2016 Masters Toonamint Discussion Thread

[ChrisP]

23 minutes ago, Coronagolfman said:

Nantz and CBS get the honor of doing the Masters every year because they do glorify and pay homage to the event in a way unlike any other tournament is broadcast.  Augusta revels in the aspect of the lore and the mystery and the exclusivity of their club and you can bet that if CBS doesn't play those aspects up enough then they hear about it.

I think Nantz really blew it on the interview with Smiley in the Butler Cabin - he totally forgot golf for the moment and was quizzing the kid in depth about living at home and what kind of car he drives (I think he wanted to get the kid to say he drives an '88 Volkswagon or something like that to play up on the rags-to-riches angle) - I would rather have liked to hear about the kid's golf or his thinking during the round compared to his lifestyle.

 

I used to like Nantz, but I've lost a lot of love for him over the years. Just overly dramatic and too cliche for me.  I don't mind Faldo, but overall, the CBS telecast isn't what it used to be. Losing Feherty was a big loss for them. The only saving grace is we don't have to deal with Gary McCord this week. I actually don't mind Dottie Pepper, but Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo could not be more boring.  As far as telecasts go, NBC blows CBS away. I am glad two of the next four big tournaments (Players, Open) are theirs.

 

 

Edited April 10, 2016 by ChrisP

[Valleygolfer]

2 hours ago, RFKFREAK said:

And Nantz only helps glorify the fictional history that Augusta has.

 

Don't get me wrong, I enjoy watching this tournament but the history at that place makes me really wish the public wasn't so in love with that place.

Whatever the crazy background... I am just enjoying the lack ba ba bouys...

I am aware of the spelling.

[Natural Patrick]

10 minutes ago, ChrisP said:

I used to like Nantz, but I've lost a lot of love for him over the years. Just overly dramatic and too cliche for me.  I don't mind Faldo, but overall, the CBS telecast isn't what it used to be. Losing Feherty was a big loss for them. The only saving grace is we don't have to deal with Gary McCord this week. I actually don't mind Dottie Pepper, but Ian Baker-Finch and Frank Nobilo could not be more boring.  As far as telecasts go, NBC blows CBS away. I am glad two of the next four big tournaments (Players, Open) are theirs.

 

 

 Frank Nobilo does not bother me to much.

[Valleygolfer]

Sergio would have loved not to have had to putt on 7.

[Chilli Dipper]

I'm going down the leaderboard with a benchmark score in mind (-5, which I think wins or ties more than 50 percent of the time if you simulate this round 100 times), and guessing which players can get to that number with a good round, a great round, or the round of their life.

- Jordan Spieth gets there with a 70: merely a good score for him.

- Smylie Kaufman shot the round of his life yesterday at 69; he needs another just like it.

- A 68 would be a great round for Hideki Matsuyama; a 68 at age 58 would be the round of Bernhard Langer's life.

- Jason Day and Dustin Johnson can shoot 67 on a great day; it wouldn't quite be the round of Danny Willett's life, but it would be close.

- A 66 would definitely be the round of Soren Kjeldsen's life; it's a borderline case for Brandt Snedeker or Lee Westwood.

- To Rory McIlroy, a 65 would just be a great round, which is why I think he's the wild card today. I think that score is beyond the realm of possibility for Daniel Berger.

- A 64 would be the round of Justin Rose's life, but he could plausibly do in ideal conditions. He's the last player with a puncher's chance.

[natureboy]

13 hours ago, Ric said:

 think (for what it's worth) Jordan Speith needs a joke or two to stay relaxed tomorrow and to enjoy his round. There's a great new bestseller on Amazon now called "Absolutely Hilarious Adult Golf Joke Book" and it is funny and wish I could send it to him so he could give it read before he plays and to tell a few jokes if he has to wait in the fairway for Bernhard to get off the green and to laugh and disregard any of Bernhard's putts that may drop in right in front of him.

Personally, I kind of like that approach for a day with tough conditions. He may play better when he's a little antsy, though.

IMO the pitch into 18 at the end was him getting ahead of himself - knowing the shot would affect his lead for the next day he added distracting pressure.

5 hours ago, Marty2019 said:

Spieth was put on the clock on Friday and got pretty irritated about it.   I was waiting for him to be put on the clock Saturday, he was playing very slowly, taking all sorts of time on lots of shots, lots of discussion with his caddy Greller, and stepping away from putts repeatedly.   Late in the round there was an entire hole open in front of him.  I remember he was hitting his second shot on 15 and the group in front was on 17.  

How did he get to be such a slow player?   I don't remember him being that slow.

To some degree I think he may have been 'vamping' in the shot discussions to just wait out wind gusts.

I think one reason he's getting scrutiny is that as the number one player and having an historic year in 2015 other competitors may now start emulating his routine, which could slow the whole field down.

2 hours ago, Chilli Dipper said:

Outside of Nicklaus in 1986, the common variable between the last three is wind. The winds were nasty at Royal Birkdale and Turnberry those two years, like it has been at Augusta this year. Combine extensive course knowledge with a lower swing speed, and you get a good formula for success where younger players' instincts to overpower the conditions work against them.

An old man's nerves ultimately caught up to Norman and Watson, as it has done to Fred Couples here in recent years. Langer likely won't be able to keep up in today's calm conditions.

I agree with the first paragraph.

Not as sure that Langer hasn't been in enough situations not to really have bad nerves. He's has 2 Masters' jackets already. He was also striking his irons superbly yesterday and if that continues today, I think he will keep up okay.

2 hours ago, Natural Patrick said:

Funny because I don't hear Rory making excuses.

That is a good thing to see. He seems a little less 'hang-dog' that when he's played below his expectations in the past.

1 hour ago, ChrisP said:

Found Dustin Johnson at 10-1 this morning. Not a bad bargain. I think a guy like DJ can take advantage of these par-5s today which all mostly funnel towards the pin and have eagle written all over it. Today's a day where a guy with length has an advantage. A day like today is tough for a leader going in because of all the scoring possibilities. Jordan is probably going to have to shoot 67 or 68 to win because I think Day or DJ or Matsuyama can up a very low number.

Dustin's ballstriking has kept him in it in tough conditions. He could contend if he puts that together with a good putting day (for him).

48 minutes ago, Coronagolfman said:

Spieth did not play all that well but he excelled at making the correct recovery shots and capitalizing when he had birdie opportunities - Rory on the other hand just keep making mistakes and did not capitalize on any of his good shots.

I agree Jordan's course management / strategy seemed stronger than Rory's. Also, Jordan has particular strengths (lag putting, short game) that Rory doesn't have that fit the course really well.

[RJH999]

2 minutes ago, Chilli Dipper said:

I'm going down the leaderboard with a benchmark score in mind (-5, which I think wins or ties more than 50 percent of the time if you simulate this round 100 times), and guessing which players can get to that number with a good round, a great round, or the round of their life.

- Jordan Spieth gets there with a 70: merely a good score for him.

- Smylie Kaufman shot the round of his life yesterday at 69; he needs another just like it.

- A 68 would be a great round for Hideki Matsuyama; a 68 at age 58 would be the round of Bernhard Langer's life.

- Jason Day and Dustin Johnson can shoot 67 on a great day; it wouldn't quite be the round of Danny Willett's life, but it would be close.

- A 66 would definitely be the round of Soren Kjeldsen's life; it's a borderline case for Brandt Snedeker or Lee Westwood.

- To Rory McIlroy, a 65 would just be a great round, which is why I think he's the wild card today. I think that score is beyond the realm of possibility for Daniel Berger.

- A 64 would be the round of Justin Rose's life, but he could plausibly do in ideal conditions. He's the last player with a puncher's chance.

Angel Cabrera! 

[BallStriker]

I have a big bet on Jason Day -125 over Speith in the final round......really think Day will get it going today and make a charge.....wouldn't be surprised to see DJ make a run either

Most interesting line of the day has Smylie Kaufman -120 against Bernhard......lean to BL as SK will be under enormous pressure in last group.....something maybe even beyond the most he has ever felt

[Chris E]

LOL Brandel skewering Jordan for running home to mommy (his coach). Should learn to fix his problems himself. I totally agree. Alot of players nowadays too dependent on their coaches. 

[pumaAttack]

So far there has been some decent scores but nothing crazy low.  

Hope that we have a crowded leaderboard late Sunday.  Nothing better than Sunday drama at Augusta. 

[newtogolf]

4 minutes ago, Chris E said:

LOL Brandel skewering Jordan for running home to mommy (his coach). Should learn to fix his problems himself. I totally agree. Alot of players nowadays too dependent on their coaches. 

Brandel likes to critique the guys on top, I guess it makes him feel more relevant or important.  

[Chris E]

Just now, newtogolf said:

Brandel likes to critique the guys on top, I guess it makes him feel more relevant or important.  

He gets paid to have opinions and comments. I happen to agree with alot of them.

What part of his job is difficult to understand? 

[newtogolf]

5 minutes ago, Chris E said:

He gets paid to have opinions and comments. I happen to agree with alot of them.

What part of his job is difficult to understand? 

The part where he seeks personal gain by tearing down people who are successful with ridiculous and outrageous statements.    

[onthehunt526]

There is definitely a 65 out there, It's just a question of who is going to shoot it.

[b101]

1 hour ago, Coronagolfman said:

Also wondering what Rory is thinking about Augusta at this point - after two trips around in the weekend in the final pairing over the span of a few years his performances have been decidedly poor and he has exhibited very little patience or respect for how to play the course (like his gaffe at 11 where anybody who has watched or played in the Masters knows that you don't try to hook the ball onto the green from the left side)   Spieth did not play all that well but he excelled at making the correct recovery shots and capitalizing when he had birdie opportunities - Rory on the other hand just keep making mistakes and did not capitalize on any of his good shots.

I think he'll get there, but maybe this year's Masters was one too soon. His new putting grip has definitely been an improvement, but Augusta will always be too tough a test for someone not totally on top of their putting. Above all, he just needs to find times to play extra rounds at the course, get his putting closer to Jordan's level - there's little things like him still using a thin grip, which can't be the best for him - and really learn the greens. I'm sure he'll eventually get the Green Jacket if he really wants it, but yesterday looked like a man who was just trying too hard to force the issue.

Much as I was pulling for Rory yesterday, it's hard not to be impressed by Spieth's resilience. He got a few breaks yesterday, but he really made the most of them and his short game is class. I was also really impressed by a few of his decisions. The eighth hole summed it all up for me. Both hit crap tee shots, but because Jordan hits 3W, he's not near the bunker, whereas Rory is in. Rory hits out and has 230 left, Jordan hits another rubbish 3W and slices it to the safe area right of the green, with about 50 left. LSW means we know what happens from there.

I like that it's more unpredictable this year. I feel like if Spieth does go wire-to-wire, he'll have earnt it with a good performance today as surely someone will give him a run. It's also showed for me that the Masters isn't the same when it's this tough. It's been enjoyable, but we do want to see more birdies as yesterday was just a bit of a slog - I was genuinely tired after the end of it!

[natureboy]

21 minutes ago, b101 said:

I was also really impressed by a few of his decisions. The eighth hole summed it all up for me. Both hit crap tee shots, but because Jordan hits 3W, he's not near the bunker, whereas Rory is in. Rory hits out and has 230 left, Jordan hits another rubbish 3W and slices it to the safe area right of the green, with about 50 left. LSW means we know what happens from there.

I was also impressed by Jordan's 'vision' for his recovery shot on 18 - and his ability to execute it as planned. The better play seemed to push it up the adjacent fairway as Greller suggested. Jordan knew the shot into the green would be worse than staying short of the hole on the right fairway.

What really impressed me was his intentional hook on top of the punch shot to hold the ball low with the uphill lie so it would stay under the Magnolia branches and run better on the pine straw, basically using the ground as a 'safety margin' to get under and past that tree.

 

Trend for the early groups is for a scoring day / benign conditions.

Edited April 10, 2016 by natureboy

[Chris E]

1 hour ago, newtogolf said:

The part where he seeks personal gain by tearing down people who are successful with ridiculous and outrageous statements.    

That's your opinion (the ridiculous and outrageous part). I think he is accurate with alot of his takes. On this particular subject, saying pros are too dependent on their coaches and not being able to figure things out on their own is spot on. 

Using your definition on his motives, then you can say that about any pundit, jouralist, critic, etc. Just because somebody has an opinion, a paid opinion, about a subject doesn't mean it is not accurate. 

[RJH999]

---

Damn, 68 for French Amateur Langasque has to be one of the better rounds by an Amateur at Augusta..?

At least one of the better rounds in recent history, I guess Ken Venturi shot a 66...

Edited April 10, 2016 by RJH999