Martin Laird His Wins Way Into The Masters

Dex McLuskey on the clutch performance of Martin Laird winning the Valero Texas Open to get into the Masters.

“I’ve been asked probably 30 times in the last couple of weeks, ‘Are you in Augusta?’” Laird said in a televised interview. “Every time I said ‘no’ it kind of hurt me a little bit. So that was my major motivation trying to get back into tournaments like that.”

Laird, a 30-year-old Scot, is the first non-American to win on the PGA Tour in 15 events this season. He began today five shots behind third-round leader Billy Horschel, who tied Jim Furyk and Charley Hoffman for third place at 11-under.

The PGA Tour highlight video:

Video: Greg Chalmers' Final Round Ace At The Valero

Nice stuff from the Australian Open Champion:

Phil & Condi Whap It Around ANGC, Talk Countries & Courses

Doug Ferguson on Sunday's Phil Mickelson-Condoleeza Rice round at Augusta National that included a long putt drained by the former Secretary of State. Shotlink had the 18th hole putt at...oh right, we don't do ShotLink at the majors. TMI!

Anyway, this was noteworthy...

Rice later donned her green jacket to meet with other members on the practice range.

She slipped away without taking questions. Members typically don't give interviews during the week of the Masters. Mickelson couldn't stop talking about her - especially her 40-foot par putt on the 18th hole. He says Rice asked him about courses, and he asked her about countries.

Update on 2013-04-08 02:35 by Geoff

**Ferguson files a longer story on the Rice-Mickelson game and how it came about along with how golf on Sunday at Augusta National works.

A Ron Williams photo also accompanies the story.

"Awesome," Mickelson said after playing 18 holes with his agent and Augusta members Rice and Lee Styslinger. "She's one of my favorite people to be around. She's so knowledgeable and interesting to talk to. I always learn so much. When I saw she became a member, one of the first things I did was schedule a game close to Masters time. The fact she's here, we were able to work it out. It was really cool."

Apparently Golf Channel had the first images of Ms. Rice in green and showed it on Golf Central Sunday.

Tiger Giving Telecasts A 60% Boost These Days

Matthew Futterman files a WSJ look at the state of Tiger and big business.

Down the piece a bit, and after considering what the sport faced in 2008-09, Futterman looks at the Tiger-fueled recovery and includes this on 2012 and 2013 television ratings:

CBS has seen television viewership for golf rise steadily. Audiences for final-round coverage of tour events averaged 3.5 million in 2012, 46% higher than in 2010. So far this year, an average of 4.1 million viewers have watched final-round coverage of the network's three tournament broadcasts. NBC's audiences grew to 3.4 million viewers last year, from 2.3 million in 2010.

Mr. Woods's participation in tournaments still has a big effect—but not as big as it once did. In 2012, his participation in a final round boosted viewership by 60%, compared with 118% in 2009.

"No one can blame Augusta National for wanting to discourage Masters muscle shirts"

Interesting stuff from John Paul Newport on the effort the Lords of Augusta make to trademark various names related to the Masters.

Trademark landmines send manufacturers scrambling for euphemisms to describe a week that leads to 38% of annual equipment sales over the next three weeks.

By my count, Augusta National holds or has applied for more than 50 trademarks, many for the same words and images but explicitly extending into multiple realms: refrigerator magnets, playing cards, desk sets, ladies handbags, pewter mugs, bowls "with and without lids," nut-based snacks, you name it. "eMasters" and "iMasters"? Taken.

Violators usually receive a polite phone call from someone representing Augusta National, requesting they reconsider words that are "confusingly similar" to those that the club has rights to. Cleveland Golf knows it is close to the border with an online page promoting wedges with customizable logos, using a trio of "Augusta 13" wedges, not themselves for sale, as examples. The page uses the words "Augusta National" and even has a background photo of the clubhouse.

All of this, of course, is routine turf protection in the business world. No one can blame Augusta National for wanting to discourage Masters muscle shirts, Amen Corner whiskey or other products not up to its standards. Nor can you blame companies for wanting a little Masters bounce. Golf, lest we forget, is big business.

Strange: Nike Man Curtis Lashes At Rory Critics, Appears To Have Forgotten His Similarly Disastrous Equipment Switch!

Curtis Strange, on a conference call to promote his work as part of ESPN's Masters announce team, says Johnny and Sir Nick have been "so out of line, so out of touch with club manufacturers now" in criticizing (here and here) Rory McIlroy's wholesale club switch.

Tony Jimenez of Reuters reports on the comments from the former Macgregor man who turned to Maruman man after winning two U.S. Opens…and never won again.

Thanks to reader Lloyd for the link and reminder of Strange's strange move.

"The Golf Shot Heard Round the Academic World"

Thanks to reader Kevin for David Feith's WSJ story on an upset philanthropist and the head of Bowdoin College butting heads over identity politics on the golf course.

The dispute has since led to a rich-guy commissioned study and upheaval at Bowdoin.

One day in the summer of 2010, Barry Mills, the president of Bowdoin College, a respected liberal-arts school in Brunswick, Maine, met investor and philanthropist Thomas Klingenstein for a round of golf about an hour north of campus. College presidents spend many of their waking hours talking to potential donors. In this case, the two men spoke about college life—especially "diversity"—and the conversation made such an impression on President Mills that he cited it weeks later in his convocation address to Bowdoin's freshman class. That's where the dispute begins.

In his address, President Mills described the golf outing and said he had been interrupted in the middle of a swing by a fellow golfer's announcement: "I would never support Bowdoin—you are a ridiculous liberal school that brings all the wrong students to campus for all the wrong reasons," said the other golfer, in Mr. Mills's telling. During Mr. Mills's next swing, he recalled, the man blasted Bowdoin's "misplaced and misguided diversity efforts." At the end of the round, the college president told the students, "I walked off the course in despair."

Kraft Nabisco Thru 36: Another Anchorer Contends In A Major

John Strege tells us about England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff, a belly putter since November, 2011 who doesn't seem too concerned about a possible ban on anchoring.

"If they do decide to ban it, it wouldn't be a huge issue for me," she said, following a round of even-par 72 on the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club. "I'd have to spend a couple months really working out with a short putter, but it wouldn't be a huge deal.

"Honestly, I've said this a lot of times, but all you have to do is look at my putting stats to know it's not a huge advantage."

Ewart is three back of Inbee Park who leads at -7.

State Of The Game Podcast: Pre-Masters Edition

The second annual pre-Masters discussion focuses on the likely contenders, the politics, Big Oak schmoozing and Tiger. Rod Morri hosts while Mike Clayton and yours truly offer opinions.

You can listen below, or as usual, listen and subscribe via iTunes.

Bubba Viral Video Week Continues, Dubsdread Crash Visit Edition

Thanks to reader Scott for vetting and approving what could be a disaster but turns out to be great fun: ESPN.com's Michael Collins and Bubba Watson make a surprise visit to Orlando's Dubsdread. Bubba is using a pull cart for the first time, playing lefty with right handed clubs, showa up on the first tee with Collins and an entourage of carts along with men carrying large HD video cameras.

Great to see Bubba in an old Travis Matthew shirt too. Oh wait, isn't he with…

The Complete Authorized History Of Magnolia Lane

David Owen, author of the definitive book on the history of Augusta National, files a quick and painless blog post on the history of Magnolia Lane.

Included are some juicy old photos of Prosper Berckman's beloved Magnolias.

Nantz's Crazy Busy Season Is Here...

Ed Sherman talks about Jim Nantz's one-two punch of working the NCAA Final Four and the Masters.

Though he doesn't reveal how he gets to Augusta so quickly after the national title game, we're going to assume NetJets is in the Hello Friends Hall of Fame.

Nantz operates at a frenetic pace as he tries to talk to as many players as he can. The biggest obstacle, he says, will be the players wanting to talk to him about the NCAA tournament instead of chatting about themselves.

“I’m not going there to observe the birds and check out the flora,” Nantz said. “I’m looking for fresh information. I’m running the whole time. I don’t sit down for a meal that week.”