2011 Masters Clippings, Wednesday
Press conferences and the overnight storm were the main topic of conversation Tuesday as most of the top players prepare to sit out the Par-3 Contest (reminder, I'll be live blogging the first hour or so, mostly so we can kick around favorites and other longshots).
Gary Van Sickle sets the tone for Tuesday's coverage.
This week, it's all about Tiger and Phil, the same as it's been for the last dozen years. Other champions rise and fall, but Tiger and Phil hold our interest. They endure. They have become as much identified with Augusta National as Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer before them. So it came as no surprise that when the British Open champ, Louis Oosthuizen, stopped by the press center Tuesday morning, he was greeted by a media throng of fewer than a dozen. Nothing against him, but the British media had already talked to Lee Westwood and rushed off to write their stories so they could be ready to interview Tiger and Phil a few hours later. Every other interview subject, from Oosthuizen to the legendary Gary Player, was the undercard.
Phil Mickelson
Cameron Morfit talked to Phil's peers and some old geezers about the likely tournament favorite.
"As a competitor I don't buy into that," said Nick Watney, who is coming off a win at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral, and who has finished no worse than 13th this season. "There's a lot of golf to be played and anything can happen."
"It's premature to say the tournament is Phil's to lose," Henrik Stenson said. "That's something you say about a guy who has a three-shot lead on Sunday."
Fuzzy Zoeller, the 1979 champion who won't compete this week for the second straight year, put it this way: "Who knows? Sometimes you can play great one week and the next week you can't hit a cow in the ass with a bass fiddle."
Steve Elling explains Phil's latest two-driver concept.
Mickelson is toting the same driver from last week, where he won in Houston thanks to 18 weekend birdies. For you equipment techies, it's a 45-inch model with a low center of gravity and 7.5 degrees of loft. It produces a lower ball flight. That's his stock driver.
The new cannon is an inch longer, has only 5.9 degrees of loft, and features a higher center of gravity to generate a higher ball flight.
We have liftoff.
"They both draw and fade the same," he said. "That's not the purpose of it. I have an inch longer shaft and different loft. It just goes about 15, 20 yards farther."
Bob Harig explains Phil's slight preparation audible Tuesday.
Due to those overnight storms, temperatures were about 20 degrees cooler than Monday, although expected to return to warmer levels by the start of the tournament on Thursday.
For that reason, Mickelson decided to forego a practice round Tuesday. "I didn't see how playing today was going to benefit me given conditions were supposed to be so drastically different this week," he said.
The full Mickelson transcript is here.
And Tom Spousta tells us what Phil Mickelson's Seve-tribute-themed dinner menu looked like:
In honor of Ballesteros, the two-time Masters champion, Mickelson dedicated the Champions dinner with a flair worthy of Seve's swashbuckling plays. The menu, printed in Spanish and English, included:
Green Salad with Sherry Vinaigrette
Seafood Paella
Prime Beef Tenderloin with Manchego Cheese and Smoked Paprika Demi-Glace
Spanish Apple Pie
Tiger Woods
Lawrence Donegan tells us Tiger's reaction to the non-controversy of the day, Ian Poulter suggesting that Tiger is unlikely to finish in the top five this week. You'd think he suggested that William make Kate sign a prenup!
Woods maintained a diplomatically straight face and carefully sarcastic tone when informed of Poulter's words. "Well, Poulter is always right, isn't he?" he said. "My whole idea is to win the golf tournament. I've prepared with a view to peaking four times a year and that hasn't changed."
Sam Weinman recounts past Tiger "snubs" and it's a long list! Especially when you pull a Paul Tesori card out of your pocket!James Corrigan gets to the bigger issue here: players just aren't intimidated by Tiger any longer.
The problem is that, like stocks and shares, you can always become worse as well. Woods has been living, seething proof of this. Again he pointed to the swing changes he has made for his wretched run of results and again he claimed the process to be just the same as the previous occasions when he dared to overhaul a major-winning motion. But this time feels different. The onlookers are wondering whether he will ever reach that level. Even his rivals are prepared to raise their doubts.
It's not just the players, Gene Wojciechowski doesn't feel too good about Tiger's chances after Tuesday's press conference.
Woods has no such momentum. He's like a caffeine junkie trying to find an open Starbucks. He has dropped to seventh in the world rankings, trailing Mickelson for the first time in 14 years. And he hasn't won here since 2005.
During his annual State of the Tiger address at Augusta National, Woods was asked some steak-knife-pointed questions about the state of his game. You never would have heard these in the old days -- the old days being 2008, when he won the U.S. Open on one leg.
Question: "Do you feel you're ready to win this week?"
Woods: "Mm-hmm."
Or ...
"Have we seen the best of Tiger Woods?"
Woods: "No."
"Do you still believe you will [break Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories]?"
Woods: "Mm-hmm."
In a very polite way, people were asking Tiger whether he was washed up. He smiled -- sort of -- while answering, but you can believe that he seethed at the suggestion of his vulnerability.
The full Tiger transcript is here.
Players
Lee Westwood is patient and back in love with Augusta National, says Paul Mahoney.
Just a few years ago, Westwood stomped off the course and declared he had fallen out of love with Augusta National. The love returned after last year's performance.
"What they have done to the course in the past two years has vindicated what I said," Westwood said. "One of the great things about the Masters when I was growing up was those back-nine charges and hearing the roars when people made eagles. Like when Jack Nicklaus shot 30 in 1986. I just thought the course was getting so severe that we were losing that."
But how's his wedge game?
Derek Lawrenson has solved one of the mysteries many in the game have long wanted answered in a Daily Mail "Exclusive": why Johnny Miller calls Paul Casey a choker.
When I asked Paul Casey what he thought of Johnny Miller calling him a choker, he smiled and thought back to his world-beating days at college when he was outstripping some of even Tiger Woods' old records.
'Johnny used to watch me all the time in those days because I always seemed to be drawn against his son,' said Casey. 'I usually beat him, too. Do you think that might have anything to do with his comments?'
This was Casey in splendid form on the eve of the major that always seemed best suited to his strengths. Long hitter? Check. High ball flight? Check. Good putter? Check.
Helen Ross on Martin Kaymer, who visited the press center Tuesday and talked about his game.
So Kaymer decided to take a different approach as he prepared for this year’s Masters. He has been off the last two weeks, spending one at home in Scottsdale practicing and the other with his father and brother here in southeast Georgia playing other nearby courses to get comfortable with the conditions.
"That was nice to have some time off and for us, for three of us, it was nice," Kaymer said.
Conventional wisdom has always held that players who can hit a draw prosper at Augusta National. Kaymer admits he got that into his head, and the draw is not the strength of the German’s game. So in a way, it was a self-fulfilling prophecy, and only upon deeper consideration did he come up with an alternate theory.
Randall Mell shares this profound chat between Kaymer and Luke Donald about the short game.
Kaymer said he sees Luke Donald as the favorite to win this week, in part, because of Donald's short game. Donald beat Kaymer in the final round of the Accenture Match Play Championship.
“His short game is unbelievable,” Kaymer said.
Kaymer unsuccessfully tried to unearth some short-game secrets from Donald after he got beat by him.
“I said, `How did you become so good in the short game?’” Kaymer said.
“He said, `I don’t know.’”
“I said, `I understand.’”
Phillip Reid on Padraig Harrington who, brace yourselves, sounds happy with his game and is not searching.
As he explained: “I’m very happy with where I am at, where my game is and where I’m going. All that stuff. It doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to play your best week or anything like that, but I am comfortable with me . . . the signs are good, there’s no doubt about that. We’re focused on a big week, things are in a good place now and going forward . . . I’m not searching for anything at the moment.”
Rex Hoggard posts an item about the mysteries of the 12th hole that's worth filing away if Dustin Johnson is in contention on Sunday, talking to caddy Bobby Brown:
Still, during a practice round this week Brown said Johnson hit a “pure” 8-iron that splashed into the creek. Moments later he hit the same shot long. The lesson? Some things can’t be controlled at Augusta National.
“You just have to commit to the shot,” Brown said.
Amateurs
From David Chung's Masters.com diary Tuesday:
And at No. 12, I had quite an experience. The flag was blowing to the right, but the wind was really helping to the left, so I took a 7-iron and hit a low draw in there, and the wind took it the way back into the Azalea bushes. It went like 15 yards over the green. It was crazy. You hear about it, but you just don't understand it until you hit a shot there. I hit the 7-iron again but with a high soft fade, and it floated to the middle of the green.
Sean Martin files a short Q&A with Peter Uihlein about what he's been up to so far and asks about staying at the club during a tornado watch.
Q. What did you do in the Crow's Nest during last night's storm?
A: David Chung and Jin Jeong were there. Jin went to sleep. Me and David, we watched the basketball game, and then David doesn't remember anything about the storm. I was up all night. But he's a deep sleeper I guess.
Thomas Bonk also talked to Uihlein about the Masters and his goals for the week.
"I think just being here is pretty special," said Uihlein, who spent the night in the Crow's Nest in Augusta National Golf Club's Clubhouse. "Anytime you can go out in the Masters and play as an amateur, it doesn't get any better than that. That pretty much takes the cake."
Uihlein's goal for the week, besides soaking in the atmosphere in his first Masters, is to make the cut.
"Making the cut and being Low Amateur," he said. "But first and foremost, just have some fun."
Flora, Fauna, Jack And Off Course Vendors
Jack held court once again, writes Jim Moriarty.
The topics are rarely confined to Nicklaus himself, though he did acknowledge he's tried dozens of times to duplicate the putt he hit on the 17th green that Sunday but that it has never broken back toward Rae's Creek at the end the way it did that afternoon. His conversation, for that's what it has become, is more skewed to the state of the game than the state of the Golden Bear. When someone asked him if he thought a player older than him (Nicklaus was, of course, 46 when he won his sixth green jacket) could win, Jack deadpanned, "Somebody over 71?"
John Steinbreder at Masters.com also writes about Jack (and there is crystal clear video of the entire presser at the top of the page).
Did you ever have another run like the one you did in 1986?
Jack doesn't commit to an answer at first. You can sense the wheels turning and the memory banks being mined. There were the five birdies he made on the last five holes to win the 1978 Jackie Gleason Inverarry Classic. Or the five successive birdies he made in the middle of his final round at the 1982 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. But then he considers that he played the last 10 holes of Augusta National on that Sunday in 1986 in 33 strokes. That he birdied hole Nos. 9, 10, 11 and 13, and then went eagle-birdie-birdie on 15 through 17.
"No," Nicklaus finally says.
You can read the entire transcript here.
Gary McCord and Ben Wright were among the mourners attending a special ceremony paying tribute to Frank Chirkinian, reports Justin Williams.
The club recognized him Tuesday, presenting his son, Frank Jr., with a plaque that signified his place among the club's list of distinguished members.
On hand for the ceremony were Jim Nantz, Pat Summerall, Ben Wright and Gary McCord, who worked under Chirkinian's leadership.
Nantz detailed his experience of entering Augusta National Golf Club this week: "I could still see Frank when I walked in the door. Everybody here feels his presence every day they go to work."
Mike Walker reports on a large pine that went down during the afternoon practice round play. Unfortunately, it was not one of Hootie and Fazio's.
Bill Kirby says the Washington Road merchandise scene has been gentrified thanks to the club.
With walls of framed Masters champions, badges and other golf goodies behind them, they say they continue to do well after coming to the tournament for 15 years.
"We know a lot of customers by first name," Gilchrist said.
They credited their good fortune to Augusta National Golf Club's efforts in cleaning up the area along Washington Road.
"We give kudos to the course," Maurer said of the change.
That change is apparent.
With the golf club acquiring properties across Washington Road, tearing down old businesses and replacing them with landscaping, the area once derided by national sportswriters has more of a parklike look this year.
Most pedestrian and vehicle traffic has shifted to Berckmans Road, and many vendors followed their customers to the side streets, making the main highway in front of Magnolia Lane more attractive.
"Washington Road is now a clean, safe place," Maurer said.
Bianca Cain reports the names of the hooligans who were arrested for scalping outside the club gates.
Those guys might want to go to StubHub where, Randall Mell reports, badges range from $859 to $995 for Sunday.
Will Durst writes about the practice round skip shots at 16 and the piece is accompanied by a Jim Huber narrated look at shots and fan reactions.
Fantasy
Golfweek's staff issues their predictions.
Sal Johnson crunches the numbers and offers his potential contenders.
And finally, Rod Morri had photographer David Cannon and yours truly on to talk all things Masters.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011 at 08:33 PM
Reader Comments (30)
Was watching the Masters preview on Directv's 101 this morning. My teenage daughter and I started talking about the whole thing, and the conversation turned to the fact that not only are there no female members, but ANGC has been defiant in addressing the issue or accepting female members.
What's a dad of two smart, strong your women to do? Are we part of the problem, worshipping this course and event, and ignoring the issue? My response to her many questions on why women aren't allowed but I still watch, "But, it's the Masters". Why don't the players say anything or take a stand. What is it about this event that the world (well, not Martha Burks, et al.) take the same approach: "it's wrong, but....well....it's the Masters"?
As my fellow long timers here probably know, I'll be glued to this all weekend (at work, too). I just find it interesting that there's not even a mention of this issue anymore.
How do you all handle this one, and what do you think should be done?
PTL
Geoff- Really, I'm not trying to hijack this thread, I was just struck by the clippings for today and this week, and not having seen this issue. Interested on your take, too, on why the media has dropped this otherwise polarizing issue.
Notes added in proof: Actually c&c discrimination affects both parties, although the group on top seldom realizes this until it is too late. The imperial/colonial histories of Great Britain and the US, both internal and external, provide many such examples. I live in an area where it smacks any sentient being in the face every single day. The problem is that most of the group on top here are barely sentient.
The real Tiger has appeared and that's the problem.
Pete,
There's only two ways to respond to your daughters, actually three if you chose not to respond but I don't think that's wise. You can either tell them how evil America is (ala WR) and how much you hate ANGC members, or explain the *facts and allow them to form their own opinion. Give them the freedom to decide if they like it or not.
ANGC is a private club, there is no application process.
Is it possible to establish a private club for females only ? The last time I checked the US Constitution it was.
If you weave your love for the golf tournament with political correctness you won't enjoy it as much.
You were trying to hijack the thread, you typed the damn words- at least be upfront about it.
Thats not setting a very example for your children either, sport.
Old Hornet-
WR is just in a bad mood because Judge Prosser may actually win.
Can someone offer a reasoned defense of the policy at AGNC for Pete?
Tell her the truth, then set her sights on this:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/03/business/03grove.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=bohemian%20club&st=cse
As I always say, spring has sprung.
Augusta's unpopular choice is protected in the very same way that the more popular choices are. Whether we consider it right or wrong, the legal protection of their decision to remain a single gendered club (in membership only) is fundamentally important in your system.
Or..
Tell her that these men (like a lot of men) are like 2 year olds in many ways. They cling to their 'traditions' like safety blankets and hate to be told what to do. Eventually, they come around but it has to be on their terms. In the meantime, we won't disown them because we want to see them grow and develop.
Either or, I guess.
Also - it appears that we don't get the par 3 coverage in Canada. If so, that means TSN is batting 1000 after screwing up parts of their NCAA coverage. Why pay for the rights and then just decide not to show it? I'll never understand.
Your points were close to the ones I've made. Establish the facts of the story and let their opinions develop on their own. It has made for interesting discussion and healthy intellectual debate.
@jjshaka-
Put some more sugar in your coffee, brother, and lower the hostility. :) I merely pointed out a missing item from the week's clippings. As I said, I was not trying to hijack things. If you've read my posts over the many years here in Shack-Land, you'd know that to be the case. As a friendly aside, I would mention that it is only a "hijack" if others prefer to follow along and comment on the item. As I originally stated, it is interesting that it hasn't even appeared as a line item in news stories.
@All-
I'm betting on a major show of force by Phil, with a wild roller coaster ride on Sunday with at least 1 ugly bogey on 14 or 15.
Looking at Mell's story, watch out for Kaymer and other good short players. Remember in the recent past when we had a winner who steadfastly refused to go for a par 5 in two? Got him a green jacket. Could it happen again this year or will it be a gunslinger of a player?
Can't wait to see....
Although I agree with the NCAA coverage. that was LOL. Especially the finals, put it on TSN2 and put *curling* LOL on the main network
But it bothers me too that Augusta is treated like a holy shrine, but whatever it just a golf course and I will be watching.
I guess I'll offer my most sincere apologies to the buttholes at TSN.
I'm going to take the conversation in a new direction. I was very impressed with Phil's gesture of honoring Seve with his dinner menu. I was disappointed that there were no reactions from the other players in attendance, particularly Jose Maria. Congratulations to Phil. He continues to impress with his off course actions.
I agree with him, but I think that the PGA Tour should pick up the batton and not sanction the Masters as an official event - with the result that there's no OWGR points, no official money towards the Tour Card, and no qualification for any other tournaments dependent on where you finish in the Masters. If they'd hold that line (and once crossed you can't cross back) that would have a pretty salutary effect on the status of the Masters sooner than most people think. Sponsors and players would be embarrassed about associating with the Tournament and attending or making a fuss about it pretty quickly by a braver stance of the PGA Tour because we all know it would be right in our heart of hearts. ANGC would have a perfectly legitimate choice (i) to remain what it always says it is, a private club, and lose the 'official' status of the Tournament and the Club within the game or (ii) to change and keep the status of the Tournament 'official'. There could be no barrel of the gun nonsense then - they would merely be invited to be precise about what status they want for themselves having gotten away with having it each way for years. For all their pontificating about being a private club, I think that they know that ANGC without the Masters is nothing - it's not the Members or the Course that has made the club what it is so much as the fact that the world's best pro's duke it out for the Green Jacket every year. If they'd rather not respect the rules of the player's tour that is, of course, their choice, but they don't deserve to continue enjoying the unique and substantial benefit to them of the players competing annually over their course in a 'Major Championship'.
The PGA Tour really needs to say boo to that particular goose - Martha Burke ought to be putting pressure on the tour apply (what I understand to be) their rules evenly, not on ANGC who are merely taking advantage of what they are being given. The same goes for the Open when it's staged at Sandwich, Troon, and Muirfield (I think that's the right clubs).
I too thought that a nice gesture, but people will likely see it as pandering and self-promotion. It would have been nice to hear JMO's thoughts.
Seve named his puppy after Phil because he likes the way he plays.
It's funny that Phil has gotten to the point where many assume other motives than sincerity for all he does. I'm curious to know if insiders still regard him as FIGJAM or if time and life experiences have shaped him into the more genuine person that is projected to us. I'm optimistic that it's the latter.
You're right. It was a great gesture.
I agree wholeheartedly with the two potential female members you suggest if ANGC is about honoring the game regardless of gender. However, I'm not convinced that is or will ever be the goal. Think about it. If you win it's a perpetual invite and a locker with your name on it. Fame on the other hand might yield a bridge, pond or a tree. For members providing years of outstanding service to the club, it's portrait in oil. I don't think the thought process goes much deeper......at least for now.
Old Horney--Be sure to let us know when you apply to this "all females club". In the meantime--Go to your room. Wow Mrs. hornet is a lucky girl.
As for the women member thing...those of you that are up in arms, I challenge you to this: take a stand, turn your TV off, do not EVER watch The Masters again. Then, set your sights on Burning Tree. Burning Tree is chock-full-o' DC politicians and only let women onto the grounds one day per year, and that's to shop for holiday gifts. Ask the women who play on the University of South Carolina golf team how they feel about Augusta National.
Had NOT heard that about Burning Tree. Very surprising.
I went to USC (for grad school) and never heard about the issues. Do you have any specific tales of the golf team's frustrations with ANGC or is it a general remark? You've piqued my curiosity.
As for the driver issue, you make a great point. PLUS, how do you get a 5.9 loft driver to go anywhere but gopher hunting? :)
Hootie hosts the USC Women's team at ANGC IIRC. Same for other college teams from around the South. ANGC has always been a hospitable place in its own way and that is why I think Martha got his back up so much. Hootie also has an excellent history of making room for underrepresented groups in his business world. Which is also why their stubbornness is borderline ridiculous. When I started in science not all that long ago, women were still way underrepresented. Most medical school classes are 50:50 now. Ditto for law schools. Don't know about business schools. It is a much better way to live. That's all.
I once played 18 holes with a 7.5 degree demo driver with an X-stiff shaft. Killed a lot of worms in the right rough.