2017 Masters Round Three This And That

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The leaderboard.

Golfweek.com's Live blog

All of the Masters.com live coverage is in operation.

Featured Groups are off and running.

Amen Corner should be a go around 12:30 ET.

Golf Channel's Live From is on until CBS starts coverage at 3 pm.

Your round three locations.

DVR Alert: Arnold Palmer's Final Television Interview Sunday

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The final round of The Masters starts Sunday at 2 pm ET, but the warm-up shows should be incorporated into your viewing schedule.

Jim Nantz Remembers has become a staple of the pre-final round Masters viewing and this year's is extra special given that it turned out to be Arnold Palmer's last television interview.

Nantz told writers on CBS's conference call of how the option was placed before his friend Mr. Palmer to do a chat following the 2016 Masters honorary starters shots. After that special moment with Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, Mr. Palmer gave Nantz the thumb's up that he was up for it, CBS raced to set up Butler Cabin and Nantz relayed how, when the lights went on, The King provided over 20 minutes of great stories and memories.

The full press release description for Sunday's show airing from 1-2 pm ET on CBS:

Arnold Palmer.  JIM NANTZ REMEMBERS AUGUSTA: ARNOLD PALMER – HIS LAST VISIT TO THE MASTERS relives Palmer’s years at Augusta National, beginning with his first victory in 1958 through his emotional final walk to the 18th green in 2004.   The one-hour special includes segments narrated by the other two members of the “Big Three” – Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player, along with a segment narrated by the player most often compared to Palmer’s go-for-broke style of play, Phil Mickelson

Prior to that at 12:30 pm ET Sunday, Bill Macatee sits down witih Phil Mickelson to detail his Masters wins and I've heard throgh the grapevine that it's a fascinating chat for any Masters fan.

The full press release description:

THE MASTERS: PHIL! is an inside look at the remarkable career of Phil Mickelson, framed by his three memorable victories at the Masters.  From his first swings as a toddler at his family’s San Diego home to his unforgettable trio of Masters victories, Mickelson has enjoyed a career spanning three decades to become one of the game’s most beloved champions cementing his place among golf’s greats.

DVR Alert And Q&A: "Jack" Producer Israel DeHerrera

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Producer Israel DeHerrera, who also served as the lead producer for the critically acclaimed, three-part Arnie film in 2014, led the ambitious team behind "Jack", debuting Sunday night after Live From The Masters.

DeHerrera's Golf Films has worked on numerous projects, including ’86, a chronicle of Nicklaus’ final major championship win at the 1986 Masters.

DeHerrera helps give us some insight into the three-part film that concludes with Monday and Tuesday night airings on Golf Channel.

GS: Give us the timing of how long this documentary has taken from beginning to end?

ID: We first approached Jack at the Memorial Tournament in 2015 about a four part series. The first installment being 86, which premiered on Golf Channel in April 2016, followed by the current three part series.

Golf Films began production right away on 86, and during that process collected content for the larger Jack series. Intense pre-production for the three-part series began in  April 2016,  and post production began in December 2016.

 

GS: What are some of your favorite finds and pieces of footage we’ll see?

ID: There’s some cool footage of Jack attending Jackie and Steve’s high school football game in the early 80’s. He demanded an early tee-time at the World Series at Firestone on Friday so he could fly home for the big game. We found the footage of him at that actual game from an NBC News affiliate. Additionally, we have a lot of home movies and there is some compelling footage of him and his sister as kids with their mom and dad. Great stuff of Jack playing baseball, football and basketball, and footage of him in his dad’s old drug store on the Ohio State campus. But by far, my favorite piece of video was of Jack in Butler Cabin being interviewed during the CBS broadcast by Clifford Roberts after his win in 1972. Roberts says to Jack, “and in connection with that new wine cellar you are building, I am going to send you an entire case of Château Lafite, 1952.” And Jack’s response, (laughing),  “Hello! Look out!“

GS: You tracked down someone who attended every major won by Jack, what was that process like and what was the thinking behind that for the film?

ID: We wanted to make sure we were bringing as much authenticity to the film and taking viewers back in time to feel like they were there for all of these greats moments in Jack’s career. We tried to do that by tracking down an individual who was in attendance at each of his 18 major victories. We also tracked down memorabilia and artifacts from those major victories to help bring these stories to life.

 

GS: There have been rumblings you’ve gone to other GOAT’s to discuss Jack? Who did you get and how did that work out?

Who better to weigh in on the debate of the greatest athlete of all-time than individuals who can actually relate to that stature? From the burden of holding that title and from getting inside the mind of what makes someone stand above the rest, we were fortunate enough to have an elite collection of GOATs weigh in on Jack and his legacy in golf and sports overall, including Roger Federer, Wayne Gretzky, Jerry Rice, Pete Rose, Bill Belichick, Kelly Slater, Richard Petty, and Annika Sorenstam.

 

GS: Jack Nicklaus told the story of the gift you got him as a thank you, give us an idea how you tracked down the artifacts? 

ID: This was a big commitment of Mr. Nicklaus’ time, and I just wanted him to know how much I appreciated him letting Golf Films tell his story. What do you get the man who has everything? Jack and I got to talking about baseball one day and I asked him if he was an Indians or Reds fan. He said Indians, and in fact the first game he had ever attended was a Yankees-Indians game with his dad at Yankee Stadium in 1948.

In that game Bob Feller and Satchell Paige had pitched, and Joe DiMaggio hit a grand slam. I had actually produced a documentary before on Bob Feller and knew that 1948 team very well (World Series champs).

I started doing some research and was able to find the box-score from the game online (of course Jack remembered it all perfectly). I contacted Jimmy Roberts who has a friend, Jeff Idelson, who works for the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Jeff put me in touch with someone who collects ticket stubs from every meaningful baseball game that has ever been played. And sure enough he had a stub from that game (he refused payment and said, “Knowing this is going to Jack Nicklaus is payment enough”). I then was able to find a program from that weekend’s game online after weeks of digging. I ordered up original copies of the New York Times from the day before the game and the day after and placed everything in a shadow box with pictures of Jack and his dad plus a picture from that ball game.

 

A sampling from the film:

2017 Masters Round Two Wrap-Up

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There are multiple marquee pairings Saturday at Augusta National but it's hard to top these three in a row: Spieth-Mickelson, Rose-Scott, Rahm-Couples.

In the final pairing is Sergio Garcia, playing with Charley Hoffman who share the lead with Thomas Pieters and Rickie Fowler at -4. Steve DiMeglio's USA Today lede notes that Sergio is possibly the biggest story given his track record here and 2012 comments.

John Huggan on what a tortured history at Augusta it has been for the Spaniard.

Rickie Fowler opens the weekend as the betting favorite.

Just like that Jordan Spieth is only four back, notes Jeff Babineau of Golfweek.

Babineau also covers what was a joyless day for the players in relentlessly stressful conditions. The weekend should be much kinder.

Golf.com’s Alan Bastable followed Phil Mickelson’s round and reports.

The amazing Fred Couples is just three back and more incredibly, back at Augusta after sitting out in 2017. Beth Ann Nichols on his resurgence at 57.

Billy Walters won’t be wearing a green jacket in this lifetime, among other first world problems he’s experiencing today. A.J. Perez reports for USA Today.

ESPN.com’s Michael Collins shares his full chat with a player who is not named and they talk about what it was like out there the first two days.

Thomas Pieters may have had the most impressive hole of the day, eagling 13 from the pine straw.


And there was Branden Grace’s hole out, one of the few roars on another tough day for players to attack the course.

 

Stewart Hagestad Becomes First U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion Invitee To Make Masters Cut

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While the great Jay Sigel made a cut in 1988, never has a U.S. Mid-Amateur invitee made the Masters cut since the invitation began in 1989. Until 2017 when Stewart Hagestad, a 25-year-old from Newport Beach who did so comfortably with a 36-hole total of 147.

Brentley Romine at Golfweek.com on Hagestad's unforgettable finish, which was shown on the main ESPN broadcast (video below).

After clipping a pine tree with his drive at the par-4 18th, Hagestad cut a 3-iron from the second cut and landed it on the front part of the green. As the ball took a big bounce some 20 feet past the hole, the gallery seemed unfazed by the performance. But when the ball started coming back down the slope and toward the hole, the patrons’ cheers heightened, culminating in a loud cry when Hagestad’s ball just missed the cup.

Hagestad tees off Saturday at 12:40 pm ET with Brian Stourd, who he played the first two rounds with alonside 1987 Masters Champion, Larry Mize.

 

 

2017 Masters Round Two This And That

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The leaderboard.

Golfweek.com's Live blog

All of the Masters.com live coverage is in operation. Amen Corner was stellar on day one, including lots of tracer and graphic elements not found on the main broadcast.

The temperature is cooler but the sun is out, with the forecasted winds and gusts very much a factor. Once again, the bombers may have their distance advantage muted by the direction of wind. Both the 1st and 15th are playing tough. Here's Bill Fields at Masters.com on the difficulty of number one.

Your round two locations

 

 

The traditional and online broadcast windows are listed here at Golfweek.com.

ShackHouse Masters Pop-Up Pod: First Round Wrap And Odyssey Putter Giveaway

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It was a wild first day in Augusta National and Joe House and I did a quick breakdown of the Dustin Johnson WD, Charley Hoffman's great play, the extreme weather and hope that we can at least have an honest national discussion about hardwood floors.

The link is here on Soundcloud.

You can subscribe on iTunes.

Here is The Ringer's show page.

Today's special pop-up edition of The Ringer's ShackHouse has a very, very special giveaway from Odyssey: the O-Works One-Wide Putter complete with the Microhinge insert and the awesome commemorative Arnold Palmer headcover you’re seeing the Callaway Pros with this week at Augusta.
 
Get over to the Callaway Community and sign up, enter a comment in the giveaway thread with the year Arnie won his third green jacket.

A winner will be named Monday following the Masters!

Round One: Demanding Day At Augusta For All But One, But It Could Have Been Much Worse

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As Beth Ann Nichols lays out at Golfweek.com, Charley Hoffman's seemingly effortless 65 on an all-effort day was just a matter of continuing his comfort level with Augusta National.

But I make the case for Golfweek.com that the real winners were people we don't know: the weather forecasters, course setup committee and maintenance team that presented the course in a way that could not spill over the top and into absurdity.

Adam Scott says things reached a "borderline" point, writes Ryan Lavner for GolfChannel.com.

While I noted how many people saw all of this coming and adjusted, Rex Hoggard writes at GolfChannel.com how everything else went very much not to script.

Chip Patterson and Kyle Porter at CBSSports.com with a nice breakdown of all the players and important infographics.

Speaking of players, the odds now have Rory McIlroy as the favorite.

GolfChannel.com has some fascinating numbers on the key players.

Jordan Spieth's back nine implosion is covered by Jeff Babineau, who took in all of Spieth's round.

Brentley Romine looks at the very solid start by U.S. Mid-Amateur Champion Stewart Hagestad. I walked most of his back nine while paired with Larry Mize 74) and both held it together well in tough conditions. Hagestad has a chance to be the first Mid-Am winner to make the Masters cut.

Gerry Ahern at Golfweek.com with the Best Shot, Best Hole and Best Quote of the day.

G.C. Digital with a good wrap up of the best quotes from the day.

DJ WD: "He had a chance to do what Tiger Woods did here 20 years ago and, you know, Secretariat the field."

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We'll gauge the energy from patrons tomorrow since the on-site  information blackout caused by the cell phone ban here forbids many from learning that Dustin Johnson withdrew from The Masters with a back injury, but I'm guessing reality will set in Friday.

Ian O'Connor at ESPN.com did a super job summing up an opportunity lost with Johnson's freak injury, with all of the details and all of the frustration we all share in not finding out if he could have dominated the field again this week.

Really, the only surprising development here is that Johnson didn't slip on a banana peel discarded by his brother and caddie, Austin, another easy target on tour. The Johnsons have long been cast in golf circles as the opposite of rocket scientists, whatever that is, and they've never seemed to take great offense to the labels.

But this is no laughing matter for the sport, for Augusta National, and for anyone who cares about great athletes trying to do great things.

2017 Masters Round One This And That

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The leaderboard.

Golfweek.com's blog

All of the Masters.com live coverage is in operation. Amen Corner is, of course, the best.

After falling down stairs wearing socks on hardwood floors, pre-tournament favorite Dustin Johnson is now 8-1 even though he is said to be "trending in the right direction."

Your round one hole locations

Your traditional and online broadcast windows are listed here at Golfweek.com.

Golf Channel will have Morning Drive warming you up starting at 6 am ET (watch for me to brighten your morning at 6:20 am ET). And Live From coverage all day leading up to the telecast, followed by the wrap show at night with Brandel, Frank, Rich and David.

For DirecTV/AT&T subscribers there will be TWO 4K UHD channels in 2017, including Channel 105 featuring Amen Corner and Channel 106 featuring Hole 15 (Fire Thorn) and Hole 16 (Red Bud).

DirecTV/AT&T offers viewers “The Masters Experience,” including a four screen mosaic in HD, enhanced tournament coverage, an interactive leaderboard, scorecard and player bios. The four-screen mosaic will showcase ESPN and CBS Network coverage, two featured groups, Amen Corner and Holes 15/16.

If you have an Apple TV, do remember that you can enjoy Amen Corner Live, 15/16 coverage, Featured Groups and Masters On The Range (with lots of new bells and whistles). Just download the Masters app for Apple TV, and of course for our mobile or tablet devices to have coverage on the go.

Check out the Phil Mickelson Trackman data and tracer technology for Masters On The Range:

 

Final Preview: The 2017 Masters News, Notes, TV Times And Coverage Reminders

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The Masters is here and now that we can stop talking about phone-in rules controversies, we can turn to the tournament where the forecast...could give us dry, high-wind golf that leads to...oh forget it.

It's The Masters! The Golf Gods already washed out the Par-3 Contest for the first time ever. The prevailing theory here: we can't enjoy this one without Arnold Palmer around. 

Dustin Johnson--suddenly limping in to this Masters with a back injury--enters as the most overwhelming favorite in a long time and his coach, Butch Harmon, says Johnson's confidence is similar to Tiger's best years, reports GolfChannel.com's Rex Hoggard.

Here are other comments from Harmon on DJ and other favorites like Spieth and McIlroy.

And here is the final Oddschecker.com listing for the Masters, though it will change as the tournament progresses.

For last minute fantasy players, David Dusek has some analytics tips to consider.

Chairman Billy Payne talked to the assembled press and here is my "best of" compilation from the session.

Patrons will be receiving a special badge to commemorate Arnold Palmer starting Thursday, reports Ward Clayton.

The Masters.com special Palmer page sending you to all of their coverage.

Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus talked to Jimmy Roberts about Arnold Palmer in a very special sitdown exclusive for Masters.com.

The tee times from Masters.com.

Brentley Romine with the ten best groupings to keep an eye on.

Bill Fields at Masters.com on what the wet, wind and wackiness might all mean for what figures to be a wild first two days.

Mark O'Meara talked to Tiger Woods at the Champions Dinner and he reports that Woods is having good and bad days with the pain in the same spot he was operated on. Twice. Ryan Lavner reports for GolfChannel.com.

“I feel for him,” O’Meara said after a practice round Wednesday. “He’s day to day. He said, ‘Some days I have good days; some days I have bad days.’ [The pain] is pretty much in the same area in his lower back that he’s had the surgeries on. But he’s such a competitor that he can’t come out and play half of what he did.

Lavner also reports on other former champion reactions to the Champions Dinner tributes.

Mike Tirico and I discussed the key remaining angles at Augusta National:

Jim Nantz is again hosting the Masters coverage on CBS and Rick Maese files this profile for the Washington Post.

And here are several key reminders on how to enjoy the content. Pay attention, I want to hear no complaining about the Masters telecast not coming on until 3 pm ET!

Your traditional and online broadcast windows are listed here at Golfweek.com.

Golf Channel will have Morning Drive warming you up starting at 6 am ET (watch for me to brighten your morning at 6:20 am ET). And Live From coverage all day leading up to the telecast, followed by the wrap show at night with Brandel, Frank, Rich and David.

If you have an Apple TV, do remember that you can enjoy Amen Corner Live, 15/16 coverage, Featured Groups and Masters On The Range (with lots of new bells and whistles). Just download the Masters app for Apple TV, and of course for our mobile or tablet devices to have coverage on the go.

For DirecTV/AT&T subscribers there will be TWO 4K UHD channels in 2017, including Channel 105 featuring Amen Corner and Channel 106 featuring Hole 15 (Fire Thorn) and Hole 16 (Red Bud).

DirecTV/AT&T offers viewers “The Masters Experience,” including a four screen mosaic in HD, enhanced tournament coverage, an interactive leaderboard, scorecard and player bios. The four-screen mosaic will showcase ESPN and CBS Network coverage, two featured groups, Amen Corner and Holes 15/16.

Reminder: Masters Honorary Starters Ceremony To Be Streamed Live

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It's been a few years but the Masters.com folks will be streaming, Tweeting and Facebooking the Honorary Starters ceremony live at 8 am ET.

No excuses!

Chairman Billy Payne suggested he will be making more remarks than normal in light of this being the first without Arnold Palmer.

Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy has adjusted Jack Nicklaus's driver to help beat Gary Player, reports Kevin Casey.