2018 Masters Tournament Discussion Topic

[The Recreational Golfer]

Please help me! I'm suffering from TFS. In yesterday's newspaper, the entire article was about how Tiger Woods shot 73. Not one mention of Spieth. In this morning's paper the first name mentioned in the article was Tiger Woods, describing how he hit a ball into Rae's Creek (again) and ended up 13 shots behind the leader, whose name they broke down and mentioned.

ARRRGGGGHHHHH!

 

[Dr. Manhattan]

Tiger's iron game this week is unbelievably bad. Two perfect tee shots at #1 the last two rounds and he makes bogey each time after extremely poor wedge shots. Obviously two water balls on #12. The horrible iron shot at #5 for double bogey yesterday...very poor iron shots on the par 5's after good drives. Did not expect him to throw away so many shots with the irons. You expect that from his driver. 

Edited April 7, 2018 by Dr. Manhattan

[Zeph]

Tiger hits a great tee shot on 1, then comes up 20-30 yards short with a wedge. I don't have audio, but did he have a bad lie?

Phil has really gone south after a good start to this tournament.

[Yukari]

Tiger's distance control is so bad this week.  He could've been right there if he had a decent distance control.

Maybe he worked too much on his driver and ignored his iron play during the two weeks leading up to this tournament.

[phillyk]

Just now, Yukari said:

Tiger's distance control is so bad this week.  He could've been right there if he had a decent distance control.

Maybe he worked too much on his driver and ignored his iron play during the two weeks leading up to this tournament.

Maybe he just needs to play some big swingers like he played on 15 yesterday.

[Dr. Manhattan]

5 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Tiger's distance control is so bad this week.  He could've been right there if he had a decent distance control.

Maybe he worked too much on his driver and ignored his iron play during the two weeks leading up to this tournament.

 

That's exactly what I suspect. 106 yard shot comes up 30 yards short? WTF? 

[Wally Fairway]

9 minutes ago, Dr. Manhattan said:

 

That's exactly what I suspect. 106 yard shot comes up 30 yards short? WTF? 

I'm not watching, did it come up 30 yards short or did it roll back off a green?
Because I saw what happened on #9 yesterday to several players, and if you don't get past the false front it will off the green and down the hill quite a distance.

[ChrisP]

Tiger and Phil just seemed to be mentally out of it. It's really hard when you have such high expectations coming into the week and the reality hits you that you are not going to win. Just seems like both Tiger and Phil are to the point where it's just going through the motions and getting through 72 holes and moving on to the next major.

[Dr. Manhattan]

4 minutes ago, Wally Fairway said:

I'm not watching, did it come up 30 yards short or did it roll back off a green?
Because I saw what happened on #9 yesterday to several players, and if you don't get past the false front it will off the green and down the hill quite a distance.

 

This shot was at #1, not #9. It came up 30 yards short in the bunker. Didn't touch the green at all. No tree trouble either. Truly terrible shot.

Edited April 7, 2018 by Dr. Manhattan

[MuniGrit]

33 minutes ago, Yukari said:

Tiger's distance control is so bad this week.  He could've been right there if he had a decent distance control.

Maybe he worked too much on his driver and ignored his iron play during the two weeks leading up to this tournament.

I think many players can say the same thing. I would be right there had my ball just kicked forward 12 inches and I make eagle. Instead I walk off with a 13. It's been 13 years since the big cat has won this tournament so maybe the course fits him pretty good but not great enough to win anymore.

[fishgolf]

Just wanted to give a shout out to The Masters and their fabulous on-line/streaming coverage.  Being in rural Montana, and not having satellite/cable TV, I'm able to watch the tournament in multiple formats; live coverage, featured groups, Amen Corner, etc.  IMHO, no sports event is as classy and well managed as The Masters... hats off to the folks at Augusta National!!

[Dr. Manhattan]

Fairways and greens definitely seem softer thanks to the rain this morning. Let's hope the lightning and heavy rain stays away this afternoon.

I would love to see the likes of Stenson/McIlroy/Johnson/Thomas/Spieth playing very aggressive golf on a softer course...and to see how Reed/Leishman handle a good chase from those big names. I just hope the weather cooperates. It could be a total washout if they have torrential rain plus lightning. 

[ChrisP]

The weather forecast there seems to be improving by the hour. Most of the rain has actually already passed. It's not going to be the all-day soaking like they thought. However, there's the chance that rain could build back up west of them and move in. But for now, looking at the radar, it I would say they have at least 3 hours in the clear (knocking on wood).

[Dr. Manhattan]

Just now, ChrisP said:

The weather forecast there seems to be improving by the hour. Most of the rain has actually already passed. It's not going to be the all-day soaking like they thought. However, there's the chance that rain could build back up west of them and move in. But for now, looking at the radar, it I would say they have at least 3 hours in the clear (knocking on wood).

 

Let's hope the lightning stays away and the rain is not too heavy. I want to see a great round from all the names at the top of the leaderboard. 

[ChrisP]

They're saying the wind now won't be a factor (maybe moreso tomorrow). If that's the case, it's going to really benefit the ball-strikers and guys who like to go pin hunting. That's Rory, Dustin and Henrik. So I expect good things from those guys today. I think these conditions are really good for Rory. He loves soft conditions. 

[Dr. Manhattan]

9 minutes ago, ChrisP said:

They're saying the wind now won't be a factor (maybe moreso tomorrow). If that's the case, it's going to really benefit the ball-strikers and guys who like to go pin hunting. That's Rory, Dustin and Henrik. So I expect good things from those guys today. I think these conditions are really good for Rory. He loves soft conditions. 

 

Spieth this season has some of the best ballstriking on Tour. His iron game is elite. And he goes pin-hunting as much as anyone. Same goes for Thomas. I would think all 5 of these guys are licking their chops if the rain isn't too bad and they are able to get out there (let's hope ZERO lightning). 

SG Tee to Green: https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02674.html

 

[b101]

Just went back to watch Mickelson's opening hole - had a worrying shot where he tried to go full out at it from under one of the trees and caught the tree right at the start of his downswing. No injury thankfully, but had a complete airshot as a result.

[ChrisP]

8 minutes ago, Dr. Manhattan said:

 

Spieth this season has some of the best ballstriking on Tour. His iron game is elite. And he goes pin-hunting as much as anyone. Same goes for Thomas. I would think all 5 of these guys are licking their chops if the rain isn't too bad and they are able to get out there (let's hope ZERO lightning). 

SG Tee to Green: https://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.02674.html

 

Good point. Even though I have some $$$ on Reed, I would like to see this tighten up a bit so we have an exciting Sunday. There's the potential to have almost (if not all) the guys in the Top-8 in the world in the hunt on Sunday.