2011 Masters, First Round Open Comment Thread

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2011 Masters Clippings, Thursday

Doug Ferguson sets the tone by suggesting Wednesday was so relaxed that it didn't feel like a major. There's also the wide-open nature of the affair adding to the mix.

PGA champion Martin Kaymer is No. 1 in the world and will try to win his second straight major. He considers the favorite to be Luke Donald, who beat Kaymer in the Match Play Championship earlier this year. Then there's Westwood, who has been no worse than third in four of the last five majors. Throw in the likes of Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Rory McIlroy and Paul Casey, and the smallest field of any major suddenly has a long list of contenders.

Some of that is a new generation arriving. Some of that is Woods no longer standing in their way.

"In the past, a lot of guys used up a lot of energy thinking about Tiger and what he's doing. Now they're doing their own thing and thinking about what they're needing to do," Faldo said. "There's genuinely 20 guys who could win this. I'm hoping we have a dozen guys coming down the back nine Sunday with a shot."

Jared Diamond on a university study that says the Masters is the easiest of the four majors to win. Who'd a thunk it with the smallest field and about 25 AARP junk mail recipients?

Richard Rendleman, a professor of finance at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and Robert Connolly, an associate professor of finance at the University of North Carolina, recently conducted a study that ranked professional golf events by how difficult they are to win. They determined that the PGA Championship is the toughest major, followed by the U.S. Open, the British Open and the Masters. The hardest overall tournament to win was actually the Players Championship, and the easiest—among the tournaments still in existence—was the Puerto Rico Open.

Players

Billy Byler on favorite Phil's Wednesday, that included a rare wildlife sighting. Rare because no animal could survive the chemicals? Oh I don't know.

The reigning Masters champion was the first on the course Wednesday when he teed off at 8 a.m. with 1992 Masters winner Fred Couples and Kevin Streelman. The threesome hit their usual tee shots on the eighth hole but had to pause on their walk up the fairway when a small deer bounded across their paths. According to the combined accounts from patrons and gallery guards, the deer entered the golf course from the right side of the first hole and raced across the first and ninth fairways before meeting up with Mickelson at eight.

The deer darted toward the second and third fairways and eventually ended up near the fifth and sixth holes, where it left the course.

"I've been out here 25 years, and I've never seen anything like that," gallery guard Steve Churm said to a group of patrons.

 John Feinstein compares Tiger and Phil. You can probably guess who comes out on top in his eyes.

One guy drives down Magnolia Lane and feels the history of the game, gets chills and teary-eyed. The other guys sees a bunch of trees and can’t wait to get to the end of the road and get to work.

That’s always been a major difference between the two men: Mickelson savors victories and moments; Woods puts them in the rear view mirror almost as soon as they happen.

Thomas Boswell says that using this week as a barometer for Tiger's future is a bit much.

The impatience to decide whether Woods can pass Nicklaus now borders on comical. The debate about whether Woods is foolish to switch swing coaches — again — and tear down his game to its foundation at age 35 might miss the larger point.

First, Woods has time — and a great deal of it — on his side. Second, as he has made clearer than ever here this week, his radical changes are more necessity than obsession.

Karl MacGinty is predicting Padraig Harrington will be low Irishman.

Portrush man McDowell, Open-winner Louis Oosthuizen and US PGA title-holder Martin Kaymer all are gifted players but in a total of eight appearances at The Masters by this formidable European Tour trio, only once has one of them (McDowell in 2009) made the cut.

Yet the know-how Harrington has accumulated in 11 Masters and the self-belief drawn from those three Major wins, puts the Dubliner ahead of Lee Westwood, Paul Casey and Luke Donald among those capable of clinching a first-ever Euro-Slam.

The luck of the Irish may be needed, but what else would you expect in the race for a green jacket?

Bernie McGuire on Sandy Lyle's advice for fellow Scot Martin Laird:

“But my advice to him is that he has to try and win the Masters at his first try, because he might never get in again. That’s the big thing about Augusta – you have to put in 100% preparation and try and win it, because you know what happens if you do succeed, you know that it is going to be for life.”

Lyle certainly knows what he is talking about. He was speaking from the ‘Former Champions’ car park, located in front of the former practice range that’s now used only by Augusta members. It was an experience he was evidentally eager to enjoy.

“It’s great we’ve now got this car park and that’s what happens when you win here,” he said. “We have seen many near winners here and they’ve just then disappeared off the planet and they’ve not qualified again and again.”

Gene Wojciechowski breaks the field down by player, uh, brands.

Mike McCallister offers a "momentum" index for you last minute pool players.

Jim McCabe files a variety of notes, ranging from the reason Graeme McDowell skipped the Par-3 (Manchester United game on), Gary Woodland getting to play with fellow Kansan Tom Watson and Tim Clark's elbow flaring up again after the Par-3.

Rex Hoggard with more on K.J. Choi's hybrid setup.

The hybrid replacements, all of which are Adams Golf models, came slowly, first the 3-iron (21 degrees), then a 4-iron (24 degrees) and finally a 5- and 6-iron (28 and 32 degrees) in the days before the season’s first major.

The plan seems to be working. On Monday, Bann said Choi hit his 185-yard approach into the 18th hole pin high and it rolled out 3 yards. It’s a shot he would have been unable to hit with a long iron. Of course cutting edge has come with its share of curious glances.

“Poor (caddie Andy Prodger), he was looking down at the bag the other day saying, ‘I have seven wood covers,’” Bann said.

The Caddy

David Westin profiles Carl Jackson working his 50th Masters, a record since his 35th in 1995, and who Jim Mackay says the club should name the caddie facility after. 

Crenshaw said he doesn't mind that his 40th Masters appearance is being overshadowed by Jackson's feat.

"Forget me - it's him," Crenshaw said, pointing to his friend.

According to an Augusta National spokesman, the club has no plans to publicly recognize Jackson's feat, other than a piece about him on the club's Web site and an article in the 2011 Masters Journal.

That's fine with Jackson.

"They've got the Masters; they don't need to do anything," Jackson said. "It's not going to bother me. As the outside world has looked at me as an Augusta National caddie, I think I've represented them well. I believe I've carried myself with integrity and dignity."

Payne

Chris Gay with the Augusta Chronicle's take on Billy Payne's presser performance and notes this about the ticket policy change.

At his briefing, Payne also mentioned giving more people an opportunity to walk the grounds at Augusta National. He said tickets became available because of attrition.

"Somebody thought we would be adding just to do this," Payne said, "but we have, in fact, reduced modestly the number of tickets we sold the last five years.

"So it's just a supply of tickets that replenishes itself annually and predictably, and what you're not going to get is an exact number; but it's fair to define it as a significant number."

Alan Bastable on Billy Payne's lone Tiger question:

Payne fielded just one question about Woods, regarding the club's decision to partner with EA Sports on a video game bearing Woods's name. The chairman was evasive, saying "we continue to believe Tiger is one of the greatest golfers of all time, and we hoped and prayed that his comeback would go forward in a very positive way."

Amateurs

Ryan Herrington breaks down the amateurs' chances of making the cut and visiting Butler Cabin on Sunday.

Matthew Futterman talks to the Uihleins about Peter's journey to the Masters and writes:

He's also had to deal with an added burden as long as he's been playing golf—constant whispers about nepotism. On the junior golf circuit there were plenty of complaints about his privileged childhood, his high-end coaches and visits to the Titleist Performance Institute, which is considered the game's top training center. "I heard all the snickers, all the rumors," he said. "But I don't play golf to prove anybody wrong."

Still, growing up at the top of the golf world has its perks. As a child, Uihlein's family spent summers vacationing with the family of the renowned instructor Peter Kostis, a close friend of his father's who became Uihlein's first coach.

That's a perk?

Par-3

Paul Mahoney on winner Luke Donald, whose game is firing on all cylinders.

Donald warmed up for the Masters by practicing last week at the Bears Club in Florida. He shot 62 and broke the course record while taking just 19 putts.

Donald has failed to improve on his 2005 Masteres debut, when he finished third while playing the last eight holes in six under par. This week he plans to channel the memory of that storming finish.

"You can still feed off it," he said. "If you have done it before you can do it again."

History, '86, Flora, Fauna

Naturally, this went missed by ESPN while it was showing Romper Room: Jack Fleck at 89 playing the Par-3. Thankfully, Jeff Babineau has the details.

With the help of Gaylord Sports player/manager Bobby Schaeffer, who served as his caddie, Fleck and his wife Carmen traveled to Augusta from their home in Fort Smith, Ark., and have been on the grounds since Monday.

When he looked at the crowd assembled at the golf course at 9 a.m. Monday, Fleck could not believe his eyes.

“Bigger,” he said. “Everything about this place is bigger.”

There's a fantastic Champions dinner video on the goofy official Masters site that won't let one send a direct link. But you can't miss it on the Highlights page. Amazing behind-the-scenes footage.

Will Durst on what's hot in the merchandise tent, and who is there to help the customers: sommeliers!

And the hats. Holy jimmy-john-jack-cracked-corn, the hats. Sixty-nine different varieties, including one sold only on Wednesday, a white Par 3 Contest hat (a second year for this edition). All 69 versions are displayed along a 50-foot wall, attended by 15 or more hat sommeliers, present and eager to assist you in choosing the appropriate chapeau. "Perhaps, for the lady, something in a pink visor?"

Bill Fields on the backstory of Jack's 1986 yellow shirt is a must read.

Stephen Goodwin believes Bobby Jones isn't getting his due as a writer and compiles a "scrapbook" of his best moments.

Michael Bamberger talks to Bruce McCall about how his New Yorker cover art came about and it turns out McCall doesn't even like golf.

About two weeks ago, the magazine's editor, David Remnick, told his art director, Francois Mouly, that he wanted something springy and golfy for the mid-April cover. Mouly called McCall. McCall, who is also a writer, got artist's block. Two days of sitting around produced nothing. He doesn't really like golf.

As a kid outside Toronto, he would caddie for his father and then wait several hours to get stiffed. Years ago, he wrote a piece for Esquire, called "The Case Against Golf," which included this ode to the olde shepherds game: "It's easy to see golf not as a game at all but as some whey-faced, nineteenth-century Presbyterian minister's fever dream of exorcism achieved through ritual and self-mortification."

Jeff Ritter on the unglamorous job of the 350 volunteer "gallery guards."

Guards receive their assignments on Monday morning, the first day of practice rounds, and they work the same hole throughout the week while rotating around the tee, fairway and green. Guards are often given the same hole year after year, although transfer requests are sometimes granted. Working alongside the same crew each Masters week creates some special bonds among the guards.

"You don't see every shot of the tournament, but what I love about it is that you get nice friendships out of it," says Steve Slaughter, a Chicago native stationed on the first hole. "You see the same people for one week out of the year, and you get to see some great golf."

Mike Snider gives the Masters iPad a rave review.

And The Masters Golf Tournament App for the iPad ($1.99) does more than merely complement the TV experience for golf fans. Video is a major stroke in what makes the app appealing. Nine live high-def video stream channels will be available for viewing, including a featured group on the back nine, tournament action at Amen Corner (holes No. 11-13) and play at holes No. 15 and 16. Post-round interviews will be streamed, too, and there will be on-demand highlights.

Images

J.D. Cuban captures the tree going down near No. 15 while working on a photo essay on Masters fans.  

Golfweek's Wednesday image gallery.

And finally, the Augusta Chronicle offers a special kids-only gallery from the Par-3. I've bookmarked this one so I can relive the day over and over again.

2011 Masters Par-3 And Tournament Preview Chat

"And so the whole damn game, people are saying let me out of here. They can't afford it. Instead of staying where we were and just slow the ball down."

I didn't see much coverage of Gary Player's Masters presser last night and only today after a couple of emails and reading Bob Carney's post did I realize why: he sounded alarms no one wants to hear!

And then you saw our era come along and then you saw this era came along and you'll see new era come along, and I've said this on British television on BBC about eight years ago: It's just a matter of time before players hit the ball 400 yards. And this good player and a good announcer said to me, absolute nonsense.
They are hitting the ball 400 yards now, never mind 30 years' time.

And so what we are going to see, we have not scratched the surface of golf yet. We are in our infancy. Unless we slow the ball down, you cannot put the tees back in the streets anymore, gentlemen and ladies.

You can just feel the Twitterers shifting in their seats! Go on...

They have got to their limit now so the next thing is you have to slow the ball down because the golf courses are going to be completely outdated which is happening now. Golf is suffering terribly. You see golf courses just weeds now closing down. You can buy golf courses for a dollar now because it's the maintenance of the golf course. Because they have seen what is happening: These pros hitting a driver and 6-iron to a par 5 so from Timbuktu to Tokyo to China to here, everyone is lengthening golf courses. And the members hate it; and greens are undulating and the members hate it; and the fees are going up and oil is getting more expensive and we are running out of water (laughter)

Just a note from watching the video: that (laughter) was not from Player, who was entirely serious, but from a few in the room. Nice touch lads. Keep laughing.

and so the whole damn game, people are saying let me out of here. They can't afford it. Instead of staying where we were and just slow the ball down. Not for the amateur. We must have technology for the amateur golfer who is the heart of the game.

The pro is a mere tiny part of the game. And this is going to happen; I can promise you, it is going to happen in time because hundreds of millions of dollars are being wasted on unnecessary programs.

I know this is a hard one for people to deal with. Yes, courses everywhere, whether they need to or not, are adding length to accomodate a few players. It's going to happen. And that length, means more cost, more maintenance, and there is also a safety component that has changed.

Now, if you do as Player says and change the ball for competition, this comes to an end, and courses might even get a little shorter (doubtful, but possible). And manufacturers still get to sell clubs, golfers still buy golf balls and the game goes on its very way!

Reminder: Par-3 Contest And Pre-Masters Live Chat

11:45 Pacific, 2:45 or thereabouts to watch some--key word, some--of the Day Care Open and to talk about what is shaping up to be a wide-open Masters. And to see if we can count the number of potential tournament contenders who actually still play the Par-3. This is also a dry run for Sunday's final round live chat, so join us thanks to Cover-It-Live's software.

Stevie: “In an ideal world, we’d have had one more tournament under our belts before the Masters."

Robert Lusetich talks to Steve Williams about Tiger's game heading into the Masters.

Williams thinks Woods will contend for a fifth green jacket, though he concedes he could be a little underdone.

“In an ideal world, we’d have had one more tournament under our belts before the Masters,” he said. “But that’s in an ideal world. If you ask me is he ready, I’d say that I like what I’m seeing.”

If only we lived in an ideal world where Tiger could have played just one more week!

Flashback: "They are right in expecting to practice under tournament conditions."**

It's Masters Wednesday, which means this afternoon and evening while the Day Care Open is contested on the Par-3 course, the Augusta National maintenance staff will be doing whatever it is the committee deems necessary to make the course play much faster and firmer than it has during the practice rounds.

This rather childish backdoor trickery is beneath the folks at Augusta National, and believe it or not there was a time the chairman acknowledged it was unseemly.

I know most of you committed my story for Golf World's Masters preview issue to memory, but just in case...

I wrote about the conversion from Bermuda grass greens to bent thirty years ago this week. One of the complaints from players about Bermuda centered around the club lowering the cutting height starting Thursday. Here's what I wrote, with the quotes courtesy of the Augusta Chronicles' Robert Eubanks:

At the time, Watson said he liked how bent allowed the club to better control the speed of the greens, since pace varied widely with the over-seeded Bermuda from year to year and even day to day.

“Something I never liked about Augusta is they never have gotten the greens fast in the practice rounds so you don’t know what to expect on the first couple of rounds. That’s not fair.”

Hardin concurred. “We accept that as a proper criticism. They are right in expecting to practice under tournament conditions. Our plan is no cutting height changes beginning with Monday of practice rounds. That has not always been the case. There have been changes in cutting height as the week went on.”

Update on 2011-04-06 15:33 by Geoff

**On the topic of Wednesday afternoon tricks, Robert Lusetich quoted Steve Williams in this look at Tiger's game:

“Maybe not so much anymore about the course, but you know when you go out there on Thursday that they’ll throw a trick or two at you,” he said. “Maybe they’ll leave the second cut long for the practice rounds and then they’ll shave it Thursday morning. It’s always something. You’ve really got to tip-toe your way around the course on Thursdays.”

Pimento Cheese Sandwich Shortage Could Leave Augusta Area Retailers With Excess Stock Of Tums, Gas-X

Tracey McManus with the bad news for area drug stores after last night's thunderstorm knocked out power at the local factory where they make the gastro-unfriendly grub.

Around lunchtime, only the concession stand near the patron corridor had any of the coveted sandwiches on their menu.

"We were in disbelief when we walked in and heard there were no sandwiches," said Reed Clevenger of Cary, N.C., who came to the tournament with a friend and both men's sons.

"We told (our sons) even if you don't like it, you have to try the pimento cheese at least once."

Luckily the group got to taste the peppery cheese when they found the lone concession stand selling the sandwiches.

"They'll probably be eating egg salad, pimento, clubs and everything else before we leave here," Clevenger said. "You can eat 20 sandwiches a day and spend just $20. The price is right."

As power was restored Tuesday, vendors expected enough pimento cheese to go around for the rest of the week.

2011 Masters Pairings

Nice mix of pairings, the standouts for me:

8:40: Johnson, Scott, Watney
9:24: McIlroy, Fowler, Day
10:19: Kaymer, Westwood, Kuchar
10:41: Woods, McDowell, Allenby
1:48 Mickelson, Ogilvy, Uihlein
1:59: Vegas, Woodland, Quiros

Q&A With Tom Weiskopf

The 1986 Masters was all about Jack Nicklaus and his heroic charge against an all-star leaderboard, and in recalling the event the CBS team has gotten its due for the brilliant commentating that day. Except Tom Weiskopf.

I've always felt that Weiskopf, sitting in Butler Cabin with Brent Musberger as a commentator, brought the necessary perspective of a former Nicklaus rival along with a wonderful sense of timing and wisdom to the broadcast.  I recently spoke to him over the phone about that day. Weiskopf had just returned from China on golf course design business, but was more than happy to talk about the 1986 Masters.

GS: When was the last time you saw the entire telecast?

TW: I never have seen it. (Laughs). I’ve seen segments of it. I saw some of the highlight show the other night on Golf Channel.

GS: You were sitting in Butler Cabin with Brent Musberger. That has to be a tough place to weigh in from because you are sometimes on camera and you are not on the course with action right in front of you.

TW: I would say it is. Because, on the course you are more in tune with the play because you’ve watched a lot of players play in front of you and so you are more into what the course is playing like. You can also get up and relax when they go to commercial or whatever, so you’re in a much more concentrated atmosphere that is still relaxed. When you are in Butler Cabin, you have two monitors in front of you but there are a lot of people moving around all the time. They’re bringing in a lot of information to Brent Musberger, who is not really a golfer. As Frank Chirkinian said to me, your job is to babysit Brent Musberger. That was the definition of my duties. He was there because they’re justifying an enormous salary to an individual who could care less, in all honesty, about the game of golf. He didn’t know the difference between a chip and a pitch.

GS: Really?

TW: I had to explain that to him. A pitch is when a ball travels further in the air than the ground. A chip is when it goes further on the ground than the air. He called Ben Crenshaw, Bob Crenshaw. The worst was a real windy day one year and Tom Watson was in contention, he starts out by saying, “well gee whiz this will really affect Tom Watson with these high winds today, what are his chances?” And I simply said, which was easy to say, well, I guess winning five British Opens doesn’t give him a lot of knowledge or experience in this type of situation Brent. I said it sarcastically and on the air, but it was a very frustrating time for me to be down there because I’m trying to concentrate and it just wasn’t a relaxed atmosphere.

GS: How did it work when you wanted to chime in?

TW: You had two buttons. You had the cough button and then you had another one that you could hit that would go to Chirkinian and then he would come back to you. It wouldn’t go to anyone else, it’d just go to Frank and he’d come on and say, “what in the hell do you want?” Usually it was for times when someone could make a comment that could help the telecast, say if you were down at 13 and noticed the wind was changing. But I was always afraid to hit the button!

GS: So Sunday Jack is making his charge and there is the exchange we all remember, when he’s getting ready to hit his shot, backs off and Jim Nantz sets you up perfectly.

TW: Jack had played that hole so well and with that pin placement it was accessible and he was the type of player where, with his background and playing against him, I knew that had to be situation that he had to take advantage of. That was the tournament for him in my mind for him with three holes remaining because I thought that was probably the easiest of the three remaining holes to birdie and because he had played it so well in the past. 

He’s such a versatile shotmaker and he was never really given credit for that, especially under pressure when he had to. And that was an accessible hole location. Jack was a very percentage type of player that rarely gambled, but when he did take a chance, he seemed like he always hit the right shot in that situation and got the reward. He just knew how to play a shot and a hole under those conditions whether it was the first round or the last round, better than anyone else. That’s why he won 18 majors.

Anyway, my mind was moving fast, but I didn’t push a button and instigate that. The comment was a little bit tongue in cheek, a little bit of a sarcastic comment that really defined me. I don't even remember the exact words I said, but basically I said if I thought like that guy, I would have won this tournament. Anyone could have said that. But it just popped in my head. Well you know he’s trying to make up his mind what type of shot he’s going to play. He wasn’t set. He never hit a shot unless he was prepared to play it. He backed off a lot. He just took an enormous amount of time in his preparation. He never got ahead of himself. He probably played a high soft cut I imagine. He’s playing it against the slope of the bank that will bring the ball down to the hole. And he just looked at it for a moment and then just bent down to pick up his tee because he knew how good it was going to be.

Here’s a clip of the moment. My favorite thing about Weiskopf’s commentary is how he takes it right up to the moment Nicklaus hits the shot. Normally, it’s an annoyance to hear an announcer chattering at Augusta when the silence there is so powerful, but here Weiskopf just heightens the drama that much more by setting it up right to the moment Jack pulls the trigger.

GS: So now he comes to 17 at -8 while Seve is making a mess of 15.

TW: On 17 he was a little bit fortunate on the drive but he gave himself the best angle. He’s playing up the left side, a guy who never drove the ball like a Ben Hogan type of driver that had three fairways in mind: the left side the middle and the right. He’s going to play up the left side now and when he does that you know he’s got the confidence, he’s got control of the golf tournament in his hands. It gave him a perfect angle from the left side. Which is gone, by the way with the trees they’ve planted. But a perfect angle and he played a perfect shot to the left of the hole and then he makes an unbelievable putt.

GS: Now a moment that rarely gets talked about in all the fuss over Verne Lundquist’s call is the exchange you and Verne had watching the replay.

TW: I don’t remember even being involved in 17!

I play the tape for Weiskopf. Here it is, starting with the original putt and eventually, the exchange where he reacts to the replay and Lundquist's question:

TW: I don’t remember that at all!

GS: Do you know what it is you say quietly after we see the putt goes in? I abhor you? I adore you? I implore you?

TW: (Laughs) I don’t. I'm pretty sure it wasn't "adore you!"

He had a tendency when wouldn’t putt well to lift his head. We talked about that when we played occasionally. And you know when the putt goes in, I think everyone in the world, maybe for the first time in Jack Nicklaus’ life, wanted him to win that golf tournament. Everybody! Even people who weren’t Nicklaus fans had to root for him. It’s just one of the great moments in sports. Here’s a guy 46 years of age and five or six years since he’d won his last major and it just defined him. I remember one time I was sitting in the back of the room one year when he was giving his interview to the press and they asked if he ever remembered missing a putt to lose a major tournament and he paused not very long and said, "Not to my recollection." It’s just like if he had to hit a good wedge shot, but you wouldn’t bet against him if he had to do it.

He just could pull all of that stuff together. That’s how strong of an individual he was.

GS: Do you miss announcing there?

 TW: Well, that’s the thing that’s so exciting about being involved in a major championship telecast. They’re so exciting and they’re part of history and usually some very unusual things happen. But I don’t know the young guys well enough. I could pick it up pretty quick, but Nicklaus was 46 and I was 43, so I was still current with everybody that was out there.

GS: What do you make of the telecasts today?

TW: I love to listen to these telecasts and there are some guys that don’t get their just due who do some fantastic work. Golf is still the most difficult sport to announce simply because there are so many things happening all at the same time in so many places. And these producers always want to get the live shot so that then you get the spontaneity. They don’t like to show something taped. But I still don’t think they cover it correctly.

GS: How so?

TW: I’m a big NFL fan and the thing about the NFL is the fact that these pre-game shows, there’s so much time given to the players. They really humanize these players as to their abilities and their talents and they really make you aware of the game. I wish golf did a little more of that. I thoroughly enjoyed the recent Golf Channel “State of the Game” show. I think if they did more of that, especially if they did that before each round at the majors, and summarized what you might see today, it’s just too many shots all the time. There’s not a lot of analytical stuff.

GS: What about all of the instruction analysis?

TW: Forget the golf swing. That’s nonsense. Good God, if the camera is not in the perfect position, it’s tough for a good analyst to analyze the swing if the angle isn’t right. And of course you always know the result before you start the analyzing, so it’s easy to come up with a bunch of nonsense. But I don’t see how that helps the average guy. Here’s the trouble: they never give the analysts enough time to set up the shot. To really talk about it. Fewer words are always better. That’s what made Summerall. If you had that extra 5 to 10 seconds it would help so much.

It was those extra few seconds that gave Weiskopf a chance to weigh in and only add to the greatest tournament and most riveting telecast the game has ever seen.

Tuesday Clippings, 2011 Masters

Plenty of great reads from an eventful Masters Monday, and while many writers were traveling, it appears the club shocked some (and left little room for kneejerk analysis) with its announcement of a new ticket selling policy. 

John Boyette filed an item on the stunning news. The price increase is also interesting:

The yearly application process for existing series badge holders will also move to the Internet. More details will be announced later this year. With the new system comes an increase in cost. Ticket prices for Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday practice rounds will cost $50 each, up from $36 for Monday and Tuesday and $41 for Wednesday. Tournament round tickets are $75 each; currently, a series badge good for all four days costs $200.

Still the greatest bargain in all of sports.

Players

Kevin Garside on Lee Westwood and Ross Fisher suffering a scare when a cockpit fire broke out in the private jet shuttling them from Houston, causing an emergency landing. He includes photos from Westwood's tweets.

“We were a couple of minutes out of the airport,” Westwood said. “It was a bit scary. It never looks good when you can smell smoke and you turn round and see the pilots have put the masks on.

Steve Elling's report includes photos from Westwood's tweets.

Ron Sirak says this may be Tiger's most important Masters ever

He does not need to leave town April 10 with a fifth green jacket to quiet the doubters, but if he does not have a competitive performance, such as a top-10 finish, the questions will become even more plentiful and certainly more pointed.

John Huggan and Steve Elling bicker about all things Augusta and talk about why the Europeans have not won in 11 years.

Elling: It's inexplicable, really. I was just eyeballing today's freshly minted world rankings. Europeans have five of the top six spots. Mickelson is the lone Yank in the six-pack. You have to figure it's going to happen soon. Luke Donald, anyone?

Huggan: It does. Because for those 11 years they have had to beat both Tiger and Phil on a course that suits -- or suited -- both of them. Plus, never underestimate the home-court advantage Uncle Sam's nephews get in three of the four majors every year.

Elling: I agree only to a point on the last part. Yeah, the fans were pulling against Seve in 1986, but they get behind the foreign players, too. Although I am not sure Westwood would agree after the ride he took last year alongside Phil. With all that Phil had going on in his life personally, he was a massive sentimental favorite.

Lawrence Donegan with an excellent profile of Graeme McDowell who is, as usual, refreshingly frank.

"At the minute I am going through a normalising period, trying to adjust to everything that goes with being a top player in the world, from the media to fan interaction," he says. "My priorities are back to playing golf and setting my targets. I'm determined not to be one of those guys who wins one major and then disappears. I want to win more and the Masters would be a good place to start."

Colin Byrne is caddying for Edoardo Molinari but he shares this fascinating observation about KJ Choi's bag this week.

It is not a revelation that winning tournaments is directly linked to how you putt, but this is particularly so with the treacherous nature of Augusta’s greens. If you get a 30-foot putt slightly wrong the chances are you are going to be 15 feet away from the hole for your next. Therefore leaving yourself on the right side of the pin cannot be overvalued.

Which raises a further question, of how you get your ball to stop on the correct, or uphill, side of the pin? The same gentleman who impressed Woods so much last year has changed the make-up of his bag to be able to stop his ball on the “right side” of the pin. This year KJ will carry hybrid clubs as high up the bag as six-iron. This is a common feature for lady golfers, but most unusual for competing male golfers.

KJ thinks it could give him the edge. The hybrid will fly the same distance as the iron but should stop more quickly due to its higher trajectory.

Anthony Kim shares his deepest thoughts with Jason Sobel, and now that Kim has his game back, he's a major contender. He's also got this superstition.

I don't have many superstitions, but I don't buy stuff before the event. I mean, you can play badly or something happens, you get sick -- now you have all this stuff that reminds you of missing the cut or withdrawing. Not that I've won that much -- I've won only three times -- but after I win, I just go order a bunch of stuff and give it all away to my friends.

Jim McCabe files notes on an array of fun topics but leads with Rickie Fowler having been asked to turn his hat around by Augusta National member Ron Townsend, complying on the second request.

Craig Dolch looks at the rookies and besides Fowler at 35-1 despite zero PGA Tour wins, likes his chances of contending along with a few others:

I also think Woodland might surprise in his first Masters showing. The Transitions Championship winner hits it long and putts it well -- perfect combinations at Augusta -- but he still has a learning curve after giving up college basketball just eight years ago.

Arnold Palmer Invitational winner Laird also hits it a long way, so he could contend for a while. Jason Day is another rookie who may play well this week, but he has another piece of history going against him besides his first-year status: No Australian has ever won the Masters.

Ron Kroichick looks at Nick Watney's chances after his last major ended with an 81 at Whistling Straits.

Richard Gillis reports that Butch Harmon has ruled out a win for Rory McIlroy and isn't too keen on Lee Westwood's chance because he lacks imagination around the greens.

“To win at Augusta you have to have enormous creativity and imagination.

“When you look at who has been successful historically, (Jack)Nicklaus won six and (Arnold) Palmer won four times, both were great putters.

“You come forward to the modern era and players like (Seve) Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal who won two each, Tiger has won four and Phil has won three. These players all have truly great short games.”

 
History, Flora, Fauna

 
Bob Harig files a fun account of Phil's epic shot last year on 13 and talks to both Mickelson and Bones about it.

 "I can quote exactly what Phil said to me," Bones said. "It was one of those moments."

They quickly went through the scenarios. Bones wanted to make sure the stance would be OK; that Mickelson pulled enough club; with K.J. Choi making 5 up ahead, he reminded Lefty that he led the tournament by one stroke.

"So I said, 'Phil, do you still want to go here?'" Bones recalled.

"He said, 'Listen, if I'm going to win this tournament today, at some point I'm going to have to hit a really good shot under a lot of pressure. I'm going to do it right now.'"

Mackay said, "You get out of the way at that point."

Chris Gay profiles Kathryn Murphy, who was Clifford Roberts' executive secretary for almost four decades. It's not often you get to read Brad Faxon and Gene Sarazen mentioned in the same sentence. It also means Ms. Murphy worked for a long time!

It wasn't uncommon for Murphy to fill ticket requests for Masters participants. Some golfers, such as Ben Crenshaw, Fred Couples, Brad Faxon and Gene Sarazen, were nicer than others.

"Ben Hogan was the best. He'd never ask for tickets," she said. "Some of them you just couldn't accommodate. Some of them you had to say no to."

Murphy never was able to watch much tournament action herself. She kept up with the Masters on a TV in her office.

Though the tournament lasts just one week a year, Murphy remained busy the rest of the time the club was open. For 38 years, she enjoyed it all.

"It was very interesting," she said. "There was always something going on. It was never boring."

David Westin on the joys of playing the Masters and staying at the club as an amateur qualifier.

Ben Crenshaw, who is playing in his 40th Masters, played as an amateur in 1972 and 1973.

"These are different times and I can't answer for them (the current pros who didn't play as amateurs), but I can just tell this: My two amateur years were incredible because I got to stay on the grounds," Crenshaw said.

He stayed in the Crow's Nest his first year, along with most of the other amateurs that year.

"I think we had eight," Crenshaw remembered. "We amateurs were a team. I had just started traveling to some national amateur tournaments. We just couldn't believe we were here in the first place.

"The second year, I stayed on top of the old tournament headquarters over by the golf shop with Vinny Giles," Crenshaw said. "We ate every meal here at the club. It was special. I loved it."

Bill Fields, formerly a photographer and now a writer, gets nostalgic thinking about past Masters as he prepares for this one.

Seeing the Greens of Charlotte, Ron and Ron Jr., talented writers both, in the press room typing shoulder to shoulder. Absent friends who were there every spring with me, such as British photographer Phil Sheldon. Wishing my Dad, lover of azaleas and, in his last years, golf, would have gotten to see the place just once.

Scraping frost off the rental-car's windshield and wearing gloves and a ski cap in 2007. The awful smell of whatever-that-was the year it rained so much.

Sitting once not too far from Herbert Warren Wind in the observation stand at the 12th hole in one of his last trips to the Masters, thinking about all the golf he had seen and how much he cared about his craft.

Jim McCabe on Al Geiberger, making a return to Augusta after a long absence to play the Par-3 Contest with son Brian on the bag.

And finally, Dan Jenkins will be hosting a Twitter chat on Sunday (as will others according to GolfDigest.com's menu of coverage planned for the week). Darren Carroll recently blogged about photographing Jenkins for the Backspin issue and talks about what went in to getting Dan to pose for certain shots. 

Meanwhile, I already have my Jenkins question planned for Sunday. Still want to see if he's a BCS guy after his Horned Frogs didn't get a chance to play for the top spot. Though by Sunday, hopefully there will be a lot more to talk about than TCU football. 

Devastating News: Masters Online Coverage Will Be Missing Bobby Clampett's Wit And Wisdom

Hate to start the week off on such a dark note but here goes...

I've read this CBS press release about their tournament coverage five times and still no mention of...Bobby Clampett.

What will Masters online be without his book plugs and other assorted ramblings about his favorite topic, himself?

PHIL MICKELSON LOOKS FOR FOURTH GREEN JACKET AS HE DEFENDS 2010 MASTERS® VICTORY
 
CBS SPORTS BROADCASTS MASTERS® FOR 56th CONSECUTIVE YEAR
 
Masters® Is Longest-Running Sporting Event Broadcast on One Network
 
The Masters®, the most renowned tournament in golf, will be broadcast on CBS for the 56th consecutive year from the majestic setting of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga.  This year marks the 75th Masters Tournament, one of the most highly-anticipated sporting events of the year.  Last year, Phil Mickelson won his third Green Jacket with a three-shot victory over Lee Westwood, becoming only the eighth player to win three Masters titles.
 
CBS Sports will bring viewers all the color, artistry and drama inherent to the world's most prestigious golf tournament and first major of the year with live third-round coverage of the Masters on Saturday, April 9 (3:30-7:00 PM, ET).  Final-round 18-hole coverage is scheduled for Sunday, April 10 (2:00-7:00 PM, ET).  Highlights of early-round play will be presented by CBS Sports on Thursday, April 7 and Friday, April 8 (11:35-11:50 PM, ET; both nights).
 
For the 26th consecutive year Jim Nantz will cover the Masters for CBS (his 24th year as host).  He also handles coverage of the Highlight Shows, originating from Butler Cabin on the grounds of Augusta National. Three-time Masters champion Sir Nick Faldo joins Nantz in the 18th hole tower as lead analyst. Peter Oosterhuis will describe the action at the 17th hole; Verne Lundquist, the 16th hole; David Feherty,  the 15th hole and Highlight Shows;  Bill Macatee,  the 14th hole; Peter Kostis,  the 13th hole; and Ian Baker-Finch will tell the story at the 11th and 12th  holes.  Ian Eagle and Matt Gogel return to call the live streaming video action for Amen Corner , along with Jerry Foltz and Billy Ray Brown for 15 & 16 and Andrew Catalon and Billy Kratzert for  Featured Group.