It’s back!
Twenty years later Tatra Press has kindly allowed me to bring back Grounds For Golf now that golf architecture is of more interest to the masses. A new Introduction looks at what’s driven the interest growth and two new chapters I had a blast adding (plus a few edits to keep things up-to-date).
The Amazon purchase page for the book arriving June 15, 2026.
A glib Adam Scott this morning on CBS This Morning with Charlie Rose and Gayle King.
Lots of fresh stuff, and bad news for the ladies as Gayle confronts him about his looks and he finds it all "embarrassing" before saying he's "not single at all." Women, her name is Marie. Hate away!
We've soaked up the good vibes of Adam Scott's win and will continue to enjoy the dramatics that closed out the 2013 Masters.
However...
Scott's win means all four majors have now been won by an anchorer and four of the last six majors have been won by anchorers. Hank Gola made the point that this was "pure coincidence," no different than a string of lefthanders winning. I'm not sure I buy that one.
Garry Smits lays out the status of the proposed ban after Billy Payne took a pass on an Augusta National stance. He also points out the pesky numbers which suggest Scott still isn't that great of a putter, despite what we saw Sunday.
The raw numbers say his long putter didn’t matter. Scott was 39th in putting among the field, averaging 1.67 putts per green in regulation, the major putting stat used at Augusta National. That put him in the bottom half of the players who made the cut.
So I know this isn't the cleanest question or tightest answer option, but here goes:
Tiger Woods was penalized two strokes for violating Rule 26-1a and/or 20-7c yet avoided disqualification under Rule 6-6d or 33-7/4.5, instead he was absolved under an obscure, maybe unprecedented use of 33-7.
Got that?
I understand the confusion over Tiger's penalty and non-WD. I misunderstood it initially because the first reports, by Tom Rinaldi (ESPN) and Steve Sands (Golf Channel) mentioned 33-7 and the recent rule change involving HD video, which was the 33-7/4.5 Decision not invoked in this case.
I tried clarifying it in Golf World Daily, have written about the episode in this week's Golf World, posted this Barry Rhodes item on the matter, but for now, just read John Morrissett's Facebook post on the Erin Hills website if you still aren't sure why Tiger avoided disqualification.
The key graphs:
While this seems like a complicated set of facts, the ruling becomes straightforward when it is boiled down to its basic elements: On Friday the Committee made an incorrect ruling (of no penalty), and on Saturday the Committee corrected that incorrect ruling. The key is that, before Tiger returned his score card on Friday, the Committee had reviewed the incident on 15 and made the ruling of no breach. (Even though the Committee did not tell Tiger of this ruling, it was still a ruling.) On reflection, the Committee realized it made an incorrect ruling and corrected that ruling on Saturday (with ample authority and precedent to do so).
If the Committee had not become aware of the incident and had not made a ruling before Tiger returned his score card on Friday, then it would have been a straightforward disqualification. It is interesting to note, therefore, that the timely telephone call actually prevented Tiger from being disqualified.
For Immediate Release...
THE MASTERS® ON CBS SPORTS IS SECOND-MOST WATCHED IN 12 YEARS AS ESTIMATED 44.3 MILLION VIEW ALL-OR-PART OF WEEKEND COVERAGE
An estimated 44.3 million viewers (Persons 2+) watched CBS Sports’ third- and final-round coverage of the 2013 Masters on Saturday, April 13 and Sunday, April 14, making it the second largest number of viewers to watch all-or-part* of the Network’s weekend coverage of the Masters in 12 years.
Sunday’s final round, which saw Australia’s Adam Scott win the coveted Green Jacket in an extra-holes playoff over Argentina’s Angel Cabrera for his first career major, was watched in all-or-part by 37.4 million viewers (Persons 2+), up 13% from last year’s 33.1 million viewers.
Saturday and Sunday’s 44.3 million viewers was up 13% from 39.3 viewers in 2012. Saturday’s third round was watched in all-or-part by 20.9 million viewers, up 19% from last year’s 17.5 million viewers.
Sunday’s final round coverage earned an average preliminary national household rating/share of 9.4/19, up 18% from last year’s 8.0/19.
Saturday’s third-round coverage earned an average preliminary national household rating/share of 5.8/13, up 16% from last year’s 5.0/12.
The light and lens experts weren't given the best conditions Sunday on top of their already limited access yet they still came up with some amazing shots from the 2013 Masters.
Sam Weinman and Alex Myers pick the photos that defined the Masters, including Jewel Samadi's Getty shot of Scott's 18th hole putt.
golf.com posts SI's best stuff from round 4 including Robert Beck's wide shot of the winning playoff putt.
Golfweek features an Adam-only gallery, including an uncredited AP image from behind Scott's 18th hole putt in regulation.
Masters.co features an assortment of beautiful shots, including Scott Brown's amazing shot of Scott's outdoor green jacket ceremony that was also posted on Digg.
The Augusta Chronicle has several galleries, including Emily Rose Bennett's shots from the Green Jacket ceremony, Jon-Michael Sullivan's images of Scott, an Angel Cabrera gallery and a top 12 players gallery.
The Chronicle also sets their shots to a YouTube video set to Come On Aussie. There is also a mute option if you should so choose.
Golfweek Staff has the details on 14-year-old Masters low amateur and sluggish golfer Tianlang Guan receiving a sponsor's invite into the 2013 Zurich Classic in New Orleans. 
Guan, who was penalized for slow play on Friday of the Masters, received two bad times over the weekend as well. Thankfully for his sake, the PGA Tour has a moratorium on slow play penalties.
Over 24 minutes from Greg Norman with Gary Williams and Damon Hack on Morning Drive talking about Adam Scott's win, with a Feherty appearance from Augusta CC a bit of the ways in:
Many were wondering what Adam Scott screamed in his moment of triumph after sinking the birdie putt on the 18th hole to win the Masters. Just as CBS's Ian Baker-Finch nailed the interpretation--and great call by CBS to keep the Australian golfing great involved in the final moments of the telecast to lend perspective and emotion--it was "Come On Aussie."
John Strege reviews the telecast and other Sunday media, including the CBS announcers doing some impressive lip reading:
"Did I just lip-read him, 'come on Aussies?'" Faldo asked. A slow-motion replay confirmed it.
"There's a great song at home called 'Come On Aussie, Come on,'" Australian native Ian Baker-Finch said. "That's what we've all been saying."
Here's the first verse, a fitting ode to Scott and Australian golf:
"It's been a long time comin' "To silence all that drummin' "To show them that it wasn't just a dream."
In the post round press conference, yours truly asked for a confirmation. Here was Scott's answer:
Q. On 18 in regulation, when you reacted, it looked like you were saying something; do you remember what you said?
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah. Come on, Aussie. Yeah, that's right. I did, yeah. It was maybe a natural reaction. That's from back in my cricket days probably.
I don't know if Steve appreciated me yelling that straight toward him (laughter) but whatever. Maybe the one time he doesn't mind.
You can find that winning moment on the Masters.com video page somewhere, perhaps sitting through a highlight video that does not have a link.
Or you can wait a few hours and we can watch an unauthorized YouTube version through some person's iphone camera and television screen.
Geoff Shackelford is a Senior Writer for Golfweek magazine, a weekly contributor to Golf Channel's Morning
Copyright © 2022, Geoff Shackelford. All rights reserved.
