PGA Tour: The Masters Winner, via Process of Elimination: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Last year I slurped a couple of bottles of Malbec and attempted to make a case for a European Champion. Henrik Stenson was the chosen candidate and he played well but not nearly well enough, Jonas Blixt finishing ahead of him as the leading Swede. So we changed the formula this year, not the Malbec of course, but let's revert to Andy North's time-honoured process of elimination.
NB: Any bias or prejudice is entirely intentional.

2).Starting with Amateurs. One or two have come close, Patton, Venturi, but none won a Green Jacket and that won't change this year. Seven eliminated.

3).No rookie has one since Fuzzy Zoeller over 35 years ago. I fancy Tringale to play well, but I'll go with history and take out the 13 first-timers.

4).Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at the age of 46, the oldest Champion. I don't see any of the forty-somethings in the field improving their game, so let's dispense with the likes of Westwood, Furyk and Els and 20 others. 23 can exit, best chances Phil, who's only had one top ten finish since Muirfield, and Cabrera, always a decent each way punt.

5).Augusta National could be the toughest walking course these guys play, not good if you're carrying a knock, physically or mentally, or in some cases Tiger, both. Bye bye to seven crocks, including McDowell, Stenson and Reed.

6).Poor putters and scramblers need not apply. 24 still standing are #110 or below in the PGA Tour's primary putting or scrambling stat. On your way then Dustin, Rickie, Keegan, Webb, Kaymer, Rose, Charl and Adam. Big risk sending Matsuyama and Oosthuizen down the road, but their putting has not been good enough. Russell Henley may be a putting genius but he needs to scramble too.

7).As baseball fans know, "Chicks dig the long ball", and so do Augusta's Green Jackets; bad news for slowpokes Crane and Na and eight others, none of them in the top 100. Sorry Sneds, still good for a place.

8).Only fourteen left so time to discard those currently out of form. Regardless of what they might have done elsewhere in the world, none of this lot have a PGA Tour top ten finish this year: Dubuisson, Grace, Ilonen, Mahan, Streelman, Villegas. Adios to the 6 of you.

9).And of the rest, only Jason Day, Spieth and Jimmy Walker have wins, so San-Moon Bae, Sergio, Rory, Ryan Palmer and Bubba can leave quietly down Magnolia Lane.

10).Day, Spieth and Walker have all played well at Augusta. Day and Spieth have play-off wins this year, Walker has two wins by a total of 13 strokes. Give me the proven winner and measure up Jimmy Walker for a Green Jacket. Cheers.

Hoggy_Bear wrote:All over now.

It is now, superb par save, I just don't see this guy blowing up now.

Great battle for 2nd

Interview with Sergio cuts to Mickelson, Alliss pipes up 'Tiger, Tiger burning bright...Mickelson'

Are the green surrounds a lot stickier than they used to be? We don't seem to be seeing miss placed approaches running away from the greens like we saw in the past. Rose's approach to 15 a fine example of the point I am making.

Come on Jordan. Just need you to dunk a couple in the water on 16

McLaren wrote:Are the green surrounds a lot stickier than they used to be?  We don't seem to be seeing miss placed approaches running away from the greens like we saw in the past.  Rose's approach to 15 a fine example of the point I am making.  

yea it looks so mac, i'm fairly sure ken brown said yesterday they're more "bristley" than usual. fair play to Spieth, hope he gets to -20

It seems the entire course is more forgiving . . . . fairways, rough is not so mown down, greens are soft and slower.
And Spieth is playing the round of his career, however long that might be. Brilliant.

"A joint came out of place, but I put it back in."

Tiger

The guy is deluded.

Four Brits in the top six is pretty good going. Decent tournament for Rose, McIlroy, Poulter and Casey.

McLaren wrote:"A joint came out of place, but I put it back in."

Tiger  

The guy is deluded.

I thought the same thing. Some sort of Navy Seal delusion no doubt

Looks like Spieth's old man has been taking lessons from D.A. Points and telling his boy to applaud the crowd on 18. Seems like he has his feet on the ground. Pretty solid performance all the way with no real pressure being brought to bear on him.

Well done Jordan!!!

A long-term contender to the Irishman? We'll see ...

Impressive performance and out-of-this-world putting!

Shotrock wrote:Well done Jordan!!!

A long-term contender to the Irishman? We'll see ...

I'd say so - he's got all the attributes now (he's added a few yards this season). Fantastic win and straight up to a solid second in the world. Could run Rory close for number one in no time.

I had a power cut at 7:00 pm last night!!

anyway - it didn't last long. thank gawd!

Speith played very well. And well played rose- who kept trying to peg Jordan back and kept him and the audience on his/our toes.. But it was one of the best major wins we have seen in a long time. We could have a real sporting rivalry springing up in Rory and Jordan.

I think Spieth is a bit boring to watch though. He doesn't excite me like Tiger, Rory or Phil. I'd rather see a battle between the 3 latter, than with Spieth.

Speith is kind of like a really good version of Luke Donald to be fair..

I got to about 10.30, and it all seemed a bit of a formality so gave up on it. A very deserved win, and would have been a shame if he had cracked in the final round. He clearly has a lot of potential to add further majors, and seems like a decent guy. But did Augusta provide a major test. So many decent scores made, it seemed not far off a regular event.

5 players double digits below par is probably a bit on the high side. But hey, take 2 of the par 5 holes and call them par 4's (which they defacto are) and only a half dozen players would be under par.

pedro wrote:I think Spieth is a bit boring to watch though. He doesn't excite me like Tiger, Rory or Phil. I'd rather see a battle between the 3 latter, than with Spieth.

Not sure I follow the logic. Spieth entertains with the quality of what he does. He doesn't spit/swear/forget he's a golfer like Woods or be absurdly cavalier like Mickleson (i.e. he has a brain). Rory simply has a gorgeous looking swing but for all of the fact I like to watch McIlroy's swing a little more, I'll happily watch Spieth get it done. Seems a nice guy too but with some steel when playing.

beninho wrote:I got to about 10.30, and it all seemed a bit of a formality so gave up on it. A very deserved win, and would have been a shame if he had cracked in the final round. He clearly has a lot of potential to add further majors, and seems like a decent guy. But did Augusta provide a major test. So many decent scores made, it seemed not far off a regular event.

You missed some good golf if you left it at 10.30. As for AGNC being a suitable test? Who were on the leader board at the end? Seems a pretty good list of players to me but I've never thought AGNC was tough enough for the modern pros unless the greens are seriously tricked up....and they weren't this year.

mysti,
I think you're missing the point if you equate Spieth's game to Donald's.
Spieth is pretty long and usually straighter than Donald, and just now his scrambling and putting is out of this world, as Lukey's was for two or three years.
But Spieth has the potential to be a far more complete golfer than Donald simply because he's so much longer.

He kinda ran away and hid on Thursday and Friday, very Rory-ish, Tiger-ish, but also feel the course was much softer, not clear why, than it usually is and that could have helped Spieth especially.

Not as impressive as Kaymer at Pinehurst, but getting there.

navyblueshorts wrote:

pedro wrote:I think Spieth is a bit boring to watch though. He doesn't excite me like Tiger, Rory or Phil. I'd rather see a battle between the 3 latter, than with Spieth.

Not sure I follow the logic. Spieth entertains with the quality of what he does. He doesn't spit/swear/forget he's a golfer like Woods or be absurdly cavalier like Mickleson (i.e. he has a brain). Rory simply has a gorgeous looking swing but for all of the fact I like to watch McIlroy's swing a little more, I'll happily watch Spieth get it done. Seems a nice guy too but with some steel when playing.

Of course it's a combination between charisma, swing, temper, on-course demeanor etc. But it's all subjective and eye of the beholder I think. Vijay Singh also got it done in 2004 or 2005 with 10 wins but I think we all agree he's sleep-inducing to watch.

beninho wrote:I got to about 10.30, and it all seemed a bit of a formality so gave up on it.

Me too!

What a great win for Spieth! I guess it's just the head of a tour veteran he has and not the body? Everyone, well most - including me, had him on the verge of burning out but how wrong were we? I forgot he is just 21 and he is just playing golf for a living. And that's what he did - played superb, almost flawless golf. We've all been entertained by Tiger and Phil and their ability to get down from the most ridiculous of places. We've all been wowed by Tiger's and Rory's games when they take off. Now young Jordan reminds us of how the game should really be played. He doesn't hit silly curve balls, or hit it silly long or silly high or in silly places. He hits it mid to long-ish distance and onto the fairways and greens. Then he holes the putts. That's it! That's golf as it should be! He's not perfect but that's golf too. When he was out of position, he played the simple shots well and got back into position. Now, I'll watch the next step of his career with a lot of interest. Was that a breakout win like Tiger's first Masters or Rory's US Open? Most definitely. But will golfers all around the world now look to their putting like they did their distance when Tiger and Rory broke out? They should. They should in the same way that Jordan should heed Jack Nicklaus' advice - the middle of each green at Augusta is never a bad spot and will always leave you a putt. With a putting game like his, Spieth could well have more than one green jacket by the time he's done.

A few other points - Jordan's round one was probably my favourite part of the week along with the Sat back 9 in general. I agree with Kwini in that the rest of the field realised too late how scoreable Thu and Fri were. Advantage of inexperience? Friday was a bit flat as Jordan had already done his piece by the time Allis cleared his throat. Sunday had just enough thrills for me but I was left more disappointed with the amount of missed 10 to 20 footers. Not because I necessarily wanted more pressure on Jordan but more because we'd become so used to him pouring them in from everywhere!

and oh yes speaking of pouring - the whisky was a good choice and enjoyed over the weekend. Thank you Hediki for paying!

LadyPutt wrote:

beninho wrote:I got to about 10.30, and it all seemed a bit of a formality so gave up on it.

Me too!

I'll have to be honest, me too at about 11. Quite enjoyed the attention Poulter and Casey were getting on the coverage though and it was an intriguing day, but clear no-one was going to push very low to challenge Spieth who played perfectly for what he needed to do.

-18 and some iffy shots with the big stick backed up with wedges and putts (and some luck too). Mark it for the future, it's very Woods esque...

A week ago Sunday, ANGC was hosting the Drive Pitch and Putt Finals for junior golfers.  Announcers at that time were saying that the golf course was looking "Lush" and "Very Green".  Apparently the weather over the last few weeks was absolutely ideal for growing the over-seeded rye grass.

Couple that with a heavy rain shower on Tuesday and over night rains on Friday night/Sat Morning, the grass was growing.

I live about 600 miles WNW of Augusta and generally we get the same weather patterns in the spring as Augusta and I can tell you it has been extremely wet here.

GPB wrote:A week ago Sunday, ANGC was hosting the Drive Pitch and Putt Finals for junior golfers.  Announcers at that time were saying that the golf course was looking "Lush" and "Very Green".  Apparently the weather over the last few weeks was absolutely ideal for growing the over-seeded rye grass.

Couple that with a heavy rain shower on Tuesday and over night rains on Friday night/Sat Morning, the grass was growing.

I live about 600 miles WNW of Augusta and generally we get the same weather patterns in the spring as Augusta and I can tell you it has been extremely wet here.

I hear what you say about the weather but surely if they had wanted to they could have turned the blowers on and dried out the putting surfaces? Not that I'm saying they should mind you, but they have the technology.

Sky were expounding the theory that since Spieth had got ahead, they left the course more playable to afford the opportunity to catch him.  I see a large flaw in the logic, but then it was Sky pundits talking, so hardly surprising.

EDIT: I played Gleneagles with the sub-air system running and at times it was intrusively loud.

From the SHO thread

Kwinigolfer wrote:So far Spieth has fluked one minor Tour event, shot a virtuoso final round to win the Aussie Open and got up and down from the ballwasher in Tampa.
Even if he wins today, and he very well might, he needs to do a bit more for best player status. Surely?

Kwini, Has he done a bit more now?

golfermartin wrote:I hear what you say about the weather but surely if they had wanted to they could have turned the blowers on and dried out the putting surfaces? Not that I'm saying they should mind you, but they have the technology.

Do we know that they did not?

Fluked. If he was the real deal he wouldn't have bogied the 18th yesterday!

Interesting article on the brand exposure that Spieth gave to UnderArmour this past week.

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/12677258/2015-masters-armour-grew-jordan-spieth-win-ceo-says


Spieth had 16 UnderArmour logos on his hat and clothes.

GPB wrote:Interesting article on the brand exposure that Spieth gave to UnderArmour this past week.

http://espn.go.com/golf/story/_/id/12677258/2015-masters-armour-grew-jordan-spieth-win-ceo-says


Spieth had 16 UnderArmour logos on his hat and clothes.

UA is a but more funky that the swoosh outfit Rory and Tiger are flashing. It's pretty cool. (BTW What was that flourescent thing Rory was wearing??   )
Spieths outfit deal with UA runs till 2025 and he's only allowed a Titleist logo on his glove. Otherwise no other logo than UA must be seen.

GPB,
Just telling it how it was; yesterday was a magnificent performance and you could say it had been coming, but I'm guessing you live somewhere close to Missouri and that's called the "Show Me" State for some reason. Now he's shown it.

UnderArmor is an even more incredible success story than Spieth's . . . . . .

GPB wrote:

golfermartin wrote:I hear what you say about the weather but surely if they had wanted to they could have turned the blowers on and dried out the putting surfaces? Not that I'm saying they should mind you, but they have the technology.

Do we know that they did not?

If they did, it doesn't appeared to have worked.

golfermartin wrote:

GPB wrote:

golfermartin wrote:I hear what you say about the weather but surely if they had wanted to they could have turned the blowers on and dried out the putting surfaces? Not that I'm saying they should mind you, but they have the technology.

Do we know that they did not?

If they did, it doesn't appeared to have worked.

Maybe it was the best it could have been.  We can speculate all we want, but we don't know what they did (or didn't do).

Good news that Jordan Spieth is playing this week at Habour Town - played well there last year; the small greens will be a helluva test for him, but you'd have to think he'll do just fine.

kwinigolfer wrote:He kinda ran away and hid on Thursday and Friday, very Rory-ish, Tiger-ish, but also feel the course was much softer, not clear why, than it usually is and that could have helped Spieth especially.

Not as impressive as Kaymer at Pinehurst, but getting there.

The difference in Spieth and Kaymer is Jordan's been showing the consistency that few golfers do, Kaymer included. Granted, Kaymer's shown is an ability to finish it out once he gets it going... but give me the either the uber talented guy who can show streaks of brilliance ala a Rory... or the guy with no weaknesses who week in and week out get's himself into contention. And I'm not talking about the Jim Furyk or Lee Westwood type of consistency either. I don't know how to define it or even describe it, but Spieth has that "intangible" thing going that we rarely see... and to see it this young in a guys career we see even less. Hope he can hold onto it... time will tell.

Yup, wasn't comparing consistency, but Kaymer won (dominated until an untimely weather interruption) two top tournaments in a 5 or 6 week span last year, yet my comment was a sideways reference to the Golf Channel tosspot who described Kaymer's win as a funeral, Spieth's as a coronation. No context offered about Rory's month for the ages either.

It looks as if Jordan will be playing something like 11 weeks out of 14 or 15 going in to the US Open; let's see how consistent his play is there.

Fantastic performance at Augusta, but there are other top achievers out there too. The snarky comments from the more tawdry elements of the US Press notwithstanding.

kwinigolfer wrote:Yup, wasn't comparing consistency, but Kaymer won (dominated until an untimely weather interruption) two top tournaments in a 5 or 6 week span last year, yet my comment was a sideways reference to the Golf Channel tosspot who described Kaymer's win as a funeral, Spieth's as a coronation.  No context offered about Rory's month for the ages either.

It looks as if Jordan will be playing something like 11 weeks out of 14 or 15 going in to the US Open; let's see how consistent his play is there.

Fantastic performance at Augusta, but there are other top achievers out there too. The snarky comments from the more tawdry elements of the US Press notwithstanding.

Seems to me it was Spieth's week and the accolades were heaped pretty much where they belonged. It's not like Rory didn't get his last August... And I think the difference with Kaymer's U.S. Open was all the drama was removed... it was over before the 4th round began and there was never a moment it didn't look like it was going to happen. With Spieth's final round.. he'd open the door to a challenge, then slam it shut... open it again, slamming it shut again... While there may not have been a lot of doubt... the tournament wasn't over until the miss/make exchange with Rose on #16...

Agree with you on Spieth's schedule though. It's one thing to be young and strong... but I don't care who you are... playing event after event IN CONTENTION causes a type of mental fatigue that far surpasses the physical type.... be interesting to see how he holds up. If it were me, I'd advise him to think twice on playing this week... especially if he accepts what's become the mostly SOP New York media tour...

And I can give the "tawdry" US Press a bit of a pass... I've seen nothing from them this week that comes even remotely close to the Euro media sticking it up the American's butts when the Euro's were having such a fantastic run of multiple major winners a few years back or during Rory's recent dominance over the "hapless American spoiled brats".

I know I have referenced this a couple of times already but tiger woods is making the claim that he dislocated his wrist and just popped it back into place as he strode to the green. This has to be the biggest story of the week, whether it is true or not?

From this website

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/98552-treatment

"Closed reduction may be difficult if not impossible"

closed reduction means without surgery. So how did Tiger manage to perform a procedure the professional surgeons cannot without anesthetic, while walking along a fairway?

After all the bull about glutes not firing and the other nonsense he has spouted over the years is this not the most ludicrous claim he has ever made? I am not sure he has ever made a more credibility damaging comment.

Mac - I'm guessing (1) Tiger truly believes he did it and (2) he really did no such thing!

He's probably been practicing it - getting plenty of reps.

One or two (Na, Willie Mac) defections so far from Hilton Head, but field pretty much intact - incl Masters Champ.

This could have been really strange

In the Prez Cup standings, Mickelson was 47th and Woods was 147th going into the Masters.

After the Masters, Mickelson is 34th and Woods is 135th.

Shotrock wrote:Mac - I'm guessing (1) Tiger truly believes he did it and (2) he really did no such thing!

During the recent Champions Dinner Tiger alledgedly entertained with a similar party trick (using the Green Jacket of course):
https://youtu.be/Igrdi_lhhW4

pedro wrote:

Shotrock wrote:Mac - I'm guessing (1) Tiger truly believes he did it and (2) he really did no such thing!

During the recent Champions Dinner Tiger alledgedly entertained with a similar party trick (using the Green Jacket of course):
https://youtu.be/Igrdi_lhhW4

Hey... if Riggs and and Houdini could dislocate/relocate (I guess that's what you call it) their shoulders on demand... why can't Tiger do so with a measly little ol' wrist, finger, arm... whatever...

robo,
Spieth in NYC today; he needs to stop at a gas station.

kwinigolfer wrote:robo,
Spieth in NYC today; he needs to stop at a gas station.

Furyk will leave some 5-hr Energy bottles in his locker this week.

Looking back at the scoring, it seems McIlroy actually had a pretty good week.

He was 7 back after day 1 and finished only 6 off the pace.

His total for rounds 2-4 was 205 (Spieth's was 206)

Rory's weekend score was 134 (-10).

For someone facing the pressure of a career grand slam and 3rd straight major win in a row that is some pretty good scoring.

I wonder what his scoring at the weekend would have been if he had any chance (in his mind) of catching Spieth? Thought he relaxed a lot when it was apparent he had no chance...