PGA Tour: The Masters Winner, via Process of Elimination: Notes from the Ballwasher

First topic message reminder :

1).Last year I slurped a couple of bottles of Malbec and attempted to make a case for a European Champion. Henrik Stenson was the chosen candidate and he played well but not nearly well enough, Jonas Blixt finishing ahead of him as the leading Swede. So we changed the formula this year, not the Malbec of course, but let's revert to Andy North's time-honoured process of elimination.
NB: Any bias or prejudice is entirely intentional.

2).Starting with Amateurs. One or two have come close, Patton, Venturi, but none won a Green Jacket and that won't change this year. Seven eliminated.

3).No rookie has one since Fuzzy Zoeller over 35 years ago. I fancy Tringale to play well, but I'll go with history and take out the 13 first-timers.

4).Jack Nicklaus won the 1986 Masters at the age of 46, the oldest Champion. I don't see any of the forty-somethings in the field improving their game, so let's dispense with the likes of Westwood, Furyk and Els and 20 others. 23 can exit, best chances Phil, who's only had one top ten finish since Muirfield, and Cabrera, always a decent each way punt.

5).Augusta National could be the toughest walking course these guys play, not good if you're carrying a knock, physically or mentally, or in some cases Tiger, both. Bye bye to seven crocks, including McDowell, Stenson and Reed.

6).Poor putters and scramblers need not apply. 24 still standing are #110 or below in the PGA Tour's primary putting or scrambling stat. On your way then Dustin, Rickie, Keegan, Webb, Kaymer, Rose, Charl and Adam. Big risk sending Matsuyama and Oosthuizen down the road, but their putting has not been good enough. Russell Henley may be a putting genius but he needs to scramble too.

7).As baseball fans know, "Chicks dig the long ball", and so do Augusta's Green Jackets; bad news for slowpokes Crane and Na and eight others, none of them in the top 100. Sorry Sneds, still good for a place.

8).Only fourteen left so time to discard those currently out of form. Regardless of what they might have done elsewhere in the world, none of this lot have a PGA Tour top ten finish this year: Dubuisson, Grace, Ilonen, Mahan, Streelman, Villegas. Adios to the 6 of you.

9).And of the rest, only Jason Day, Spieth and Jimmy Walker have wins, so San-Moon Bae, Sergio, Rory, Ryan Palmer and Bubba can leave quietly down Magnolia Lane.

10).Day, Spieth and Walker have all played well at Augusta. Day and Spieth have play-off wins this year, Walker has two wins by a total of 13 strokes. Give me the proven winner and measure up Jimmy Walker for a Green Jacket. Cheers.

What would you bet on next Grumps? I would have thought a 6, an 8 or a ten. But it's a four! St.Ben on a roll.

Poults +4 on the four par 3's. Not good enough; waste of 5 birdies.

18 shots at the 11th for 4 rounds would be ok I think. So tough. Not sure McIlroy's temperament is where it needs to be to handle Augusta............

Kwini, just edited my post. Would never have guessed Uncle Ben was a Blockheads fan...

Pity it wasn't 2 4 6 8, #14 would be the motorway for Tom Robinson. Oops, I see it was, kinda.

First missed fairway followed by first 3-putt from Mr.Woods. I've a feeling that the front nine will tell his story - if he goes out in 40 he won't be redeeming himself with a back-nine 30.

Rory has fluffed two chips today by the look of things!

Tiger on 2 on Shottracker just hit it backwards 230 yards !!!!
Might be a glitch on my computer

Hold on Kwini, that motoroway might still be coming up....

I'm not that smart Kwin! Rose does look comfortable out there.

Time for Rory to get into the red.

Decent start from Koepka!

Wee Woosie going well: Even par after 12 holes, hope the Welshman doesn't spring a leek.

Not good for Poults or Westwood, but in at 73 and could've been worse for both. No real surprises among the clunkers.

Keep it going Paddy!

Crenshaw needs at least a bogey on #18 to break 90 - even money?

WooHoo, TV begins!

EDIT: BooHoo, First voice I hear is that of Mike Tirico. Mute!

I'll take your money Kwini. Not even close. 48 on the back for Uncle Ben. Plenty of fours, fives, and sixes on the card along with a two, a seven, and an eight. No threes.

Surprises so far?

JB Holmes comparatively poor round considering his form so far this year

Ditto Stenson, although its early in his round

Charlie Hoffman...not that he's leading, his hair!!! What happened to it?

Full TV coverage has been about an hour; who's wasted from playing the Masters Drinking Game that INW posted?

Quite a few of those relate to Peter Alliss...who is BBC .....who don't start unil the weekend with live coverage....but I've heard Seve mentioned several times.

"My name's Tiger Woods, but I wish it was Ernie Els." Isn't that what the t-shirts used to say?
ERNIE!!!!!

Good round in the end from Rory, and Woosie still going strong. EDIT: There's that leek, double bogey for Woosie, sorry to see that.

Lowry playing a game with which I am familiar

Spieth is delivering so far. Walker less so

Almost against my own better judgement I took a very small punt with the bookies on Lowry at very long odds.

Looks like one less pint of Guinness out of my pocket money for next week

It seems I forgot kwinis threads were stickys.


Come on

I'm never wrong wrote:Quite a few of those relate to Peter Alliss...who is BBC .....who don't start unil the weekend with live coverage....but I've heard Seve mentioned several times.

Just as well, you'd have no chance getting up for work on Friday, Monday might not be much better. Unless you happen to pass out midway through Saturday...

Highly impressive stuff from Spieth!

The old adage says that you can't win a tournament (especially the Masters) on the first day, but you can certainly lose it

Doesn't look like any of the strong favourites have lost it today, but I'm sure they wish they had been a little lower (Rory, Bubba etc). None of the real favourites done themselves any damage yet though the likes of Stenson, Holmes and maybe Walker have some serious work to do yet

Spieth still looking the real deal though - has there been a better clutch putter than him in recent months? OK he's got some years yet to match Tiger when he was good, but on current form he's starting to look a little that way

How much longer will Joe LaCava be flashing that New York Rangers t-shirt before the Green Jackets tell him to button up?

Spieth playing marvellous golf so far; can't say I fancied him this week but what a start . . . . . . .

And Woods's chipping looks a bit crisper.

Crazy early ... but I do get the feeling the Rory's getting the pump primed and ol Ernie will almost certainly run out of gas. Excellent day's work from Mr. Rose!

Koepka falling apart here! Still has time to get it back to par before the end of the day!

Spieth has had some lucky breaks...

Think that's it for TW. Swing's gone to pieces.

Omg .. Speith is on fire

A few lucky breaks for Speith to be sure.

But, as they say, it's a scorecard and not a post card.

Wonderful effort from Ernie!

Woods in the drink.

Just realised I'm watching a bit behind. Ernie and Jordan both at -6, Tiger in the bunker at 10, see what you mean about Jordan being lucky at 13.

You make your own the luck. The lad is on fire. 8 under

Somewhere super_realist is anticipating a 72-hole score of 252 . . . . . . .

Yes, where is our favourite curmudgeon?

Els finishes on 5 under..No change in the club house lead..

But still a great round from the big easy.

Incredible stuff from Spieth, although he has got a fair share of luck

Irish ancestry?

If Spieth was the real deal he would have holed his par putt on 15.



(Some irony may occur in this post.)

What is going on with woods short game?

He would be 7 over if he hadn't fixed it. Kudus to him. But he still has zero chance at this event.

Woods score is not indicative of his poor game. Good on him that he (apparently) puts a decent score together.

Some of the middle-of-the-roaders will be hoping for another bogey or two from Mr.Spieth as they struggle to stay within ten strokes.

Cometh this hour cometh the Sergio . . . . . . .

Sergio has played well. He could easily have been 6 under.

Give Tiger a break guys, he's obviously still stuck between two different release patterns

If this were the US Open, TW would be +10 at this stage in his round.

A fine finish from Jordan, but they day may yet belong to Day.

Tiger's just a few rep's away . . . . . .
Magnificent from Spieth, and Day's a-coming to get him.

Spieth holes so many putts in the 10-25 feet range!

More disappointment from Lukey, who I can't imagine will contend as the course gets wetter and longer.

Plenty of top players (not just the British) who will be disadvantaged IF the "course gets wetter and longer".

But you'd have to think that anyone +4 and better has a chance, so long as they have three top rounds.

Spieth will have (has earned) the best of Friday's conditions; if he shoots anything in the 60's he's really spreading the field, and the cut.
Martin Kaymer the biggest name on the wrong side of the cut-line.