PGA Tour: Masters Champion, via the process of elimination: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

An untraditional set of Notes this week in deference to that ghastly expression, "A tradition unlike any other" which, if we hear it once, we'll hear it one hundred times this week.
Andy North will hopefully feature on this week's ESPN coverage and it is his practice to determine a Major Champion via the process of elimination.
For The Masters this is easy, of course, and some stereotypes lend themselves immediately to the discard pile. So let's get going with the Ballwasher's highly subjective guide through the Masters maze:

1).Some categories can be dispensed with before they even come under Starters Orders:
a).Past Champions over 50. That includes you Freddie (who would probably feature in more categories than any other! And he's so good round here that nobody would be surprised to see his 16th top 15 finish guaranteeing him another trip back even if he wasn't a Past Champion).

b).Amateurs.

c).Aussies. No wins for Australia yet and this crop no better than their predecessors. Sorry Adam, Jason and the rest. Best each way value (top 6 at 1/4 odds from Paddy Power): Ogilvy at 80/1. Geoff hasn't won a full field event since his 2006 US Open gift, but it's not that he doesn't have the talent.

d).Ceremonial golfers. Those who are in the field solely due to performances 2010 or earlier. There goes Padraig, but fancy Stenson to be the best e.w. value here: 150/1.

e).Masters rookies. Including Keegan Bradley. Could quite easily see Kyle Stanley win one of these eventually but poor form recently and putting not up to it.

f).Non-winners on the PGA Tour. There go Rickie Fowler, Simon Dyson and the Fish.

2).PGA Tour members without a win since 2009. Howell, Reavie, Van Pelt, Cabrera and Vijay.

3).Walking wounded and wide bodies. Casey hobbles off with Tiger Woods. Tiger looks good value at 5/1 for the win though, but the early going could be heavy and Augusta National won't permit his Zimmer frame. Darren Clarke has been found wanting in the Augusta mud in years past and he's no fitter now.

4).Navigators. Heavy rain Tuesday night, with more forecast early in the tournament, will stretch the course out. I don't see a Zach Johnson-type win and even in-form players such as Donald and Stricker will have to be perfect (just like Zach was) to win. Furyk, Zach, Toms and Mark Wilson also head for the showers.

5).Temperamentally unsuited. In the absence of Anthony Kim, we can substitute Kevin Na, Sabbatini, Bubba Watson. Ben Crane is too slow and Jonathan Byrd should be on paternity leave. Not sure when a moustache won the Masters so Wagner can also take a hike.

6).More ethnic stereotyping:
a).Asians. No Asian winners yet and I'll take a chance by saying KJ Choi (60/1) won't be the first, this year anyway.
And:
b).Continental Europeans. Lots of love for Hanson but there's a reason he doesn't win much and that's his work on the greens late in tournaments. And I'll controversially add Paul Lawrie to this group. Sorry Scotland. Best bet: Garcia e.w. at 66/1 (altho he could also be in the "temperamentally unsuited" group which is why he won't win).

7).Form just not good enough. Immelman (good e.w. value at 100/1 though), Kuchar, Laird, O'Hair, Palmer, Poulter, Watney, Westwood and Woodland.

8).Assuming the Sub Air system dries the greens out properly, putting will be at a premium and I doubt the putting strokes of these guys will make it through the week unscathed: Haas, Mahan, McDowell, McIlroy, Rose, Snedeker (e.w. value @ 80/1?).

9).South Africans. Why do South Africans succeed here while Aussies come up short? Apart from the winners, Tim Clark, Els (twice), Goosen (twice) and even Sabbatini have runnered up here. Wouldn't be surprised to see Oosthuizen (e.w. value @ 80/1) with a high finish. Sadly for Schwartzel, that's all he'll do too.

10).Right handers. Just to ensure I haven't missed anyone.

Which, ladies and gentlemen, leaves us in the Butler Cabin sometime on Sunday evening (weather permitting) with Charl Schwartzel presenting an XXXL green jacket to Phil Mickelson.


What do I really think?
Tough for me to see beyond Mickelson and South Africa for the win (though McIlroy and Woods are capable of dominating - don't fancy either if it gets really close though, Rory won't keep a lead and Tiger can only come from behind if someone falters badly), with Garcia, Immelman, Ogilvy, Oosthuizen, Sneds and Stenson representing good each way value.

And, as usual, I'd be perfectly happy to be proved totally full of prunes as Lee Westwood wins by a distance.

Ben Dirs is terrible.

hayston,
Very good to hear from you Sir. Hope life is still good somewhere near the end of the world. (Are you talking about Gloversville?)
Seriously, trying to dish out the weekly drivel, got a fantasy game going too in the spirit of goldwolf.
Drop in from time to time, always great to hear your opinionated opinion!

Should be great entertainment at Augusta tomorrow, fabulous weather in store.

Attractive field for Hilton Head next week, perhaps not exceptionally rich in ranking points but ripe for good entertainment. Highlights:
Allenby, Badds, Ogilvy
Donald, Harrington, Davis, Stenson, Pettersson, Jacobson, Karlsson, Laird
Els, Clark, Immelman, Sabbatini
Furyk, Fowler, Haas, Zach
Kuchar, Overton, HowellIII
Snedeker, Simpson, Stanley, Van Pelt

Wish I could be there.

Phil and Vijay..now, that's how you match.

What happened to Els and Goose? Did they not qualify for this?

Els dropped out of the top 50 world rankings so didn't get in automatically. No invite, so tried to win preceding tournaments, but failed.

mystiroakey wrote:i am very close in turning this off- i dont really wanna watch every shot woods plays over others shots, he is playing gash anyway!

Totally agree. I did turn it off. You didn't just get to watch Tiger playing awfully, you also got to see him walking between holes. At one point they finally showed World Number One, Luke Donald chip onto 15 but them didn't show him making the birdie putt. I can only think Tiger went to the toilet then and that's the only bit they will not show.

I know Tiger is a big draw card but that level of ignoring other players was just embarrassing. They were so one eyed you almost didn't realise that he and Jimenez were playing in a 3 ball. I assumed that Bae must have been about +10 but when I looked up the leaderboard he was doing better than Tiger.

Hope tonight will be better but guess until Tiger gets to the 18th green on Sunday needing to somehow score -8 on that hole they might finally acknowledge another player is on the course.

Its a joke and why the groupings were set up as there were.

They premeditated on showing woods throughout the friday afternoon/evening! yet all we saw was pretty much shoody golf(by any pros standard)

Again the only allowing 4 and a half hours of golf doesn't help, you know that on either Thursday or Friday you will get blanket coverage of Woods and not a lot else . Not so much today though as he goes out early.
When all is said and done though its not this fault, In sure he'd rather a few of yesterday's shots weren't shown on live TV.

no its not woods fault at all!

Its BBC's and SKYs fault for allowing us to be dictated to by US centric coverage!

But I remember at one Open, the BBC showed every one of Woods shots. (He might have won it that year though... )

well thats the point-he won.. I suppose when someone is playing the best golf by a country mile, how can we complain by watching every shot- also remmeber that we have full coverage of the full days play plus no adverts at our open!

kwinigolfer wrote:Ben Dirs is terrible.

He should stick to Boxing or Futurama.

Yay...England win a test match. Sorry off topic I know. We always win when Bresnan plays, think that's 11 from 11 now, talk about a lucky charm.

Kaymer made the cut. First time ever?

Diggers wrote:Yay...England win a test match. Sorry off topic I know. We always win when Bresnan plays, think that's 11 from 11 now, talk about a lucky charm.

Any good England team always needs a Yorkshireman in the side. Its a pretty self evident truth.

Good performance for england. about time an all!

delToro87 wrote:

Diggers wrote:Yay...England win a test match. Sorry off topic I know. We always win when Bresnan plays, think that's 11 from 11 now, talk about a lucky charm.

Any good England team always needs a Yorkshireman in the side. Its a pretty self evident truth.

True, but more importantly half a dozen Saffers ...

All englishmen to me diggs. and importantly most grew up here bar a couple that flurished under our system

I'm happy to cheer them but I think KP said when they asked him if he felt English that playing for England was just the day job, something like that anyway.
But the whole world is at it, I'll cheer our plastic Brits at the Olympics but it's not the same as one of our own. Farah, Strauss, Prior, Rose, as you say all grew up over here so I certainly have no problem with them.

I think KP feels as english as he does south african in fainress, and he did come over here as a spinner and played in the counties for 4 years before being picked, would south africa have ever given him the chance to play at the highest level!! and the only other player that didnt grow up here was trott- however he did play in our counties for 7 years before getting picked for the England team.

I cant see the problem in all fainress. I think if we give immigrants a living and a good one, then i dont see the problem with utilising them at international level!

I think the problem comes from sporstsmen like resedski or lennox lewis- that would just rather be british even though they really had no claim to be more british than canadian, and we didnt develop any of there skills! Or crickters like dirk nannes(plays for holland but is aussie) or players that we had like the holloakes- none of which ever flurished under there 'teams' system.

edit actually the holloakes did flourish under the engloish system so take em out of the equation!

First tee time at 9.15 a.m., with some good pairs (and we're not talking LPGA here) going out early:
9.25: Cabrera / Immelman
9.55: Keegan Bradley / Luke Donald
10.05: Fowler / Stricker
10.45: Charl / Woods
11.15: McDowell / Sneds (Interesting quote from McDo: Glad I made the cut so I can play two more rounds here and get my head around how to play this course.)
Then the appealing pairings (not you Paula) continue apace after noon.
Poulter out at 12.35 with Freddie Jac: Apparently Poultie got someone thrown out yesterday for heckling about his strides!

Weather should be gorgeous with scarcely any wind.

PS: I can't stand the proliferation of South Africans in the Test team; on the other hand, if my son wanted to play for England at anything - moot point as it happens - despite being born and bred here, I'd be very supportive!

No I don't have a problem as you say utilising them, they qualify under the rules and that's that so fair enough. But I won't have the same affinity for a player who came over as an adult effectively to further their careers.It's pretty clear that we have targeted athletes cynically to improve our chances in a host of Olympic sports, I don't think that is on to be honest.
It doesn't help with KP that I've witnessed him being incredibly rude, but I still love watching him play and would do whatever country he played for.

Thing is and maybe i am being abit biased due to his quailty but i have alot of affinity towards KP, and in a way i feel abit proud that so many saffas feel english!! Due to the fact that so many english feel as though they want to dissociate themsleves with this nation.

If an Immigrant goes to america he/she becomes american, there is no talk of are they or arnt they- well not to the same level as over here anyway.

Shouldnt we be abit more proud of our immigration and intergrate them into society without questions!

But I personally think KP would rather have played for SA but was held up by the qouta system and Trott played for all the Saffer youth teams but just wasn't going to make the full test side. I don't feel that they have any great sense of wanting to be English. But that's fine, the system works both ways.
But say for Aldama, the lady triple jumper , we are about her third or fourth choice country, its purely a means to compete at the top evel, no more no less.
Funnily enough I have less of an issue with Lennox Lewis who was born here and moved to Canada aged twelve. For whatever reason he seems to have a genuine feeling of being English.

From personal experience of working at a few london investment banks when i was younger and meeting countless saffas,kiwis and aussies who work in london in there droves. Many saffas actually felt English/british whereas most aussies and kiwis didnt feel the same affinity to there 'ancestral' home. And i think one of the reasons why many come over here and play the game and want(or at least dont mind) to represent england. I think many canadians feel the same as well in fairness- there is something about how certain saffas and canadians feel about there ancestry that is different from other nations!- I dont want to completely generalise- but its a feeling i have gauged from meeting them in person and on message boards!

Really , I've never found that but then again can't say it's anything I've delved into massively in conversation to be fair. so could well be the case. Certainly with KP everything I've read and heard suggests he is a dyed in the wool Saffer, same with Trott. But I'm sure affinity must grow with time.
But ultimately I'm not arguing with the concept of their right to play, far from it. I just can't really romanticise about what to a large degree is a marriage of convenience. That's all, as you yourself said not everything in life is black and white and this is a classic case in point I guess.

Diggs you do know that KP has said many times how english he feels and that he has the 3 lions tatooed to his arm!

I'm never wrong wrote:Els dropped out of the top 50 world rankings so didn't get in automatically. No invite, so tried to win preceding tournaments, but failed.

I see that Goosen (54) and Els (58) are just outside the top 50. Masters gets overly traditional and nostalgic about its past champs. Els and Goose couldn't have done any worse than Lyle and Stadler. US Open, on the other hand, uses a better selection process.

Leff

As pointed out a few times the past champs dont take a place from a current player. There is no limit to field size and it would be a separate issue to extend invitations to the top 60 instead of 50.

I do know that, I also know from one of mates who works for Surrey and knows a lot of the English cricketers that KP considers himself a full on Saffer and playing for England is the job. Doesn't mean he isn't committed to performing 100 % for England. But that's what I've heard through the grapevine and I've no reason to doubt the source.
I dont blame him to be honest, I've a lot of mates who have moved to Oz and they will all say they are still ultimately English, it's not a tap you can turn on and off.

I dont think he doesnt feel south african either, just that i cant see how anyone could get a tatoo if he didnt feel any part english.

I am 100% english therefore i am not sure what i would feel like if i was half welsh or half sout african or whatever. But i am sure there is no shame in feeling english and south african at the same time!

Mac,
As suggested yesterday, because The Masters want to keep their field below the 100 mark, Past Champions do effectively take someone else's spot, most glaringly the Fall Series event winners who are not granted invitations.
This will become a big deal (well, everything's relative) as the finer points of the PGA Tour season realignment are debated.

McLaren wrote:
As pointed out a few times the past champs dont take a place from a current player. There is no limit to field size and it would be a separate issue to extend invitations to the top 60 instead of 50.

Thanks, I did not know that. About the past champions, I feel there should get 5 or even 10 years exemption, not lifetime. Another option would be to have a separate exhibition sort of tournament for them (those like Lyle and Stadler) prior to the main event unless they are at least in the top hundred.

Who said anything about shame ? I'm just telling you what I've heard re KP from a source, you can believe it or not that's entirely your prerogative. Re the tattoo maybe he just thinks 3 lions look better than an antelope, he is a vain lad.
Look ultimately you are wiling to totally embrace them which is fair enough, I'm happy to accept their right to play without feeling quite the same attachment.
We really aren't that far apart on this.

Kwini, Weather forecast for Augusta is sunny, warm and clear. Do you think the putting greens will get a bit faster today?

Diggers wrote:Who said anything about shame ? I'm just telling you what I've heard re KP from a source, you can believe it or not that's entirely your prerogative. Re the tattoo maybe he just thinks 3 lions look better than an antelope, he is a vain lad.
Look ultimately you are wiling to totally embrace them which is fair enough, I'm happy to accept their right to play without feeling quite the same attachment.
We really aren't that far apart on this.

the shame comment was more a figure of speach diggs. I will admit to occasionally having a semi glow about the fact that our bowling unit is totally home grown.

The issue i have is more about 'whats going on at grass roots' rather than the morales regarding picking dual nationalities- which at the end of the day have to pick one side(albeit sometimes the decsion is taking away from them by selectors and or agents, but then on the filp side all english players have some english roots(bar morgan - different debate i feel) and have played in our system)

And I hope they carry on playing well and scoring runs.

Kwini

It still not really the past champs taking a space as they will probably never extend the field, and they would certainly not add 51-60 for sure should people get less exemptions in other categories. I still think knowing you need to win or get in the top 50 is a good criteria and if els cant manage that he is not longer worthy of winning a major, so who care's if another potential fluke winner misses out?

yeah hopefully- away from the Sub for abit so it should get easier for us

McLaren wrote:Kwini

It still not really the past champs taking a space as they will probably never extend the field, and they would certainly not add 51-60 for sure should people get less exemptions in other categories. I still think knowing you need to win or get in the top 50 is a good criteria and if els cant manage that he is not longer worthy of winning a major, so who care's if another potential fluke winner misses out?

I have no major problem with it- just abit annoying when a personal fav doesnt get in over a lyle of a player to feed tv in the rest of the world. Abit gutted Rock didnt get in- but understand why he shouldnt have any divine right to get in- he still had the opportunity and didnt grasp it

If Ernie was worthy of the major stage he would be there.

well yeah i mean masters qualifying for the likes of ernie , rock and the rest were the tournys prior to it. everyone knew the crack and that was that.. it was in everyones hands

McLaren wrote:I often feel I am the only person around who just cant warm to Couples. I must be a bad man.

Nope, you are not alone. I don't like him at all and never have. All irrational of course having never met him but he looks smarmy and false. Smug, self-satisfied smile on his face and though I've no evidence to back it up I wouldn't mind having a bet that he's had as many affairs as Tiger. I for one was jumping up and down when that ball stopped on the bank in the hope it would roll back in. Definitely style over substance and if he's as talented as everyone tells me then he's a choker for not winning more often.

And don't get me started on that bad back BS. If it's as bad as claimed why on earth is he still playing competitive golf?

I'll be hoping he drops like a hookers knickers this afternoon.

Mac,
I agree that Els, and Goosen and Rock for that matter, knew the score and deservedly failed to qualify given those rules.

But the non-competitive Past Champions very definitely DO take the place of Fall Sereries winners, for instance and, like it or not, thgose Tournament Directors will be seeking full FedEx recognition and the Masters invite that goes with it.


Leff,
I would think they'll have been Sub-Airing the moisture out of the greens, shave them, and have them much faster today, lightning fast for Sunday. Low dew point this morning and not much humidity during the day.

Used to really like couples- due to his swing and chilled persona and watching his previous masters win!


However i dont want to see him win this time around, maybe i am being evil but i dont want an old timer winning the thing- unless I had backed him offcourse(lol a colleague of mine did!!)

kwinigolfer wrote:Mac,
I agree that Els, and Goosen and Rock for that matter, knew the score and deservedly failed to qualify given those rules.

But the non-competitive Past Champions very definitely DO take the place of Fall Sereries winners, for instance and, like it or not, thgose Tournament Directors will be seeking full FedEx recognition and the Masters invite that goes with it.


Leff,
I would think they'll have been Sub-Airing the moisture out of the greens, shave them, and have them much faster today, lightning fast for Sunday. Low dew point this morning and not much humidity during the day.

Gawd i hope westy hits every green from now on then- he will need more chances than the rest, even though he has stated that he prefers to putt on quick greens- i dont believe him!!

I Freddie, but would still prefer to have a Brit win on Sunday. I don't think he ever had a tiger-type lifestyle. He married his high school sweetheart and everything went well til he got rich and famous. Then she became best friends with ivana trump, resented the fact that he wasn't interested in hanging out with that crowd, dumped him and took him to the cleaners. Yep, when the golf mags arrive on our doormat, Mr. Plunky reads the swing tips and I read all the human interest stuff (gossip)!

By the way, who was the man sitting on his own up near the 13th green yesterday? He seemed to have a pencil in his hand but didn't look particularly official.

Freddie's been unlucky in love.
Mrs Fred #1 was carried out of a Scottish bar over the shoulder of Billy Ray Brown when she was standing on a table, singing and stripping. Ended up killing herself.
And then his second lady died, I think from the bcancer she had when they met.
His latest flame often caddies for him on the Champo Tour, not this week though.

Agree he's been very selective with his back injuries, always bad when The Open is due but miraculous recoveries for appearance fees in the Far East or silly season events.

Love Freddie's golf game though and it's speculated that Joe LaCava has engineered a transfer to Freddie's bag this weekend as he's sick and tired of Tiger's waywardness. Doesn't think much of his golf shots either.

It wouldn't surprise me. Joe la cava and Freddy have been best buddies for a long time both on and off the course. By the way, did you notice la cava was wearing a NY ranger t shirt yesterday? He's ok in our books !

Plunks,
He's a Connecticut boy, both he and Freddie sports fanatics . . . . .

I'm sure I'm being entirely unfair in my accusations towards Coupling (if anonymously on a forum isn't the place to do it then where is?) but he just has the look of someone who'd "take advantage" of all the middle aged women that throw themselves at his feet.

Others who've got that same look are Todd Woodbridge of the Woodies tennis fame and Robert Rock who I'm told has more than just the look.