Silly Me: Ike's Replacement Likely In The Works

Here I was reserving an opinion on what to do with the fallen Eisenhower Tree at Augusta National, thinking we'd probably have the 2014 Masters to carefully consider the future of the 17th. After all, one of the top five architectural atrocities of all time has occurred on this hole, when Hootie Johnson and Tom Fazio littered the sides of the fairway with Christmas trees in one of the most heinous acts defying the legacy of Bobby Jones and Alister MacKenzie. Not to mention, plugging gaps that allowed the horrifying recovery shots of Jack Nicklaus and Greg Norman in 1986.

Heaven forbid that would happen again!

The trees have remained and are beneath ANGC in ways that are hard to explain to those who can't fathom what Bobby Jones was all about.

Anyway, you all have spoken: replace Ike's tree, with 420 votes cast it's 58% to 42% in favor of a replacement and I'm pretty sure of the large variety.

As I write in a Local Knowledge post, what could have been going through my mind? This was a done deal the minute the specimen had to go: Augusta National almost assuredly had a plan to replace it.

Death, Misery To Reassess Place In Pantheon As 2014 Golf Writers Awards Focus On Actual Golf Writing

I'd like to thank the judges who rewarded golf writing over the usual maudlin stuff.

Here are the annual GWAA Writing Contest Results, with as many links to the originals that I could find. The winners, from 485 entries:

2014 GWAA WRITING CONTEST RESULTS

DAILY
DAILY COLUMNS -- 1. Ron Green Jr., Global Golf Post, Beyond a Shadow of a Doubt;  2, John Garrity,  Golf.com, Groundhog Day for Mickelson; 3, Dave Kindred. GolfDigest.com, Some Kind of Wonderful.

Honorable mention: Ryan Lavner, Golfchannel.com, Phil’s Best Wins British; Alan Shipnuck, USGA Stands Tall on Ban; Mike Purkey, Global Golf Post, Meeting a Challenge.

DAILY NEWS – 1, Ian O’Connor, ESPN.com, Rose Arrives on Father’s Day; 2, Bill Dwyre, Los Angeles Times, Hail the Great Seizer; 3, Alan Bastable, Golf.com, Masters What-if for Tiger.

Honorable mentions: Michael Bamberger, Golf.com, The Story Behind Tiger’s Masters Ruling; Doug Ferguson, Associated Press, Mickelson’s Claret Jug; Jim McCabe, golfweek.com, Legends Turn Out for Quigley; Randall Mell, Golfchannel.com, Inbee

DAILY FEATURES – 1, Gary Van Sickle, Golf.com, Courage After Fire, Jason’s Story; 2, Gary D’Amato, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Danielsons Stay on Course; 3, Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News, Remembering Hogan’s Caddie.

Honorable mention – Hank Gola, New York Daily News, Annie Park’s Wild Ride; Ian O’Connor, ESPN.com, LaCava Proud Newtown Native; Jason Sobel, Golfchannel.com, Curious case of Chris Couch.

NON-DAILY COLUMNS – 1, Jerry Tarde, Golf Digest, Tiger’s Mulligan; 2, Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Case for Jason Dufner; 3, Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Golf With Steph Curry

Honorable mention – Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Tiger Rules; Martin Kaufman, Golfweek, Julian’s Message of Dignity; Jim McCabe, Golfweek, Tears Flow for Bones.

NON-DAILY NEWS – 1 , Alan Shipnuck, Sports Illustrated, Inside Rory’s Big Deal; 2, Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Bishop Rocks (The Boat); 3, Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Mickelson’s Masterpiece.

Honorable mention – John Garrity, Sports Illustrated, Adam’s Reign; Jim McCabe, Golfweek, Rose, Merion Validated; Geoff Shackelford, Golf World, Muirfield Frustrates Tiger.

NON-DAILY FEATURES – 1, Alan Bastable, Golf Magazine, Wally’s World; 2, Jeff Silverman, Golf World, Golf in a POW Camp; 3, Jim Moriarty, Golf World, Spieth Rocks Golf World.

Honorable mentions – Michael Bamberger, Sports Illustrated, Life with Bub; John Feinstein, Golf World, Tim West, Mr. Monday; John Garrity, Golf Magazine, Feherty on Feherty.

SPECIAL PROJECTS – 1. Gabriel Thompson, Jaime Diaz, Max Adler and Bob Carney, Golf Digest, How Latinos Impact American golf; 2. Alan Tays, Mercer Baggs and Bailey Mosier, Golfchannel.com, Remembering Francis Ouimet; 3, Jeff Ritter, Golf.com, Course Survives Drug War.

Honorable mention – Mike Kern, Philadelphia Daily News, U.S. Open at Merion, Preview; Alan Schupak, Golfweek, Mini-tours, Big Promises; Ron Sirak, Golf Digest, The Fox and The Peacock.

WGC Bracketology: Three Major Options, Your Favorite?

I remember the good ole days when we were begging for brackets and lucky to win a dozen balls, but now there are at least three major brackets with prizes for this week's WGC Accenture Match Play.

The PGA Tour's official bracket provides a seemless registration process for newbies, and warns rather ominously: "the Accenture Match Play Championship is a volatile event with underdogs dominating the favorites more often than you would think."

Golfweek.com also offers an easy registration with a Facebook option so that you can say to your friends, I really have no life, I'm immersed in filling out Accenture Match Play brackets. Golfweek is offering a Stay and Play for 2 at La Quinta for the winner and SeeMore Putters to the 2nd-4th place finishers.

GolfChannel.com is very easy to use if you are already registered for their fantasy league, and appears to be offering the most prizes with 64 winners getting a new driver and "one Grand Prize winner will receive a trip for two to the 2015 WGC Accenture," wherever that may be.

I know we have some fantasy players out there. Which are you using? Oh, and if you've had time to look at the revitalized PGATour.com, this would be a good place to comment too. It's certainly prettier!