Saturday 2014 WGC Cadillac Open Comment Thread

Since Friday was such a wild day, a rare Saturday comment thread appears to be necessary to sort out the antics.

With the wind down we'll find out just how flawed or not flawed the design is, but early on the scoring is good and those who are hitting the ball appear to be seeing rewards, though the greens are still firm.

Also worth noting is spotlight coverage on the 15th, 16th and 18th hole on Golf Channel from 2-5 ET while NBC is on from 2-6 ET. Will be interesting to see if the Trackman numbers, promised at the Honda, are more prevalent in the telecast. The first shot of the day had them and Curt Byrum was quick to analyze them. Good start.

Poulter Calls Out Matsuyama For Damaging Doral Green; They Tee It Up Again At 11:15 Saturday!

You have to love Ian Poulter's Twitter honesty and lack of fear in calling out a competitor who committed what sounds like a pretty grave etiquette error Friday at Doral.

Let's let the Tweets speak for themselves...clicking on the links to each will let you read the conversations with readers which, in the world of Poulter, are always lively.

The first:

playing with Matsuyama tomo. He buried his putter in the 13th green 5 ft from the hole, Referee had to repair the crater. Because he didn't.

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 8, 2014

Number two: 

Why should Matsuyama leave a crater in the green for others to putt over, or have to call a referee to repair the damage. Idiot.

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 8, 2014

Number three: 

Im no saint & first to say. But that was disgusting. I wouldn't bury a putter in a green 5 ft from a hole & have players behind deal with it

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 8, 2014

And finally...

I can't wait to. @Lainger66 are you going to speak to him like a man or just blast him on twitter like all the other keyboard warriors?”

— Ian Poulter (@IanJamesPoulter) March 8, 2014

Update on 2014-03-08 17:04 by Geoff

**The resolution!

Matsuyama came to Poulter on the range to apologize for yesterday's attempt at redesigning the 13th green. pic.twitter.com/D7xQOsbbXJ

— Alex Miceli (@alexmiceli) March 8, 2014

Update on 2014-03-08 18:18 by Geoff

**Adam Sarson posts a GIF of the Matsuyama act. Not awful, but also not great to leave a dent in the green. I'd be more sympathetic too if the player in question was not one of the slowest in golf.

Update on 2014-03-10 04:14 by Geoff

**Good mash-up from the SI/golf.com gang on this:

SHIPNUCK: It’s great fun, for sure, but a punk move. Handling it the old-school way would’ve been better -- that is, behind closed doors. Hideki was an easy target. No way Poults is that strident with a big name.

VAN SICKLE: I don't think Poulter is afraid to call anyone out. And what Matsuyama did was completely wrong. It's one mistake to do that, it's a worse mistake not to fix it. Somebody put a diaper on that baby when he's done with his tantrum. There is no excuse for behavior like that. Poulter was right on the money.

PASSOV: Poulter is such an opinionated, loose cannon, that it's always fun to see what he'll say on any topic. I don't think he would have called out Tiger or Phil, for instance, but Poults is king of social media these days, so you never know. I guess I'm from a different era, when these sorts of matters were handled privately, behind closed doors, but nowadays, everybody and everything seem to be an open book, so perhaps Poulter was within his rights in calling out Matsuyama.

Is Driving Doral's New 16th Worth The Risk?

I consider this vital, weighty question heading into the WGC Cadillac Championship that starts Thursday.

Of course, the previous 16th hole did not look like a hole one should drive and players did it, adding some excitement to recent final years. But as I explain in this GolfDigest.com Local Knowledge item, the biggest question mark heading in will be the new 16th's risk-reward equation.

A few photos from three weeks ago, starting with the vastly improved tee view:

(Click image to enlarge)The second shot view from the lay-up area:

(Click on image to enlarge) And the rear view looking back toward the fairway (tee is to the right in the distance):

(Click on image to enlarge)