard to tell that it
isn’t anchored and his competitors on the senior tour have made him aware of
that.
Tom Watson- The man who I
have ranked at the 7th best player of all time (rankings only go
back to Hagen/Jones) is making his final appearance at Augusta National this
week. He would be the obvious next in
line to become an honorary starter.
I
read a great book last summer by Joe Posnanski, called The Secret of Golf. It is about Nicklaus and Watson. One thing that really stood out to me about
Watson is he has a certain set of principles and sticks by them at all times,
which is likely why he has ruffled some feathers along the way. One of them which I found odd was the belief
that dishwashers are ruining society because they are a way to cheat hard
work. Thus, Tom has never used a dish
washing machine. He does eat at
restaurants that use them so he isn’t totally against dishes cleaned by them.
My All Time Top
Ten Ranking
1 1- Jack
2 2- Tiger
3 3- Hogan
4 4- Jones
5 5- Hagen
6 6- Player
7 7- Watson
8 8- Snead
9 9- Nelson
1 10- Palmer
The Worst
Champions Ever?
These two really
aren’t old, they just aren’t good
Trevor Immelman- At last year’s
Masters Trevor’s chances that week and his game in general were looking very
bad. Since then he has slipped from 560th
in the world to 1,558th. This
slip is mostly due to missing 12 of 17 cuts, a DQ and four cuts made with the
best finish being a tie for 32nd in the Barbasol Championship.
My Queer- Mike
Weir-
It is not a good sign for your game when you decide the best course of action to
take some time off. I have never heard
of some saying they are playing too well so they are taking some time off. So you can imagine the state of The Queer’s
game when he announced last July he was going to be taking time off. He has since returned to professional golf,
but the results remain the same. Missed
Cuts.
Won’t survive
the cut
The Aging
Europeans
These three have
been a thorn in the side of American’s for years so I won’t be sad to see
Darren Clarke leave any of them at home (in Florida) during this year’s Ryder
Cup
Ian “Poultry”
Poulter-
If you have decided to pick a fight with a pro golfer I suggest you go
elsewhere. At the Valspar Championship
Ian was heckled by an adult, who then bragged about yelling at Ian and being
drunk during the event on twitter. Since
Ian is leading the tour in twitter, he was quick to notice, find his employer,
and report this to his employer. His
employer was not thrilled with their employee and fired the guy. As he has proven many times before at the
Ryder Cup, Ian is deadly in a one on one situation.
Graeme McDowell- As we have
followed the last few years, Graeme is now in the restaurant business. His first one is going so well he is
expanding, with a new restaurant featuring G Mac & Cheese. He has also played some golf and played
better than last year, but still not good.
However, he seems to be this year’s guy who has a “new game plan.” Every year there is some guy, usually who
stinks at Augusta, who comes in with a new plan. This year that guy is Graeme. Almost always the new plan doesn’t work. Last year it was Lee Westwood.
Lee Westwood- Lee has played
4 times this year and has missed three cuts and the fourth was the match play
where he didn’t advance past pod life.
His streak of nine cuts made in a row will come to an end on Friday.
The Ryder Cup
Captains
The fact that
these two are in the field is a bit of a surprise and I am pretty sure neither
has very high expectation. Regarding the
Ryder Cup weather, they are really playing with fire playing in Minnesota in
the beginning of October.
Darren Clarke- Darren is
spending his time fishing and planning for the Ryder Cup. He seems to be living the life fishing for
either Permit or Bonefish down in the Bahamas or missing the cuts in golf
tournaments. He is still playing based
on his victory at the British Open in 2011.
Barring a total miracle this will be his final time at The Masters as a
player.
Davis Love III- In what was
one of the most surprising finishes of 2015, Love won the Wyndham championship
in Greensboro for a very unexpected win and spot in the Masters. Since he got into a bunch of tournaments he
is playing in more PGA events than he expected, while still making time for
hunting and fishing. Don’t worry
America, he still has made plenty of time for picking out the golf shirts the players
will wear at Hazeltine.
The long putter
casualties
These guys were
using anchored putters and this new rule has really hurt them so far
Webb Simpson- Starting last
season Webb switched to the short putter in order to be ready for the rule change
this year. So far it has not been a
great success. At the start of 2015 he
was 43rd in the world and he is currently 80th. After the first year of the short putter he
wasn’t worried. Year 2 started off
better, but has gone downhill since February.
According
to his twitter account he has recently moved into the 5th Galaxy
with his Samsung Galaxy. I have recently
moved away from the 5th Galaxy and I am not sure how it will affect
my golf game, but I was pleased with it in the 5th Galaxy. Although I will concede it is possible your
golf game and your phone are not related.
Keegan Bradley- It is somewhat
fitting that the guy who won the 2011 PGA with an anchored putter to really get
the discussion of a ban underway is now having the most trouble converting to
the new rule. This week Keegan dropped
out of the top 100 in the world for the first time since he won that PGA.
The rest of the
trunk slammers
For a myriad of
reasons these guys just aren’t playing very well
Martin Kaymer- It was about
21 months ago that Martin won the US Open by 9 shots. Since then he has played so little and poorly
he lost his tour card because he didn’t play in enough events. While this isn’t a huge problem since he can
get into plenty of tournaments he also hasn’t played very well. For a guy who has almost always struggled at
Augusta no matter his form coming in this doesn’t bode well.
Steven Bowditch- The inability
to break 80 is a major problem in pro golf and it is one Mr. Bowditch is having
with troubling regularity this year, at one point posting 5 straight rounds in
the 80s. He did break 80 both rounds
last week while still being nowhere near the cut. Since he last broke par on tour he has shot
in the 80s six times. Thankfully, if this doesn’t get turned around he won’t be
lingering like Weir and Immelman he will just be out of our lives trying to
turn it around somewhere outside of Augusta.
Troy Merritt- Like most 30
year old men, Troy has read each of the 7 Harry Potter books at least 12
times. Hopefully he learned some of the
magic involved in those books because to be slipping into a green jacket he is
going to need every trick in the book to make up for his lack of distance. (Note: While I have some interest in reading
these books, I have not done so. If
magic isn’t involved my apologies to Potter fans)
Vaughn Taylor- The Augusta
native makes a long waited and welcome return to Augusta this week. Vaughn played in the Masters in 2007 and 2008
before a long (almost) decade in the wilderness. After a shocking win, both because he won and
Phil couldn’t get up in down from the front of the green, at Pebble Beach he
returns. However, I wouldn’t spend too
much betting on this guy. His finishes
so far this year are MC, MC, WD, 1st, MC, MC, MC, MC. So if he makes the cut watch out.
Fabian Gomez- In contrast to
some of these youngsters, Mr. Gomez has taken a longer time to make it to the
Masters at the solid middle age of 37 years old. He is also in the midst of just his 4th
year on tour with many of the previous years spent on the Argentine tour. He seems to have found his stride on tour
with a win last year in Memphis and another this year in Hawaii at the Sony
Open. However, he seems to have a
difficult time in events where the other guys ranked in the top 50 are playing. Given his penchant for slow starting and the
fact that these other top 50 guys are all playing this week, I don’t have high
hopes for him this week.
Hunter Mahan- The man who
was once a lock for top 10s and making a ton of money is in a major slump,
dropping out of the top 100 in the world this week. His caddie left him for the ping pong talent
of Matt Kuchar, he sold his house in Dallas to Jordan Spieth and somewhere
along the way his game departed him too.
A
not interesting fact- His dad has the same name as one of my dogs.
Victor Dubuisson- So far Victor
has only been able to win in Turkey, where he has now won the Turkish Airlines
Open twice, most recently at the end of 2015.
However, for some reason this year he has only played 4 times. In those 4 times he has not played well
either, with two missed cuts and two low finishes in the world golf
championships.
Anirban Lahiri- The pride of
the Indian subcontinent, Anirban shot up the world rankings last year with
victories all over Asia and India. Due
to his high standing in the world rankings he has been able to play many times
in America. So far things have not gone
very well at all. Unless there is a very
last minute change to move The Masters out of the country, Anirban is in
trouble.
Billy Horschel- I was once
talking to someone about a hockey goalie (Steven Mason for the CBJ fans) and I
asked him what he thought was wrong with him his response was, “I’ve heard of a
guy having a 3 month hot streak, I’ve never heard of a guy having a 2 year cold
streak.” I feel like the back to back
wins en route to the Fed Ex Cup was a hot streak and his poor play since and
before then is more like reality. Given
his lack of success in the past at Augusta and his lack of success in the past
year I don’t see the hot streak starting again this week.
Soren Kjeldsen- Soren came out
of nowhere to win on one of the greatest golf courses in the world last year
when he won the Irish Open at Royal County Down. Can he do it again this week? Based on his recent play it is very
unlikely.
Ernie Els- The most news
Ernie has made in the past year is the result of missing ridiculously short
putts due to a yippy stroke. He says the
problem has resolved by going cross handed.
I hope he is right because nothing is uglier than yipping a one foot
putt. Speaking from my own experience
though, that is something that stays with you.
With greens this fast I will have to see it to believe he is fixed.
Playing the
Weekend
The top 50 and
ties and anyone within 10 shots of the lead will make it to the weekend this
year. Since there are only 89 players in
the field a pretty decent amount of the guys who start on Thursday will be
around on Sunday.
Jim Herman- Go
Hermie Go-
The 90th member of the field (until the devastating withdraw of Fred
so we are down to 89) had an incredible win last weekend. Like most of America, I spent last Sunday
watching the golf tournament from 1-6 with a brief interlude at 3 because the
hockey game on NBC wasn’t over so I caught up on the Blackhawks for 5
minutes. I was cheering for local
favorite, Kyle Reifers, but as soon as it became clear he wasn’t going to win
it was all I could do to avoid spraining my ankle jumping on the @gohermie
bandwagon. So far this season there have
been two back to back champions so maybe he can become the third?
Zach “Jerk”
Johnson-
Last year’s final round of the British Open was probably the most exciting day
of golf of the year. As you may recall,
the day started off with a trio of leaders, Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen and
amateur Paul Dunne. You had Jordan one
stroke behind going for the third leg of the grand slam, and Day tied with him. The action went back and forth with different
people taking the lead. Out of nowhere
though, Jerk Johnson sneaked to the top of the leader board and took the lead
with a great putt on 18 and an even better bird dance reaction from his caddie
Damon Green. While this was concerning,
all the other players who people wanted to win still had holes left and would
hopefully pass him. Sadly, this was not
the case and what was likely the best day of the year of golf was marred with
this character as the champion.
Charl Schwartzel- Charl has won
three of the last eight tournaments he played.
However, it seems every year since his break through win in 2011 he has
been playing well coming into The Masters and that hasn’t yielded great results
with his highest finish being a tie for 25th since then. That said, I like his chances of winning a
second green jacket over his chances of doing something interesting.
Vijay Singh- The lion is still
battling out his lawsuit with the PGA Tour and also still battling it out on
the PGA Tour rather than teeing it up on the Senior/Champions tour like most 53
year olds who are great at golf do. He
is having some success on both counts, but his putting remains iffy at best and
for that reason I don’t love his chances to slip into his second green jacket
on Sunday.
Justin Rose- Mr. Rose seems
to be the popular pick amongst gamblers due to his good finish last year and
his comparably high odds. However, by
his own admission his short game is a mess.
His long game is so good he might be able to largely mitigate the
problem, but somewhere along the way he will need an up and down.
Jason Dufner- In the past
few years nobody has had a bigger appearance change than Jason. However, his game hasn’t changed too much
which is both good and bad. He should
have plenty of chances at birdies thanks to his excellent ball striking, but
his putting remains shaky as ever.
Paul Casey- His Tuesday
consisted of an ace on 12 and watching the 86 Masters documentary. His Thursday will consist of 18 with the
defending champion and US Amateur champion.
That is a solid week.
Ryan Moore- Ryan appears
to be wearing normal clothing this year and it is paying off with some good
finished. With Bryson DeChambeau taking
the crown of “man with the most eccentric clubs” from him maybe he will focus
just on his golf.
Kevin Na- As a rule of
thumb, it is not great news for a golfer’s chances at The Masters if three
months ago there was an article about you called, “Inside the Complicated Mind
of Kevin Na: A Case Study in the Frailty of a Golfer’s psyche” As you can likely guess by the title there was
an article about Kevin this year about all of the mental trouble he has had
swinging, finishing etc. If you don’t
remember all this nonsense consider yourself lucky. The premise of the article is he has been
cured of his troubles, but I am going to have to see him under the gun to
believe it. I tend to like my Masters
picks in a green jacket not a strait jacket.
Kevin Streelman-The man of
streel and I have a lot of parallels going on with each other this year. First, we were both cheering for Villanova
Monday night. Second, his wife Courtney
was pregnant and it was looking like he was going to miss the Masters. I have a similar situation going on at my
house and have already bypassed an invitation to play in a major to ensure I am
available for the baby to be born.
Fortunately for Streel, his baby came early and healthy and he is ready
to go. Due to the condensed northern
schedule if that happens to me I will miss both majors I am scheduled for in
June.
Branden Grace- Branden is
convinced most fans couldn’t pick him out of a line up and he isn’t wrong. However, he was one bad swing from winning
the US Open and had a good finish at the PGA.
He seems to be primed for a big win.
However, he hasn’t fared well at The Masters the last two years. I like he chances at Oakmont or Baltusrol
though.
Marc Leishman- It is a very
happy return to Augusta for Marc. Last
year he withdrew from The Masters because his wife was sick with a life threatening
illness. Thankfully she recovered and
was in good health by the time the big Aussie played in the British Open
playoff. Big Marc has all the shots one
needs and plenty of length to get it done this week.
Chris Kirk- The man born in Knoxville but reared in
Woodstock, Georgia has been right on the bubble of the top 50 in the world the
last 6 months after climbing up to 17th last May. He played well at the match play until
falling to Rory in quarters.
Harris English- While his back
is still acting up and he can’t show off his prodigious talent this week, the
word of one Frederick Steven Couples is still gospel around here. I was watching an interview with Fred and he
was asked who he thought was the best looking guy on tour and he named Harris
English. Who is going to argue with Fred
about looks? I put a picture so you can
judge for yourself.
Danny Lee- After his win
last year at the Greenbrier, Danny had this to say, "It was just amazing.
It's phenomenal. It's my fourth time playing here, and I liked it every single
year. Only one wish I had was if I had a girlfriend, it wouldn't be as lonely
in the room." This became a mission
for a few of the tour players, especially Pat Perez. At one point since then he had a lady in his
life but my internet research could not determine the status of their
relationship. However, in golf he may
have bigger relationship problems. He is
breaking in a new caddie this week after a split with his old one. He should have hired a local guy this week.
Shane Lowry- Shane
celebrated his birthday on Saturday with a round at Augusta with some of his
best buddies. Unfortunately, the reason
he was playing there Saturday was because he missed the cut in Houston.
J.B. Holmes- If it weren’t
for bad injury luck JB would have no luck at all. Fortunately, his current injury is much less
severe than the brain surgery he had.
However, he withdrew last week from the Shell Houston open with a
shoulder injury. It sounds like he is
going to give it a go but I don’t think this helps him.
Kevin Kisner- The Kis was on
fire for about 6 months last year and was knocking on the door for a win most
of the summer. He finally got a win in
the state of Georgia at the finest sponsored tournament on tour the RSM
Classic. However, after the tour took a
trip to Hawaii, he returned home but his hot streak didn’t come with him. Having grown up twenty miles from Augusta in
Aiken, South Carolina he may have an advantage, but I would have felt a lot
better about him in January.
Brooks Koepka- With Tiger
out, Brooks may be the only guy in the field with his own logo.
He
is a popular pick this week due to prodigious length and all around game. However, I had this guy on my fantasy team
last year and spent all summer cheering for him. I was let down frequently.
Matt Kuchar- After a 5 year
reign in the top 10 of the world the Kuch has dropped slightly in the last year
and a half. Is he simply in a slump or
on a decline? I am hoping we will see
those pearly whites late on Sunday, but things are not looking as good as they
did in prior years.
Scott Piercy- In his last
three starts he has finished 17th, 18th, and 19th so he
will almost certainly finish 20th this week.
Robert Streb- Robert almost
provided one of the great highlights on tour last season. At the Greenbrier he broke his putter after
gently tossing it back to his caddie.
One interesting note about clubs that get broken without video evidence,
it is always due to a gentle toss and it is a fluke they break. Since he was not able to replace it he had to
putt with his sand wedge the entire back nine.
It seemed like all hope was lost but then a funny thing happened. He was awesome with the sand wedge and wound
up in a playoff. He was then able to
replace the broken putter and ultimately lost in the playoff because he didn’t
stick with the one who brought him. He
also hit it over the green and chipped numerous times in the playoff.
Jimmy Walker- Jimmy is a
Baylor Bear so it seems to be an appropriate time to discuss the best show on
HGTV, Fixer Upper. The show is set in
the thriving metropolis of Waco, Texas which has to have the cheapest real
estate of cities featured on TV. It
stars Jo and Chip Gaines who are a contracting/interior decorator team. The basic premise of the show is they buy a
house for very cheap (often under $50K or less) then put 100-150K into the
house and make an incredible looking home for the people. One thing I always find interesting is Chip
just assumes they want to spend their entire budget. Generally the houses appear to be teardowns
and by the end they look great. We are
big fans.
Jimmy
became the first man to ever break 20 in the par 3 contest today. Thus he is doomed this week.
Sergio- Probably my
biggest regret in the history of writing this preview, even bigger than ever
starting to do it in the first place, is the fact that I once picked The Canary
to win it all. Every time I see him on TV
I am reminded of this great blunder, but my thinking at the time was his new
found success with the claw grip. Not
only have I given up on Sergio but it seems he would be as surprised as anyone
to win this week. As it is becoming more
and more clear Sergio is not going to win a major I can’t help but think what
if that putt at Carnoustie in 2007 had gone in?
Man it was close.
Off
the top of my head, some of the great what ifs of golf-
1)
Sergio
making that putt against Paddy- Does Sergio start to win and contend in major
championships regularly? He was 27 at
the time. He has finished 2nd
in two majors since then and both involved colossal collapses by him.
2)
Ogilvy
not chipping in on 17 at Winged Foot- What if he doesn’t make that chip on 17
and Phil has a two shot lead as he tees off on 18. He just has to bogey to win the second leg of
the grand slam and his third straight major.
Could he have done the Phil slam?
3)
Watson
doesn’t chip in on 17 at Pebble- Obviously we wouldn’t have possibly the most
famous shot in golf, but Jack would have won his 5th US Open. Does the ’86 Masters come as such a surprise?
4)
Larry
Mize chip- You could make a what ifs of miracle shots involving Norman twice
this long, but does this change everything for him?
5)
Yang-A-Tang
doesn’t chip in at Hazeltine to beat Tiger- Does the implosion to Tiger still
happen? Probably because it was too big
of a house of cards to never come out, but maybe his game doesn’t fall apart as
quickly. Maybe the scandal comes out
later and Tiger wins a few majors in 2010 to put him right up there at 17
majors right now.
Thongchai Jaidee- Thirty years
ago a 46 year old man became the oldest Masters champion of all time. If this 46 year old does the same I can
guarantee it will be met with less fan fare.
Danny Willett- Danny wasn’t
expecting to be able to play this week because his wife was due with a baby
this week. Fortunately for Danny this
child decided to arrive about two weeks earlier than expected and he is able to
play. Danny is a rising star of European
golf but with this baby at home, I am concerned about how much practice he will
have had in the last few weeks. For you
Americans, just wait for this guy to dominate is at the Ryder Cup.
Byeong-hun An (Ben
An)-
Mr. An is making his second appearance at The Masters, and first since the 2010
version when he was the reigning US Amateur.
This is based only on my own speculation, but I bet about 15% of the
guys who play as an amateur end up making it back as a pro. At the end of the 1986 Masters broadcast a
gentleman named Sam Randolph was in the Butler Cabin with Jack, Brent Musburger
and the Augusta National guy. He was the
low amateur for the second year in a row.
Cameron Smith- This guy allegedly
got 4th at the US Open last year with an eagle on the final hole. I watched the entire US Open last year and
have no recollection of this guy ever being on my tv screen at any point during
that round. Since this alleged 4th
place finish Cameron has been playing well and got 11th at Pebble
Beach. If you see a guy who appears to
be 15, it is either this guy or the amateur who is 16.
Matthew
Fitzpatrick-
Matthew is making his second appearance at Augusta in three years and the man
is 20 years old. Like An, he won the US
Amateur to qualify. He won his US
amateur in 2013, prior to his freshman year at Northwestern. Following in the footsteps of most Kentucky
basketball players, he only lasted until Christmas break as a wildcat when he
decided that his future was in golf and Evanston wasn’t the place to pursue it.
So far that is looking like a wise
decision. He won his first tournament on
the European tour last October in the slightly less prestigious British
Masters.
Daniel Berger- The last time
we saw Mr. Berger he was trying to hit a ball that was near a rock wall in
Austin Country Club. He was playing Phil
in the match play tournament and had driven his ball near a rock wall, but he
thought he would be able to hit it. He
took many practice swings to make sure he had enough room. Then he tried to hit the ball for real and as
we all know happens, the swing changed and he in fact didn’t have enough
room. He hit the wall but not the ball
leading to a loss of the hole, the match and an injured wrist.
Emiliano Grillo- The “class of
2011” is quickly becoming the 1983 QB draft class of golf. The guys in that class and also in The Masters
are, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Daniel Berger, and Grillo. Within a month last fall Grillo won the
Web.com tour championship and then turned right around and won his first
tournament up in wine country at the Frys.com.
Smylie Kaufman- This young man
should be thanking his parents for such a great name. Smylie who has a brother named Luckie, won
the second tournament of the year with a scorching 61 in the final round in Las
Vegas. Since then he has been playing
well.
David Lingmerth- David is best
known for his victory at the Memorial last year in a heated final round battle
with fellow European Union member Justin Rose.
Unfortunately for David, he has no chance to win this tournament or any
other major championship due to something he had no control over. In the year of his birth, 1987, David’s uncle
Goran served as the kicker for the Cleveland Browns getting just enough Browns
stink on himself and the rest of the family to curse them to a lifetime of
heartbreak.
Russell Knox- When J.B.
Holmes withdrew from the HSBC World Golf Championship last year, Russell took
his place. After having his wife fill
out the paperwork necessary to get a work visa in China at the last minute, and
playing one quick practice round, Russell notched his first and so far only
victory.
Kiradech
Aphibarnrat-
In the world of golf it has been at least 15 years since being compared to John
Daly was a compliment, but Kiradech enjoys the nickname Asia’s John Daly. With a swing similar to long John’s swing and
the physique, in John’s heavier days, to match the comparison is reasonable
even if no one really would want it. The
only drawback is so far he seems to actually be trying and enjoying golf when
he plays.
Jamie Donaldson- When I was a
youngster my dad passed on the great wisdom that the best tool box is the
yellow pages. This is advice that I pass
on to all of these golfers competing for almost $2M this week and one that
Jamie learned the hard way. This winter
Jamie was doing some work involving a chainsaw and almost ended his golf career
or at least severely changed it. As you
can see, his pinkie was almost a goner.
Surprisingly, this injury ended up healing rather quickly and his game
does not seem to have suffered.
Andy Sullivan- There were not
many guys in the world hotter than Andy last year who won three times on the
European Tour (only once in Europe though) to move into the top 50 in the
world. Outside of his strong golf game,
he takes great pride in being funny.
From what I can tell he finds himself much funnier than anyone else
thinks he is. Based on a few interviews
I have seen he would be a good fit on the English version of The Office.
Bernd Wiesberger- The
cheeseburger got all of the names of the holes stamped on one of his wedges to
put him more in the mood this week. I
have mixed feelings about this, it is cool but it also seems like something a
high school girl’s team would do, but maybe it will help him.
Chris Wood- Every year one
of the players has a snafu with his clubs getting lost by the airlines. This year it was Chris. The fine folks at whatever airline he was
using suggested he rent a set and they will reimburse the cost. Of course Chris did not think this was a
reasonable option. I am unsure about the
club rental policy at Augusta National, but the airline is who should really be
thanking their lucky stars because there isn’t a worse deal than the price of
renting a set of clubs. A rental for a
week would cost thousands of dollars. I
would also be surprised if anyone in this field could compete with 5 year old
Taylor Mades with regular shafts.
Rafael
Cabrera-Bello-
This Spaniard might be the 8th hottest player in the world and has
moved up the world rankings more this year than anyone in the top 50.
Top Sixteen
The fine folks
at Augusta adjusted the rules and now only the top 12 and ties automatically
get invited to next year’s Masters. Since
there will probably be a few guys tied I decided to rank 16 guys.
16)
Rory McIlroy- If this were a one day
tournament I would have Rory as the overwhelming favorite. Since this is a four day event I am more
leery of Rory. For some reason every
week he has a score in the mid 70s and needs to shoot a ridiculously low number
to get back into it. He is very capable
of doing so, but it puts a lot of pressure of him. Part of the reason for the big score swings
is his putting, both cross handed and conventional, is streaky. He is also tends to struggle some on firm
courses where the ball rolls out. All
these things combined make me think Rory will need to shoot something crazy low
on Sunday to finish the career grand slam.
I
have an additional prediction related to Rory: He will be the first person to
shoot under 63 at a major championship.
Finally,
Rory’s custom Nike golf balls have a camouflage swoosh on them. While it won’t make any difference it seems
like adding camouflage to a golf ball is the opposite of what you want to do.
15)
Dustin Johnson- Instead of the year
of the golden child Spieth, we could almost as easily be coming off the year of
redemption for the man from Myrtle Beach.
Following a return from suspension, a three putt on the 18th
at Chambers Bay cost him a chance at the US Open, but it was the collapse at
St. Andrews that gives me more pause.
Prior to the Jerk winning, it looked like it was going to be a DJ
runaway. He had a lead after 36 holes,
could drive half the greens and 20 under par or more was expected. Then the weekend started and it was all over
for DJ. He was everywhere on the course
and his body language was somewhere between “why am I here” and “when will this
be over?” Are we going to look back and
say, boy all those close calls built up to a big win or man I can’t believe a
guy as good as him never won a major?
14)
Bill Haas- One of the big takeaways
I had watching the full 1986 Masters broadcast was before the Nicklaus charge
even began, Jay Haas was charging up the leader board. The TV coverage couldn’t get enough of Jay
during the first hour. If Bill is to win
this week, I think he will do it by coming from behind and posting a
number. As a fan of Bill, I get nervous
when he is in contention because he looks so uncomfortable. At the Valspar it looked like he was going to
win most of the day but by the last couple holes I wasn’t sure he was going to
be able to take a swing at the ball. He
has played well in the past at Augusta and I think he will again this week, but
I can’t imagine him holding it together coming down the stretch of a heated
battle.
13)
Brandt Snedeker- There are some
things you can set your watch to in golf like spring time in Augusta, the US
Open on Father’s day, Dustin Johnson falling apart in the majors. One that is getting very close and admittedly
specific is, if Brandt Snedeker wins on the west coast he will miss some time
due to a rib injury. This time it seems
to have been less of a setback than in past years and he is back. Can he get back in the mix and avenge his
narrow loss to Trevor Immelman in the classic 2008 final round.
12)
Patrick Reed- The man no one wants
to see up there. The media doesn’t seem
interested in him and the players don’t want to be around him. However, in golf you play four rounds and put
a number next to your name and quite frequently his is one of if not the
lowest.
11)
Hideki Matsuyama- The man who puts
so much power into each of his shots that his shoes squeak is another of the
young superstars. He took down Rickie in
the desert and has played well since then.
He has the iron play to do it as long as he makes a few putts look for
him to be in contention when the tournament starts Sunday afternoon.
10)
Bubba Watson- You don’t bet against
Bubba and the San Francisco Giants in even years. What I don’t like about Bubba this year is
everyone is talking about him. When he
won in 2012 especially and 2014 there wasn’t much fanfare about him coming into
the event. Heightened expectations might
bother Mr. Sensitive.
9)
Justin Thomas- Best known for being
Jordan’s Spieth buddy, Justin is an excellent player in his own right. He is from the city of Louisville. He matriculated to Alabama where he spent two
seasons. This trip to college could end
up being a big help to him this week. One of his teammates on the tide was the son
of Jeff Knox, who is a member and the course record holder at Augusta
National. Some of you may recall seeing
Knox over the years as the marker for a single in the first group on the
weekend and often times beating his playing partner. Over the winter, Justin took a few trips to
Augusta with Knox to pick his brain about the course and learn as much as
possible.
8)
Charley Hoffman- The glory
ultimately belonged to another 38 year old last week in Houston, but Charley
was leading after two rounds. After a
top 10 finish last year, and playing in the final group in last year’s 3rd
round look for the man in the green glove to be in the thick of it this
weekend.
7)
Rickie Fowler- During the NCAA basketball
tournament this year there was a great commercial for Buick where the woman
asks the guy if he locked the car and he was able to do so on his app. She then asked if he closed the windows and
of course he hadn’t and there were pigeons everywhere. I am not sure why that was his job, but that
is beside the point. There were also
some great Rickie Fowler commercials for the Masters. In one his entire refrigerator is filled with
pimento cheese sandwiches, in another his alarm clock is him waking him up with
the sounds of bird chirping. In the
third, it was him looking at his closet full of green shirts, and him saying
green in the new orange. I’ve said it
before and I will say it again, he won’t win The Masters in predominantly
orange. I thought he finally gets it with these green shirts. Even though I am not sure a green shirt and a
green jacket is a great look I thought this was going to be his year. Then I went on Puma’s website to confirm he
was wearing green on Sunday. I was
betrayed. He will be in orange. Last time I trust commercials. I bet that car locking app doesn’t even work.
6)
Phil Mickelson- Phil finally found a
good swing coach after years with Butch Harmon and he says he is hitting the
ball better than ever. I suspect he has
something new to work on and that his helping his enthusiasm level, but the
couple times he has gotten in the mix he has not come through, including
blowing a lead at Pebble Beach. I am
sure his ball striking and short game are going to be good, it is the putting that
leads me to believe he isn’t going to win, but never count out Phil at Augusta.
5)
Adam Scott- Last summer it was
looking like Adam was going to be lost without his long putter and Stevie and
he was last year. What a difference a
year makes with the biggest concern for this sweet swinging Aussie is if Stevie
will screw him up. He should be thanking
the USGA for making him get rid of the broomstick and give the claw a try. It suits him.
Will a second green jacket also suit him?
4)
Louis Oosthuizen- Quietly, Louis has been knocking on the door
of a big win. The knock on him has
always been his motivation but he seems very interested in winning another
major. Bubba broke his heart in 2012
with that amazing shot in from the trees.
Watch for Louis to be quietly lurking all week.
3)
Jordan Spieth- The man, the myth,
the legend has finished 2nd and 1st in his two Masters
appearances so far. He also had one of
the greatest seasons of all time last year so it is hard to predict him not
playing well this week. Sure his game
seems a hair off, but he played well last week.
The biggest problem is his short putting. Last year the short putts were scary with the
looking at the hole or not, but they went in.
This year they are missing a little bit more often and it is costing
him. Last week the putter was looking a
lot better. May Spieth-a-mania start
again!
2)
Henrik Stenson- Nobody looks more
imposing when they swing a golf club than Steely Stenson. He is also often able to beat all but one
person in the tournament, with an unbelievable amount of 2nds in the past year. Since his last win at the end of 2014, he has
finished 2nd 8 times, 3rd a few times and 4th
a few times.
1)
Jason Day- Last year during the PGA
I was at a wedding in California. Due to
the wedding starting about an hour and a half late and it being at a place
where there was no cell service, so I was in the dark for about 4 hours that
Saturday. I was still living in the 5th Galaxy at that time so my
battery was running low so I just had to turn my phone off. When I turned it on I was inundated with text
messages and the news that Jason Day was in the lead and Jordan was on his
heels. A dream come true. The next day we drove down to San
Francisco. My wife and her sister found
a great place to eat whose specialty was fried chicken. So I had a plate of fried chicken and headed
back for the hotel while they went to check out the town. As I sat with a belly full of fried chicken I
watched one of the most incredible performances I had ever seen. Jason was hitting the ball unthinkable
distances and making putts from anywhere.
Since then he has been the best player in the world. The weather may not allow it, but coming off
of two straight wins I see him figuring out this course and challenging the -18
record owned by the Tiger and Jordan.
For the first time in 30 years a green jacket will be in Columbus!
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