Augusta's Lack Of OB: Were You Bothered?

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When Rory McIlroy's Sunday drive careened off of an Augusta National tree branch and headed toward the cabins, I found it refreshing that he was able to find and play the ball. Then again, I'd like to see the OB removed from the right side of the Home hole at St. Andrews so that we could see someone play off the steps of Old Tom Morris' Golf Shop.
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Fourth Masters Question: Time To Revisit Long Putters and Bracing The Putter?

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Adam Scott almost won the Masters with a long putter, something we all know has not happened in a major championship player by male flatbellies. Obviously, the Golf Gods intervened, because how else to explain a victory by the right-handed, harmless-animal-killing Mike Weir look-alike contest winner to cap off an otherwise fantastic week of golf.
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Brandel: "Why agree to talk if you’re not going to cooperate and what prompts Tiger to be so consistently smug, when he is interviewed?"

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Brandel Chamblee dares to jump into the debate about Tiger's post-round Masters interview. Whether you think Tiger handled the Macatee interview well or not, Chamblee lays out why interviews like this will make it tough for Tiger to land the endorsement deals he seemingly covets.
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Third Masters Question: Will This Year's Setup Get The Credit It Deserves?

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After all, we live in a world where a champion heroically birdieing the last four holes and a host of other players performing brilliantly under pressure might just give some the impression something was faulty with the design or setup.

Well, we know tournament chairman Fred Ridley phoned in this year's setup...just kidding.

As I noted in Golf World Monday (link readable for non-subscribers too), Augusta National put on a show like few others this year thanks to what looked like a combination of a very solid setup by the committee, the addition of so much more grass on the course and slightly softer ground.

No, balls didn't roll down banks into creeks and lakes as much as they used to. And in general, we saw very few situations where you felt like the course was creeping over the edge. Schwartzel shot -14 and sure, there were plenty of red numbers but the weather was essentially ideal for four days. On a course with no rough, four par-5s and smooth greens, that's a number today's players should shoot.

That said, the architecture still is tainted by the recent changes, namely at 11, 15 and 17 where the tree planting does not get any less offensive. Huggan and Elling noted this and other course related topics in their pond scrum:

Huggan: The sight of Jason Day chipping out -- chipping out at Augusta! -- from behind a particularly mindless example of a Hootie tree right of No. 15 made me shudder.

Elling: Absolutely agreed. The whole idea is to be able to go for the green -- at your own peril. Chop-outs are for the U.S. Open.

Huggan: I don't have a problem with ANGC being longer, I might add. Something has to be done if the ball is not to be fixed by the USGA and the R&A. In fact, we have come full circle in that respect: 14 years ago the so-called "Tiger-proofing" began when Woods was hitting short irons to par-5s. Well, that's what we had again this week from the likes of Woodland and Quiros.

So I'm curious what you are seeing and hearing from those who watched the Masters.

Do golfers attribute this year's epic Masters to the great setup and conditioning giving today's players a chance to showcase their talents, or do they see low scores and think something is wrong?

I really do hope we've grown past such a childish assessment of a course's worth based on the scores, but I know better.

"The Holywood star’s manager Chubby Chandler confessed after the Masters disaster that McIlroy had a problem, but then said he didn’t know what it was. Odd."

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It was fascinating to see how many people who aren't Tweeters emailing around the image that Rory McIlroy posted on his Twitter account featuring himself with Charl Schwartzel headed to Malaysia. Not only did it remind people what a graceful and even courageous young man he is in defeat, but only added to his following as Jay Busbee noted.
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Second Masters Question: Where Does This One Rank?

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It's a totally pointless exercise to try ranking the best modern Masters, especially the day after the most thrilling one since 1986. In fact, I can't really think of one that comes close in the '86 discussion, even though I know the roars had been declared as "back" several times since Hootie and Tom Fazio laid their big renovation egg.
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