"Trivial Inquiries"

The Telegraph's always entertaining Martin Johnson wasn't the only one bored by the media's Tuesday fawning over Tiger the soon-to-be-dad. Don't miss this column.  The highlights, for when the link disappears:

Until now, Mrs Tiger has not had much to disturb her in married life, apart perhaps from those infuriating moments when the old man is hogging the bathroom again. "Darling, I know you've got to put your game face on, but do hurry up. I want to do my nails." But all this is about to change.

It comes as no surprise to learn that the Woods' have already declined a request from an American television company to film the birth live. However, given that Tiger himself was almost as much a designer breed as his new pooch - making his first TV appearance on The Bob Hope Show at the age of three - we can hazard a guess at what the viewers might have witnessed had CBS been allowed to break off from their six o'clock news bulletin on the latest events in Iraq to go live to the maternity ward.

Soon after Woods Junior emerges from the womb, the midwives will marvel at how his hands clasp hold of the umbilical cord, using the Vardon grip of course, before taking aim at a ball of cotton wool and propelling it into a wastepaper basket for the youngest ever hole in one.

Woods himself says that he has no idea whether fatherhood will alter his legendary approach to business - he has a focus which makes Nicklaus in his prime look like a man having a carefree Sunday morning biff round the local municipal. Woods has already said, though, that he will not be playing golf when the birth is due, and we could see him at this year's Open at Carnoustie carrying a beeper on his belt. If there is a God, please let it go off on the top of Colin Montgomerie's backswing.

Chairman Payne's Press Conference

This was a serious lovefest after the Hootie years. Thanks largely to Billy Payne's shrewd handling of course. Novel concept, this honest, straightforward no-nonsense stuff.

Still, it would have been nice if he was grilled a bit on a few topics.

On the reduction of the top 40 PGA Tour money winner qualification to top 30 along with the top 30 at the end of the FedEx Cup playoffs:

We have applied these new 2008 qualifications over the last five years, and I can report that the field size over those years would have been on average one or two players larger.

And because he's smart and wants to make sure we don't think this was a rescinding of a bad Hootie Johnson idea...

Q. Could you talk about what led you to your decision about the qualifications changes and particularly the PGA TOUR winners?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE: Well, I cannot take credit for that. That's something my predecessor was thinking about and talking about, encouraged me to take a hard look at. And, you know, he was preaching to the choir.
I can remember innumerable times where winners of tournament events would be more excited to hear that they had automatically qualified for the Masters than to receive the first prize money check. So it was an exciting component of golf that really only the Masters could offer, and we all thought it appropriate that we bring it back.

Funny, Hootie had every chance to reverse it and he didn't. But we admire the humility and the respect for your elders.

As for the golf course:

CHAIRMAN PAYNE: You know, as I reflect back last year when very significant changes were made, and those that preceded it in '98 and 2002, I was very proud of the way that the course was able to identify the best golfer and that linked with not necessarily the only component of one's game that made them competitive. I think last year demonstrated that conclusively. I think the order of finish demonstrated that conclusively. I think that we've got it about right.

So I would not anticipate substantive changes in the near future, but I would have to caveat that by saying that we certainly measure flight and roll distance, and will be always aware of the quality of the challenge that the golf course presents to these great players.

The quality of the challenge. Yes, the second cut and trees do reduce the quality of the challenge, don't they?

Here's a brilliant question from the gallery:

Q. Do you anticipate scoring being somewhere on the level of last year?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE: Well, I can't predict what the scoring is going to be, but we're certainly going to set up the golf course to be as good and as fair a test as we can.

Like it's the third quarter report and Payne is the CFO. Sheesh.

The dreaded technology question:

Q. Wonder if you could elaborate a little on your perception of Augusta's role in the battle between technology and maintaining golf courses of this tradition.

CHAIRMAN PAYNE: Well, of course I can speak only for Augusta, but I certainly can, I believe, articulate, enunciate, emphasize the problem that we think exists that potentially threatens us and other great courses of the world. With the combination of physical conditioning and equipment over the last several years, as you all know better than I do,

Oh I wouldn't be so sure of that...sorry,continues...

some of these great courses have been significantly threatened. We were at a point at one time, as Tiger said the other day, where Augusta National was being played with driver and wedge on all par 4 holes, and that was not the original intention of our founders.

My predecessor and those before him had the courage to do something about it.

Well, courage? More like desire to make sure red numbers weren't splattered all over the board while they were in charge... 

It's something that we must be always aware of and never, ever be afraid to do whatever we have to do to protect that which is in our opinion necessary to accomplish to protect this great course. That's what we're going to do.

Q. Has the club ever conducted a study on how long you could make the course if you wanted to stretch it out as far as you can, and if so, what was that number?

CHAIRMAN PAYNE: I don't know that number, but I would guarantee you we've studied everything you can study.

Let's hope he's studying how move fairway back to the trees and chop down some pines. 

Masters De-Hootification Continues...*

...first it was Arnold Palmer restoring the honorary starter tradition, now Billy Payne and friends are restoring the sorely missed exemption for winners of PGA Tour events. Shoot, maybe the rough and trees will go!

I'm waiting for a news story Larry Fine reports. In the meantime, Tim Finchem had a statement ready to go and is understandably pleased for his players, including the top 30 money exemption that might add some fun to the fall finish.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2007

STATEMENT FROM PGA TOUR COMMISSIONER TIM FINCHEM

The PGA TOUR is delighted with today’s announcement of the revised eligibility qualifications for the Masters Tournament. A restoration of the historic linkage between winning a TOUR event and gaining access to the Masters will be enthusiastically greeted by players and fans alike. We also appreciate that today’s changes provide access to players who compete in the TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola by virtue of their finish in the top 30 in FedExCup points. Also, the access granted to players who are ranked among the top 30 in our season-ending Official PGA TOUR Money List provides added meaning to the TOUR’s Fall Series events.

We applaud Billy Payne and the Masters Tournament for these changes, and the PGA TOUR looks forward to the implementation of these new qualifications in 2008 and beyond.

Update on 2007-04-04 20:55 by Geoff

*Here's the official Masters.org release.

Wednesday's Masters Clippings

Arnold's kicking off the festivities Thursday, restoring one of the great traditions.

The pairings and tee times are announced.

Scott Michaux wonders about golf history that might have been.

Troy Matteson is doing a Masters diary and says it took three hours to play the front nine Tuesday.

John Hawkins only injects himself into the equation at select times in a nice breakdown of the likely runner-ups to Tiger Masters contenders.

Damon Hack profiles Augusta's hometown favorite, Charles Howell.

"ARNOLD PALMER: Who gives a shit? (Laughter). If you can't win, it doesn't matter. That's s-h-i-t."

Palmer's session was by far the most fun...

Q. Gary Player is going to tie your record this week for most Masters played. He's talking about breaking it next year. What are your thoughts just about that?

ARNOLD PALMER: Well, if he isn't embarrassed, I won't be embarrassed for him. (Laughter).

Q. Just your thoughts about the rivalry.

ARNOLD PALMER: No, we're good friends. He just wants to do one better, and that's fine. I'm for him. But he can't touch my record. He hasn't even come close to it. And you don't know why, though, do you? He missed a year. So that's the end of that. (Laughter).

Q. He's in pretty good shape.

ARNOLD PALMER: What does that mean? Are you saying I'm not in pretty good shape?

Q. Maybe he has like 30 more years left or so.

ARNOLD PALMER: Who gives a shit? (Laughter). If you can't win, it doesn't matter. That's s-h-i-t. (Laughter). Hey, he's my friend and I love him. I can also have fun with him, too.

And for your rally killer of the year consideration:

 Q. Mr. Palmer, the course has changed quite a bit in the last ten years, and everyone is crediting it to Tiger, and the game has changed. Do you believe that one person could change the game so much?

Mickelson's Pre-Masters Press Conference

A little more fun from the defending champion's sit down. First, the two driver deal:

Q. Will you take the two-driver approach this year?

PHIL MICKELSON: I will. I have been working on the second driver, which is a longer driver, and I plan on using it a reasonable amount. It's also the square-headed driver that I've been working with. So I'll have two different drivers, yes.

Q. Before I ask the main one, the square-headed driver you're going to use for what kind of ball flight?

PHIL MICKELSON: It will be a lot higher. I talked about draws and fades, and so forth. It's more -- a better way to relate to be a driver and a 2-wood because one of them, the longer driver, the square one goes 20 yards longer than my regular one.

So when I need distance, I use the square one. And when I try to hit little low shots or work it around the trees on 10 or 13, I'll use the regular-shaped driver.

And...

Q. Just as a refresher, what will you be eliminating in your bag and will that change from day-to-day?
PHIL MICKELSON: I'm taking out a sand wedge. I've played here three or four years without a sand wedge and I have not needed it once. Since the course has been lengthened, I don't ever need a sand wedge. Par 4s are long enough where I have to hit 8 through wedge maybe or par 5s I'm able to reach or I have an L-wedge.

The other club, I'm going to add a 64-degree wedge, which means I'll have to take out another club and I'll take out a 3-wood. There really are not any 3-wood holes for me, and the only time I would need it would be the second shot into 8, and I prefer to cut a driver, one of the two drivers, the FT-5 off the deck and hit a cut shot into that green.

And the fun part...

Q. Talking about the greens, no matter where you go, it seems all greens are compared to Augusta's. What are some of the nuances that make this place so special and so unique on the greens?

PHIL MICKELSON: They never get spiked up. You don't ever see spike marks at Augusta National. (Laughter). I would say that, you know, four or five feet from the hole whether or not it's going in. The ball tracks perfectly. I would say that the statistics of 5-footers at Augusta National made are the same as, statistically, as 3-footers on the PGA TOUR because the greens are so perfect that you should be able to make a number of short putts. That being said, they are so fast that oftentimes you have 10- to 60-foot come-back putts, and that's not that uncommon.

And...

Q. Sticking with the green jacket theme, what did it feel like two years ago to help him put on the jacket?

PHIL MICKELSON: I don't know, but I remember what it felt like last year when he put it on me. (Laughter).

Tiger's Pre-Masters Press Conference

Way too many dog, fatherhood and 1997 questions, but a few things of interest related to the matter at hand, starting with the fiery greens:

Q. You talk a little about the greens here. It seems universally all greens are compared to Augusta greens. Do you think they are the toughest, or is it the nuances --

TIGER WOODS: Are they the toughest I've ever played? I haven't played Oakmont; everyone says Oakmont rivals this, but I haven't played there yet. This course, the amount of break you have to play and the creativity you have to use when you read putts, it's different from anything you ever have played. You may try and practice at home and you may try to do other things. But you get here, you just don't find slopes this speed. You try as best you can to get greens at home or putt on your kitchen floor or whatever it may be. But nothing really prepares you for a ball, especially when it's dry like this right now, how much the ball rolls out. You hit a good putt, oh, that's a good putt. You think it's going to be a foot or two past the hole and all of a sudden it rolls out to three, four, five feet; wait a minute.

That happens quite a bit. And if you get a little wind out here that same putt can go six, seven, eight feet by; Augusta wind. That makes it so difficult and if you hit it in the wrong spots, it's an automatic 3-putt unless you make a 15- or 20-footer, because sometimes that's the best you can do.

The best of the 1997 questions:

Q. In the ten years since you've won here, there have been so many changes, not only here on the Tour, the technology, the money, the TV, a lot of it is brought on by you. Could you have ever envisioned that when you were starting? I know your dad talked about things like that happening, but could you have ever envisioned that? And as a guy who likes challenges, do you prefer that there are these changes, or would you just have been happy to leave things as they were?

TIGER WOODS: Well, would I have ever foreseen it happening? No. I would never have foreseen the changes that they made, not only in this event alone. I was joking about it the other week, when I played Davis in a playoff in '96 to win in Vegas, Davis was using a Persimmon driver. That's amazing how the game has changed in 11 years.

It just -- every driver was 43 and a half inches, steel was standard, wound balls. Now everything is 45 inches and plus. Heads have obviously grown gynormously. There is no wound ball out here anymore.

The game has certainly changed. If we played the same golf course now with the technology, the scores would be ridiculous, because you would have short irons into just about every par 5. Most of the holes, you could drive it with a wedge on most of the par 4 and the only defense it would have if the weather turned bad. If the weather was perfect for all four days, guys would have probably broken my record easily.

Q. Do you realize that you are responsible for most of these things as much as the technology -- most of that can be funneled back to your appearance on the Tour?

TIGER WOODS: I guess it's all my fault, huh. (Laughter). 

"Year Later, Augusta National changes no longer blasted"

What was it Colbert said recently about the USA Today? Oh right, it's a "Denny's placemat, with news."

Anyway menu writer Jerry Potter has won this site's inaugural Hootie Johnson Trophy for pre-Google-mail-it-in-journalism, which goes to the golf scribe most willing to write anything that keeps their primo Masters press room seat.

You may recall that I wondered early in the week if anyone would still defend the silly tree planting and even sillier rough despite criticism from some pretty big names.  Reader Michael spotted this peach.

Here's the headline and link to the award winner: Year later, Augusta National changes no longer blasted.

A year ago Gary Player was one of the most severe critics of the changes made to Augusta National.

Monday, three days before his 50th Masters, he's quoting Winston Churchill and praising the wisdom the club used in lengthening the course to 7,445 yards, 155 yards more than in 2005 and 560 yards longer than in 2001.

"Winston Churchill so aptly said, 'Change is the price of survival,' " Player says, noting that golfers of the future will be bigger and stronger. "(Augusta National has) done a brilliant job. The guys are hitting exactly the same clubs now that we used to hit to the greens."

Here's the best part:

A year after Phil Mickelson won The Masters at 7 under par, there are no more claims that golf's cathedral has been disgraced, that only the long hitters in the field can win, that it's not the same golf course Bobby Jones built and the place where the greats of the game earned victories.

7-under won. All is well with the world. Wow, deep!

This is beautiful. Geoff Ogilvy is used to verify that the changes are good. Yes, the same guy who eloquently criticized it just a few days ago.

"People get uncomfortable with change," U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy says. "It's a perfectly fair golf course. If you're below the hole on your approach shots, it's perfectly fair. If you're above the hole, it's completely unfair. But it's your fault if you're above the hole."

The short game — pitching, chipping and putting — always has been key to winning The Master. Five of the last six tournaments have been won by Mickelson and Tiger Woods, masters of the short game.

"Length off the tee is a bonus," Ogilvy says, "but it's not the be-all and end-all. You have to have a great short game, too."

It rambles on from there, but of course to say that the criticism has ended is surprising considering the person who has won the most Masters ever just signed off on a commentary blasting the changes.

Masters Photo Caption Fun, Vol. 2

This ought to be fun...from golf.com:

Questions For Billy Payne

Billy Payne faces the all-star cast of softball-hurling scribblers and inkslingers for Wednesday's annual chairman Q&A. While he won't flip his lid like Hootie was prone to do, Payne should at least have to earn his pay. Oh wait, he's not paid. Well, they should still ask him a few questions beyond the expected (will you restore exempt status for PGA Tour event winners, will Arnold Palmer be the honorary starter, when are you going to 18-hole TV coverage every year, yada, yada, yada...).

Here are mine. Please feel free to add yours below in the comments section.

• The USGA claims to have proof that with today's grooves, players can spin the ball more out of the light rough than they can from fairway lies. Therefore, don't you have an obligation to remove the "second cut" if it's an advantage to approach from there?
  
  
• Will the Masters telecasts ever be the same without Bobby Clampett at Amen Corner?

• Do you feel that tree planting in spots intended as landing areas by Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie infringes upon the integrity of their design? If so, does that matter?
  

• Has Richie Ramsay officially committed to the event?
  

• Have you considered giving a percentage of tickets to overseas patrons? 

• Can you explain the strategy that club envisions behind today's 11th hole and how that is consistent with the original design?
  

• With apologies to Colbert. Hootie Johnson. Great chairman or the greatest chairman?
  

"We have Phil Simms at the Super Bowl"

Scott Michaux profiles Nick Faldo's debut in the Masters booth:

"I mean, I actually love Augusta," he said. "Gosh, it's a Picasso. It's a bloomin' Rembrandt. It's a Mona, isn't it? I took friends who are not golfers last year who've never been and said, 'It's like a work of art, isn't it?' And they said, 'You're right. It's absolutely unbelievable. What a place.'

"Yes, you could get a bit harsh at the odd hole or this and that, but crumbs if you don't like the odd tree."

Ultimately, CBS and Faldo both understand what he brings to the booth: the perspective of a three-time Masters champion. They crave his insights on the course and his empathy for what the competitors are going through.

"We have Phil Simms at the Super Bowl," Barrow said of the former New York Giants quarterback turned CBS analyst. "Phil Simms knows what it's like to go down that tunnel. He knows what it's like to be a part of that game. He knows what it's like to win the Super Bowl. That's what Nick brings to the Masters."

Let's hope he brings a LOT more to the booth than Phil Simms!

Masters Tuesday Clippings**

Well you know it's a slow day when the scribblers are grilling Geoff Ogilvy over the gold shoes he's going to be wearing, Golfweek's on-site blog covers just how little was happening and AP sends out a story on Gary Player's quest to get American's in shape.

But hey, a CBS free lance tech guy tried to rob a bank, so it wasn't entirely dull.

Worth your time is Steve Elling's take on why the Masters is the easiest major to win. Even if you don't entirely agree with you, the story might give you some good thoughts on who to pick this week, not that any of you engage in that illicit gambling.

Update on 2007-04-03 14:04 by Geoff

** David Westin writes about the possible winning score and the likelihood that a double-digit under par tally is likely out of the question. Praise the Lord!

John Huggan provides the excuses for the European drought in majors, while Scott Smith blogs about Ron Kapriske's April Golf Digest piece on the possiblity that the Masters theme song may become available commercially.

Trees Have A Habit Of Growing...

I remember walking Augusta in October of 2003 and noticing that not only would the new trees between 15 and 17 look silly and trample all over Jones and MacKenzie's vision, but based on the planting locations, it appeared that no one considered what would happen when the trees actually...grew!

Well, here we are four years and Lord knows how many man-hours spent handwatering them, and the pines have grown.

Imagine what they'll be like in another four years.

 

Masters Photo Caption Help, Vol. 1

From golf.com's home page:

 

More Payne

Who didn't Billy Payne talk to leading up to this year's Masters?

First, Tim Carroll in the Wall Street Journal poses some great questions to the new chairman (thanks to reader John for the link).

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Is it fair that your predecessor, Hootie Johnson, is going to be known forever as the man who wouldn't let women into Augusta National?

MR. PAYNE: No, I don't think so. I'm thinking he's going to be remembered principally as a man who took on the very significant challenges to our wonderful golf course caused by the advances in distance that were a consequence of some advances in technology. He took some very bold steps in order to ensure that our course kept its competitive nature, notwithstanding the fact that the average driving distance since the founding of our tournament is up some 70 yards.

Notice Mr. Payne never says anything about the guys being better athletes. Get this man the talking points!

WSJ: One of the changes outside Augusta National is technology. For a long time, it was the ball. Augusta National threatened to impose a tournament ball, something that Ohio did for some of its statewide events. Lately, the USGA and the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews seem to be focusing on club-face grooves. Do you feel as if you're in some sort of nuclear arms race against the ball and club makers? Is an Augusta ball still a possibility? How about Augusta clubs?

MR. PAYNE: We will take whatever steps are necessary to ensure the competitiveness of our golf course against the challenges of these great and very talented players and against equipment changes which allow them to hit the ball farther and to spin the ball more. As a consequence, I think we remain diligent as we measure and look at those kinds of increases and those kinds of challenges to our course. But last year, as you recall, one of the tour's longest hitters was the winner [Phil Mickelson], and a close second was one of the tour's shortest hitters in Tim Clark. So we felt that that was demonstrative that the course was a fair challenge to players of all lengths. So, we think we got it about right now....

We are encouraged by the fact that the regulatory governing bodies, both the Tour and the USGA and R&A, are themselves looking at ways to either diminish the increases in length and/or to affect the spin of the ball. All of which has an indirect consequence of making folks not want to just hit it as far as they can whether or not it goes into the rough.

So again I ask. If the guys are spinning it more out of the rough than the fairway, as the USGA is claiming, then why not eliminate the rough?

Loved this question from Carroll:

WSJ: Another change this year is that Fred Ridley, a longtime USGA official, is setting up the golf course for the first time. In the past, Sunday hole locations have seemed to be in spots where amazing things could happen. Take the 16th hole: There were two holes-in-one in 2004 and Tiger Woods's jaw-dropping chip-in for birdie two years ago when he used the green's ridge as a backboard. The USGA seems to have different thoughts on how to set up a golf course. As viewers, can we expect to see the Sunday fireworks continue?

MR. PAYNE: It would be fair to say that the imprimatur you will see imprinted on the golf course, the final Sunday and especially on the second nine, will be as you have seen it traditionally at Augusta. We hope [the setup] will allow those fireworks that you refer to continue. Because that's what people want to see. I think that's the way the players prefer it as well.

In the LA Times, Thomas Bonk profiles Payne and offers this:

Payne said Johnson could not have done a better job.

"He is a dear friend of mine and I would rate his performance a 10. I thought he faced the issue of technology threatening our course and dealt with it decisively, properly and in the best interests of our tournament.

"Equally as important, he was much aware of the importance of Augusta National and the preservations of our traditions and its place in the game of golf."

A 10? I know, I know, he has to say this stuff.

The work on the course for this year is complete, with only minor changes, including adding to the front of the 11th and 15th tees and changing the cut line on the right side of the 11th fairway.

"Hopefully, for the duration of my turn, we would not need to resort to any substantive changes," Payne said.

"Given the way the relative field competed … absent continued technological advances, it seems to me we should have it right for quite a while. I will caveat that by saying we don't take any option off the table when it comes to preserving the integrity of this course."

I like that caveat, assuming Payne recognizes that the rough and tree planting are impacting the integrity of the Jones/MacKenzie vision.