"The Tony Stewart of New Zealand"

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etick_rd_swc01b.jpgSomehow I doubt even Tony Stewart went this far, but ESPN is treating Tiger's sunny caddy Stevie Williams as if he's died. Check out this devotional page to the loaded looper sent in by reader Lee.

So good to see Stevie is as humble as ever.

Here, Steve Williams is the star. Though his team is called "Caddyshack Racing" and a sticker on each of his two cars reads "HOOK A KID ON GOLF," Tiger is far from his mind.

"I hate when I go to a race and I'm looked at as Tiger's caddie, because here, I'm not Tiger's caddie. I'm Steve Williams, driver of the No. 21 Mustang," he says. "And a pretty damn good driver at that."

If you're unusually constipated or simply desiring to see what a good publicist can do, here's ESPN's sitdown with the world's wealthiest luggage handler.

Whittlin' Down The Field

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Jim McCabe has always been a fine newspaper man, but something about writing columns online for GolfBrief.com brings out his most creative side. Today he whittles down the field to who really has a shot. Hard to disagree with his take, though eliminating all of the Aussies may prove to be a mistake.

And if you are looking for last minute advice, the Golfweek staff offers their picks here and Sal Johnson breaks down the field here, and Larry Dorman offers his "others not to be ignored" at the end of his New York Times piece, but maybe he should have cut it off at this excellent note: 

Geoff Ogilvy, whose victory three weeks ago at the W.G.C.-CA Championship at Doral stopped Woods’s worldwide winning streak, employed a similar strategy of ignoring Woods until the final few holes of the tournament. “I wasn’t really interested in beating Tiger today,” Ogilvy said last month after his first-round 63 at Doral. “I would like to beat him after four rounds. No, I don’t really give it any thought to him. I just want to give thought to how good can I play and can I win this golf tournament.”

That makes two golfers who have recently shown they can beat Woods. Others who have won events in which Woods finished second are Phil Mickelson (four times), Vijay Singh (three), Ernie Els and Jim Furyk (two each), and Ángel Cabrera, Michael Campbell, Stewart Cink, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman and Mark O’Meara (all one).

"The scary thing about 12 is it's the only hole where when the ball is in the air, the caddies start praying."

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Bob Harig looks at Amen Corner and lets Nick Faldo share some fascinating insights:
Faldo, who won three Masters, would purposely seek out a corner on the Augusta driving range where he could hit to a flag that was about 140 yards away -- all in anticipation of Amen Corner.

"You really have to have the ability to land the ball left or right of the flag, in precise spots, you can't just hope,'' said Faldo, 50, who will be working the Masters as an analyst for CBS. "I used to do a lot of visualization on the practice ground. The last thing you want, coming over that hill on 11 ... with all that history ... it's the first real suck-it-up shot of the back nine. They put you under serious pressure on that shot.

"The scary thing about 12 is it's the only hole where when the ball is in the air, the caddies start praying. Two balls hit identically can come up different because of a gust of wind. That one is in the lap of the gods.

"On 13, it is very difficult to describe that second shot up on that slope. You have the ball above your feet but on a downhill lie. Three slopes working against you. And you really have to hit a precision shot.

"At Amen Corner, you have five or six really precision shots that you have to hit absolutely spot on. You have to have the ability to place the ball exactly where you intend.''

Faldo pauses, takes a deep breath. "I even scare myself reliving that,'' he said.

"As far as Boo is concerned, a breathtaking view is not so much Augusta's azaleas as a grazing deer in his telescopic sights."

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sgmj109.jpgMartin Johnson, Telegraph curmudgeon, weighs in on Boo Weekley:
Boo is a man who makes a living reaching for a driver and shooting birdies, but he'd much rather be reaching for a rifle and shooting furry animals.

As far as Boo is concerned, a breathtaking view is not so much Augusta's azaleas as a grazing deer in his telescopic sights. He has the sort of eye for beauty that, in the unlikely event he ever found himself inside the Sistine Chapel, would probably persuade him that there was nothing much wrong with the ceiling that a layer of artex and a pot of emulsion wouldn't put right.

"I think what has changed the golf course immeasurably is one hole, and it's No. 7."

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Phil Mickelson was asked Tuesday about the possiblity of low scoring in the future and offered an intriguing insight into how the flow of the course has changed:
PHIL MICKELSON: They won't be lower. I think the scores may get a little bit higher, yeah, and the length is the biggest factor. Also all of the trees and the tightening of the golf course.

I think what has changed the golf course immeasurably is one hole, and it's No. 7. Because the whole thought process of playing the golf course used to be get through the first six holes around par, and you can birdie 7, 8 and 9 and you have three birdie holes and try to get one or two there, you turn at under par and then you shoot under par on the back side and you have a great round.
But now, 7 has become -- I think it's the first or second hardest par on the golf course. I think between 7 and 11, I think it's the two toughest pars that this course has; and because of that, it changes when you can be aggressive and how many birdie holes you have now and the whole complexion and mind-set of how to play the first six or seven holes. Now you feel like you have to be under par through the first six because you want to be around par when you get through 7. 7 is one of the toughest holes now.

"The second cut, yeah, if you go out there, you'll see it. That's all you need to change this golf course."

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Tiger Woods sat down with the scribes and while I'll leave it to Jaime Diaz to analyze the surprising number of references to late father Earl, let's get to the golf stuff. First, this rambling mess of question from someone with a strong British accent:

Q. Now that you have obviously entered the zone of extreme expectation, probably unprecedented in golf, does that affect you in any way? Are you able to shut out what people expect of you, or does it get to a point where you have to exclude it completely, or is it an incentive for you to be aware that people are expecting you to fulfill these extraordinary feats of consistency? Does it have any real impact on you as an individual?
Okay, the golf course stuff is good:
Q. Is it safe to say that hitting long or whatever else, that's why you've done so well --

TIGER WOODS: You have to putt well here. You can't putt poorly here and win. Now, you have to drive the ball well in order to win here; before you could spray it all over the place and it didn't matter -- actually tried to spray it all over the place to give yourself the best angles. 9 you used to hit the ball so far right to give yourself an ankle up to those left pins; now with the added trees you can't really do that anymore.

The holes have changed over the years in that way. 17, sometimes you had to hit it to 15 to get to the back left pin just to get a shot at these angles; they have taken that away. It's playing a lot more different and a lot more penal off the tee but the greens are still the same. The greens are still just as penal.
Of course the club will read that and react with glee that you can't hit it in some bizarre place to open up an ideal angle. Got to toe that center line!

Brace yourselves...

 

Q. I read the other day, Jack Nicklaus said, "I wish they would get rid of that rough up there." What rough is he talking about?

TIGER WOODS: The second cut, yeah, if you go out there, you'll see it. That's all you need to change this golf course.

Shots, for instance, on No. 1, if you pull it up the left side it used to run straight to the pine needles and you had no shot. Now it has a chance to get caught up, pull tee shots down 2 can get caught up. It changes the speed of this golf course quite a bit. Shots on 10, if you don't turn it, used to land up the right and actually roll through the gallery down into the trees and now it can get caught up.

Q. That much rough makes that much difference?

TIGER WOODS: Mm-hmm. (Nodding).

Good to see the scribes really thinking this stuff through before sitting down with Tiger.

 Q. When Jack was in his prime, he wasn't a huge fan of playing in the Par 3 Tournament because he thought it was a distraction for him and he wanted to focus. Talk about your approach to the Par 3 and what you enjoy about it and your memories?

TIGER WOODS: My last one I played when Arnold, at the time, it was his last Masters. (Laughter) I made a hole-in-one and that was it. Good way to end it.

Q. You won't play tomorrow?
TIGER WOODS: No.

Q. Why?

TIGER WOODS: It's changed over the years. Used to be, I thought was a lot of fun to play, but now it is a little bit distracting to get ready and be ready for the tournament.

He's such a curmudgeon. I love it! Oh no, the guy asking about the rough is back...

 Q. I would like to clarify a point on the rough, please. Some guys have said that it helps more than it hurts because it keeps the ball from running off into the trees. What's your feeling on that? Does it help you or hurt you, generally speaking.

TIGER WOODS: Well, I think it helps on tee shots, there's no doubt because it does slow the ball from going into the trees. But second shots, it does hurt you, because it's hard to control your distances on a golf course in which you have to be so precise, and if you're not with your distances, you're going to pay a pretty good price.

So, yes, it does help you off the tee, but certainly hinders you quite a bit going into the greens.

Tiger, don't bother. You're wasting your time.

USGA, R&A Move Quickly To Address Mistake...

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...unfortunately it had nothing to do with the golf ball. Instead, it was to address a stupid rule change and not anything of consequence. 

Stewart Cink will not be DQ'd in the future for practicing basic etiquette based on today's USGA release.

Though based on something John Vander Borght interpreted in his blog entry, I'd still say this needs work. If you are in a front bunker and hit it in the back bunker, don't rake the front one until you've finished making a mess of the hole.

Why can't we just play it as it lies? I'm so glad Max Behr isn't here to see this disaster. 

Questions For Billy Payne

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pga_hootie_payne_275.jpgI don't have much for the club chairman, who takes the podium Wednesday after the Golf Writers Association bicker over important stuff like WiFi and press releases winning GWAA awards. 

My questions are all golf course related since Billy Payne is doing some pretty progressive stuff off the course (brand building baby!). And let's face it, he's not Hootie, though my questions do relate to mopping up after the former chairman:

  • Considering how long the course is playing this year along with the high scores from last year's tournament where the lack of flexibility in teeing grounds led to new tee extensions this year, will the club reconsider its confining two-tee setup in order to give the committee more setup options?
  • In defending the second cut, the club stated to Golf Digest that players no longer use many of the original MacKenzie-Jones design options. Did this conclusion come from talking to players or via statistical analysis?
  • The club has maintained statistics on the impact of the second cut, will you ever share this information in future media guides?

Feel free to post your questions just in case the golf writers at Augusta need inspiration.

Two Tee System

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You know I've been ranting and raving about Augusta's insistence on just two teeing grounds per hole, and as we saw with last year's cold and wind some flexibility would have come in handy. I noticed Brad Klein brought it up in his Golfweek preview (not posted), and Ron Whitten said in his preview story that they should be ashamed for only having two tees, though his reasoning is purely sentimental and not related to function.

And it came up again in David Westin's story today on course changes:

The other change is on No. 1, where the tee box was extended 10 yards forward. It isn't expected to be used unless the northwest wind blows, which makes the hole play into the wind. It would have come in handy in the third round of the 2007 Masters, when the northwest wind was blowing at 12-17 mph with gusts of 23 mph.

It's also interesting to hear people who play Augusta talk about how there really isn't a set of tees for most golfers there. Either you play at 6200 yards or from the back, and neither really fits the majority of people who play there.  

I've given up trying to figure out why they insist on only having two teeing grounds per hole? I know they are vain, but you'd think common sense would eventually prevail. 

Motley Brown

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The quotes from Doug Ferguson's day one story are not promising for fans of fast and firm:

"It's wet - very wet,'' Toms said. "If this tells you anything, I backed up a ball with a Driver on No. 9. I played the back nine yesterday and had to hit my 5-iron four or five times. I got done and thought about having my 5-iron re-grooved. I hope it firms up. We need it dry just to make it interesting.''

The brilliant colors of Augusta National were offset by soft, gray clouds on the first full day of practice, this after a weekend that brought 3 inches of rain. Isolated thunderstorms are forecast for the weekend as the temperature rises.

"It would be nice if the fairways could be dry again,'' O'Hern said. "I've only known bloody long on this golf course. You just hit it as far and as straight as you can. There's no shaping the ball, except to the greens. Just get up there and smash it.''

Now I see while I was away that a few of you questioned Geoff Ogilvy's comments about the course once looking less green on television.

I would say this. If you watch some of the 1990s Masters, you will note that the course is green, not brown. However it's a lighter shade of green, with the grass just hungry enough that it can be dried out pretty easily.

If you look at the current shade of green at Augusta, that grass isn't hungry looking. It's nourished beyond belief. And that ultimately takes a little more bounce out of the course and makes it that much tougher to firm it up, which I think was Ogilvy's point. 

"Hang on a sec while I look this up. Ah, yes, it's come back to me now. Zach Johnson."

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Always great fun, Martin Johnson goes picking on Zach Johnson while writing Monty's Masters obituary:

It is not as if the Masters doesn't need a bit of extra pizzazz this year, given the identity of the holder of the green jacket. It is, for those of you who might have forgotten, Jim Jackson. No, sorry, Jack Jimson. Hang on a sec while I look this up. Ah, yes, it's come back to me now. Zach Johnson.

Johnson will have a lifetime exemption into the Masters (please try to contain your excitement) and could still be playing in it when he requires a zimmer frame to get on to the first tee. The Masters is not only an invitation tournament, but until recently it took away places from the likes of Montgomerie to accommodate Methuselahs like Doug Ford, Charles Coody, Tommy Aaron and Billy Casper.