The Masters press conferences always seem to make players up their game in architectural and course setup assessments.
Three favorites from today's 2017 pre-tournament pressers, starting with Adam Scott on how he gets reacquainted with the course.
ADAM SCOTT: Yeah, the couple things that really come to mind as I think about that quickly is the severity of the slope on the fairway and standing on uneven lies. Sunday here, my second shot into 2, I had a perfect tee shot and I had a 3‑iron into the green, and as I walked into the bowl, I was shocked at how severe the downslope was and had to back off and completely readjust to how I was going to hit the shot. It's very severe, even though it doesn't look it, because there's so much slope everywhere else, I think you can sometimes be fooled. That's one of the big things.
The other thing for me is when I look at my aim points off tees, I think of 10 especially, there's been a branch up in the top of a tree that I look at every year to get that line. That's an important tee shot to kind of have to move one, and so I just check that that same branch is there and if it's not, I don't know what I'll do. But it was there again this year, a little U‑shape up in the top of the trees there through the fairway.
Those kind of eye lines and comfort things that have obviously been in the last five or six years really comfortable for me here, I check those. I've felt very comfortable getting back on the greens this year, probably more so than ever. I feel like now I'm really getting a good understanding of the fall lines and the few little nuances they have here, because obviously they are very tricky at times. So I feel very comfortable with that.
And they are the kind of things ‑‑ but my level of comfort here the last five years has grown so much, and now it's far less daunting coming here than in the past.
Q. And 13th tee shot?
ADAM SCOTT: It's really condition‑dependent. If there's a little help, I like to hit the driver and aim it at the kind of corner of the trees through the fairway, and if it draws, then it's perfect. And if it doesn't, it's 50/50 it might get a bounce to the left in the grass and it might go in the pine straw. But I think if there's a bit of help, I can hit it long enough. I know I can carry the corner of the trees, not the highest point like Dustin Johnson hits it over, but I can get across the corner and it's worth trying to get a 7‑ or an 8‑iron in on a helping wind. And if it's not helping, I'm very comfortable just hitting a 3‑wood pretty straight. It's now 200‑maybe‑yard run‑out up there, if you just hit a nice 3‑wood, it shouldn't run out. So it's not a real priority for me to turn it around the corner.
Phil Mickelson on the delicate art of lengthening and how a golf course should properly ebb-and-flow.
Q. You've designed some great golf courses like Whisper Rock, and now that the Club has room to move the tee back on No. 5, No. 2 and possibly No. 13 one day, would you be in favor of that?
PHIL MICKELSON: Well, longer is longer. Longer isn't always better. Sometimes it is; sometimes it isn't. I think that you want to make the hard holes harder, but you don't want to make the ‑‑ you want to actually make the easier holes easier.
So when you start looking at the birdie holes, which are the par 5s, the last thing you really want to do is continue to lengthen them to where they are not reachable and they become just a wedge game for everybody. Loses a lot of excitement and it loses a lot of greatness.
But to move a hole back like No. 5 or No. 11 that are designed to be the tougher holes out there and sandwiched in the middle of a round in between birdie holes, like 2 and 3, I don't think ‑‑ I think that's a good thing. So you want to make the hard holes harder, but you've got to be strategic on what holes those are.
I think when you make an easy hole, like 7, one of the toughest pars on the golf course, it changes the entire dynamic of how the golf course plays.
And Jordan Spieth with general thoughts on why excites him about the place.
Q. I'm just curious, what is it about Augusta, Jordan, that appeals to you, that suits your eye and that allows you to elevate your game in such a way?
JORDAN SPIETH: Well, I like the golf course specifically. I like the elevation changes, the sidehill lies, the pull to Rae's Creek, the way it affects putts. It's imaginative golf. It's feel golf and I really enjoy that; when I can go away from technicality and towards feel, it's an advantage for me personally, compared to how I play other places.
I really love the tournament. It's pure golf. When we get to the driving range, it's just us. It's myself, my caddie, my coach. No offense; there's nobody else on the range, and that's actually kind of nice for a change to be able to feel like you're not pulled in any direction. You can just get out there and get done what you want to get done.
And then obviously, just the feel, the crowds, leading into the tournament is second to none. I really like that and am able to feed off that. Rounds like today, just played the back nine, and just had a great time out there. It was just a lot of fun. You don't come away from a lot of Tuesdays saying that. It was just a neat experience in itself.
It's time for an emergency meeting of the Five Families. These wars need to happen once every ten years or so.
