More On SpazGate

This New Zealand story looks at the even greater unfolding horror behind Tiger's use of "spaz," the American media's vast left wing cover up:

British media have taken their American counterparts to task for not reporting golfer Tiger Woods' controversial "spaz" comment after yesterday's US Masters.

The world No 1, after finishing tied for third at Augusta, three shots behind winner Phil Mickelson, told a television interviewer: "As good as I hit it, that's as bad as I putted and it's frustrating, because I felt so in control of my ball from tee to green, and once I got on the green I was a spaz (spastic)."

The Telegraph in London took a dim view of the comment and its subsequent reporting in the United States.

"America's leading newspapers yesterday helped Tiger Woods evade controversy by ignoring his use of the word `spaz' to describe his poor putting in the final round of the Masters at Augusta," Lewine Mair wrote in the Telegraph.

"The LA Times, changed the word to 'wreck' while The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Boston Globe all expunged the word completely. Only two US sports news services ran his words in an unedited form."

Just When We Thought That They Were Out...

...Hartford is back in in the uh, FedEx Cup (formerly known as the PGA Tour).  Dont' worry, the PGA Tour didn't come to its senses and realize that it had shipped a 55-yaer old history and charity-rich event off to the fall.

Instead, according to Commissioner Finchem:

"The opportunity for Hartford to move into the June 2007 slot previously committed to the 84 Lumber Classic recently arose when 84 Lumber informed us that it had embarked on an aggressive three-year business plan and wanted to reevaluate the June sponsorship."

I'm open to suggestions on what embarking on "an aggressive three-year business plan" translates to?

Thanks to reader Robert for the heads up.

Course Changes Verdict Watch, Vol. 4

Vartan Kupelian reports in the Detroit News:

"The changes are better than I thought," said Mike Weir, the 2003 winner. "I would like to see them shorten the rough just a little more, especially on No. 11. Other than that, the changes are great."

Padraig Harrington, who couldn't escape damaging double bogeys, said the course "played great" and put a premium on execution, the way it should be.

"The difference between a shot coming off and not coming off is a birdie to double bogey," he said.

Davis Love is a golf course architect when he's not playing major championships around the globe or on the PGA Tour.

"I like the changes," he said. "As an architect, I have some suggestions about the trees."

The opening tee shot, Love said, "is perfect, it fits."

Apparently You Can't Say...

..."spaz" in the British Isles without lighting up the switchboards? Mike Aitken reports and defends Tiger Woods.

Enough Is Enough

That was actually a quote from Dick Rugge in this Gerry Dulac story about the USGA possibly curbing some technology, even as a "distance myth" memo is making the rounds.

There are several interesting quotes from manufacturers types in this piece, and it was nice to see Rugge getting to explain and defend some of the recent USGA moves on Moment of Inertia. 

Make no mistake, the USGA is intent on curbing the distance the ball travels. In addition to the cap of clubhead size, the USGA also is close to implementing a limit on clubhead moment of inertia (MOI), or the head's resistance to twisting. The less a clubhead twists, the greater the "forgiveness," giving players a greater chance to hit the ball straight.

For example, the USGA tested a wooden driver on its Iron Byron swing machine and deliberately set the machine to produce off-center hits (7/8-inch from the center of gravity). The result: The ball traveled 45 yards less than a ball hit "on the screws."

When the same test was performed with a new titanium driver, the ball traveled only 10 yards less.

"Enough," Rugge said, "is enough."

And again, here's another reason rules bifurcation may ultimately be the easiest solution to all of this madness:

Curiously, such a restriction likely would have a greater effect on amateur and weekend players who have trouble hitting the ball straight and need a high MOI. PGA Tour players don't necessarily need or want such a quality, though the USGA is concerned better players will be able to swing harder without fear of a poor result if the MOI isn't restricted.

According to Rugge, the MOI in a club has nearly tripled in the past 15 years.

"That's always our dilemma with any of our equipment rules," Rugge said. "What's good for me [as a player] isn't necessarily good for what's on tour. We don't want to make it so you can't play anymore, but we have to be careful what's going on on tour. It's always a juggling act."

Course Changes Verdict Watch, Vol. 3

Bob Spear breaks out the pom-poms for Hootie's home state paper and declares that the changes were a huge success. (I believe Spear also wrote in an earlier piece that "Jones and MacKenzie would now doubt approve" of the changes).

The layout that some of golf's treasured champions claimed had been ruined with its added length joined the winner in sharing the spotlight in the 70th Masters.

After these past four days, the claims from Jack Nicklaus and Arnold Palmer sound absurd.

I'd love to see Spear that say that to their faces. Maybe when they're are wearing their green jackets!

Remember the rhetoric? With the changes, thrilling finishes would be passe, run-away winners would be more likely and only the longest hitters need apply for contention.

Isn't that kind of what happened?

Historians insist the Masters does not begin until the back nine on Sunday, but they're wrong. The tournament "started" long before - thanks to the changes that both challenged the world's best golfers and also yielded to quality play.

I liked it better when it started on the back nine Sunday.

Mark this down: At 4:10 p.m., 17 players stood within three strokes of the lead.

That's not incredible. That's impossible.

Case closed!

Before he did, however, the tournament "got pretty exciting out there," Couples said. "For a player to win on this course now, (every part of his game) has to click."

Intentionally or not, he described what a major championship test should be, and perhaps now more than ever, Augusta National fit the definition.

That's right. All of those jackets won prior to the changes? Tainted! Take 'em back!

Extension Issue

Remember all of the pre-tournament talk of Augusta National's "rhythm" restoration?

A reader made this observation after attending the Masters this weekend:

I was most disappointed by the change to the fourth. The tee is now so elevated, the hole resembles the sixth which I’m sure was not the MacKenzie /Jones intention. For a duck hook off four’s back tee, the third green is a dangerous place to be; a bit like the 2nd tee/1st green situation at Swinley Forest. A hole location in the rear lobe of the third green didn’t help matters. Players had to wait on #3 to putt out while the group ahead hit their tee shots from the fourth tee.

To see a full size view of the tee (where you can also see a slice of 3 green on the left edge), check out this Golf Digest image.

Masters Ratings...

Down a bit from last year...

Course Changes Verdict Watch, Vol. 2

Next to an L.A. Times jump headline saying "Length Wasn't a Factor," was this Ben Crenshaw quote:

"The course gets longer and longer, but I had a great time," he said. "I had a ball."

Crenshaw said the 7,445-yard Augusta National course played even longer because of Saturday's rain.

"It's a huge, huge, huge advantage to hit it so far," he said. "Length is a major, major, major factor."

"Merion may be the site of the 2013 U.S. Open"

That's headline to this Joe Logan story that came from reader Stan. Logan says Merion's chances "seem better all the time" and that an announcement on the 2013 U.S. Open site is expected at Winged Foot this June.

That certainly was the impression left this week by Mike Davis, the U.S. Golf Association's senior director of rules and competitions, who was attending the Masters.

"We haven't run into one roadblock looking at Merion," said Davis, adding that only a few remaining logistical issues at the Ardmore club, not the strength of the golf course, present any potential problems.

While Merion, host of four previous U.S. Opens, has been on a short list of potential sites for the '13 Open for a couple of years, its chances have improved as the prospects of another potential site, the Country Club in Brookline, Mass., have dimmed.

The Country Club, regarded by some as a favorite for the '13 Open because it would mark the 100th anniversary since Francis Ouimet won the Open there, has more logistical and township issues than Merion.

Davis, who spent the week of the U.S. Amateur at Merion last summer, arrived as a fan of the course and left an ever bigger one. Not even the fact that Edoardo Molinari, the eventual winner of the Amateur, was 7 under par through 15 holes in the afternoon round of his final match against Dillon Dougherty took away from Davis' respect for the course.

"Out of 312, how many did Merion stand up to?" said Davis, referring to the fact that relatively few players broke par in the qualifying rounds. "There are a few of us who want it to happen, and you can put me at the top of that list."

Still, Davis conceded, no matter how much he and a few others at the USGA might push for Merion, the decision belongs to the 15-member Executive Committee, a body every bit as political as the U.S. Senate.

I would also take this as an encouraging sign that they are prepared to do something about distance, but the "Distance Myths" memo is another reminder that Logan was being kind with that last line.

PGA Tour Driving Distance Watch, Week 14

The PGA Tour Driving Distance average rose dipped a bit from 288.66 after the BellSouth to 288.3 after the Masters. 

There were 0 over-350 or longer drives, with the season total to 844, then again, it's not clear if they were actually measing on all holes.

ShotLink was supposedly coming to the Augusta National for the first time, but with not a mention anywhere and a few trusted spotters insisting they did not see the measuring devices, it would seem that only the measuring holes were used.

Early Game Stories and Other Final Day Stuff

Damon Hack files a story and notes column (on Tiger, Crenshaw and Mediate). Doug Ferguson also files notes, looking at Rocco Mediate's back going out and Stewart Cink reconsidering some if his pre-tourament criticism.  Cameron Morfit at Golfonline focuses on Mediate and his pals.

Leonard Shapiro leads with the Sunday morning camera click on 18, and how, thankfully, it did not affect the outcome. Based on the number of top-of-the-backswing shots we've seen there in recent years, it's a bit of a wonder that the shutterbugs are even allowed near the tee. And Frank Hannigan's favorite columnist looks at Phil's learning curve.

Lawrence Donegan's Guardian game story analyzes the European showing while John Huggan writes about Darren Clarke.

Ben Crenshaw had two weekend diary entries at masters.org, here and here.

If it's photos you are after, the Augusta Chronicle has pages and pages of thumbnails.

And Michael Hiestand does his best to channel his infamous predecessor, Rudy Martzke:

It's pointless to quibble about coverage that inevitably will be glowing since, as CBS' Dick Enberg put it Sunday, it's set amid "spectacular and overpowering beauty" in "this glorious arena." The effect was contagious: Mickelson's upbeat TV ads for ExxonMobil during CBS' coverage made you wonder if you shouldn't be a bit more appreciative of the conglomerate.

I knew those ads worked on someone!

Two Can Play That Game

Jim Litke on Mickelson's two-driver approach:

"I needed it to combat the added length at Augusta, but this is probably the only course that I'll do it," Mickelson said afterward. "I don't know where else I'll end up needing to do it."

But Mickelson might want to rethink that, based on what he did at the beefed-up Augusta layout. Mickelson won the long-drive contest, averaging 297.5 yards per drive, nearly four yards farther than his closest pursuer and Sunday playing partner Freddie Couples.

His accuracy wasn't nearly as impressive - he hit 35 of 56 fairways, or 62.5 percent, a number that tied him for 36th. Even so, he launched even wayward drives far enough to take the heat off his approach shots. He tied for fourth in reaching the greens in regulation - Mickelson hit 50 of 72, or 69.4 percent - and tied for 16th in fewest putts needed.

And this from Billy Mayfair:

What all that added up to was another sterling silver trophy and the wide-eyed respect of his peers.

"You can kid about Phil, but he's one of the most intelligent persons I've ever met," said Billy Mayfair, who finished at even-par, seven strokes behind Mickelson's winning 281 total.

In Their Own Words...

Highlights from the Phil Mickelson and Tim Clark media sessions:

Q. Would you now advocate everyone going out and putting two drivers in the bag?

PHIL MICKELSON: Well, if they are the proper brand. (Laughter).

Q. And in all seriousness, how much did that actually help you?

PHIL MICKELSON: Oh, it was huge. It was a huge help. Because I worked with the technicians over at Callaway and I've got 20, 25 more yards with this driver that draws. I call it a draw and a fade, but the fact is, the draw is like an additional driver; it makes my normal driver a 3 wood, because it goes so much farther. And I needed it to combat the added length here at Augusta. This is the only course that I can think of that I will probably do it, and I did it last week at BellSouth to get accustomed to it. I don't know where else I'll end up needing to do that, but it was a huge help here, and I started going to that driver exclusively, only on holes that I thought I would play cuts. Like on 14 and 17, I ended up hitting that draw driver because I needed the extra length.

And Clark:

Q. Did you feel like the changes that were made were good throughout the field at all lengths of hitter as long as it's hard and fast?

TIM CLARK: If it's hard and fast, I think the changes are great. I noticed today Tiger hitting a lot of 3 woods. So they have taken driver out of his hand here and there. If it is firm and fast, it's fair for all. If it's wet, then it's going to be tough. 

First TV Review: McCleery

Peter McCleery weighs in with another fine (and quick!) review of CBS's effort.

Speaking of light, the delays and slow play in the final group almost put the Masters in a tight spot had there been a need for a playoff, there wasn't much daylight left at nearly 7:30 pm. Eastern time when the Mickelson-Couples pair finished its 4 1/2 hour round (apparently, the lengthened Augusta course takes even longer to play).

I wondered when someone was going to note this. Obviously, something for the tournament committee to study. No joke. (What do you think, another 10 minutes to the round with the walks back to #7, 11 and 15 tees?)

Jim Nantz tweaked the press pundits who had suggested only 10 players would have a chance to win the title on the revamped course. "I wonder if all those experts had Tim Clark in their list of 10?" asked Nantz on Saturday.

I knew I missed something when I fell asleep!

Update on 2006-04-10 03:35 by Geoff

Rick Arnett at SI.com is just as quick, posting this review of the coverage.