The Azaleas are blooming, the pimento sandwiches are made, and the green jackets are pressed…it must be Masters time. Hello, golf fans and welcome to the Master’s edition of HtL. Its my favorite time of the year when everyone turns their attention to the city of Augusta, Georgia and the Masters. It was only two years ago when I myself finally had the chance to walk those hollowed fairways and see what all the fuss was about. Augusta National is beautiful on television, but one cannot completely understand its grandeur without seeing it firsthand. Its like no other place on earth.
In this edition of Hittin’ the Links we begin with the Masters Website, then see who’s giving Rory money now, and find out who Phil played a practice round with. Also, we check out Furyk’s two drivers, investigate lefty’s “special club”, and do a wrap-up of the week’s events. Read on!
For Michelle Wie, the title of this Thrash Talk does not perfectly apply. She went to Stanford, which is in Palo Alto, but it is in the Bay Area, so close enough. Sadly, Wie is likely to go down as one of the biggest busts in women’s golf. Her parents have gotten and deserved most of the blame for the tragedy that has been her career, but at some point Michelle has to take some responsibility.
This year, Callaway golf has come on strong with their new line of RAZR Fit and X Hot products. So far in the X Hot family they have introduced both standard and Pro versions of the driver, fairway woods, hybrids and irons. Taking things a step further, they are now introducing a deep face version of the X Hot Fairway that they are calling the X Hot 3Deep. In addition to the new wood, Callaway has updated it’s tour level ball with the new HEX Chrome+. Odyssey Golf (Callaway’s putter line) has also introduced a new product line with the Tank putters which aim to give ultimate stability.
Since the infamous Thanksgiving Night 2009 car crash, Tiger Woods, once a sure thing to pass Jack’s record of 19 major championships, has won just five times on the PGA Tour. All of those wins have come in a 13-month stretch, starting with the 2012 Arnold Palmer Invitational, and culminating in his won at Doral just recently. (And I’m not counting the Chevron because, c’mon, only host Tiger himself thinks that’s a real tournament.)
After about three years on the Nationwide Tour and six more of middling PGA Tour play, Brandt Snedeker broke through during last year’s FedExCup Playoffs, and won the $10 million top prize. Snedeker, who won earlier in the year at Torrey Pines, beat Justin Rose by three strokes down the stretch at the Tour Championships, vaulting him ahead of Jason Dufner, Tiger Woods, and Rory McIlroy to win the Cup.