2015 Masters Thread (Tiger's playing)

Deathofthebambino

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Be very curious to see if 17 was really just a complete brain fart, or if it's a sign of things to come.  Given what he just did on 18, I'm leaning towards brain fart.  Rose and Mickelson are 4 and 5 shots back respectively, but once you start getting back to Hoffman/Woods, etc., you're talking about guys who will have to shoot a course record to win.  We'll see if Spieth falters and one of those guys can catch him, but at this point, he doesn't need to beat the entire field.  He just has to realistically be no more than 3 shots worse than 2 guys.  
 

Deathofthebambino

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Spieth had 3 bogeys and a double today and still shot 70.  If he does just that again tomorrow, Rose would have to shoot 66 to tie him, and 65 to beat him.  Subtract one each for Phil.
 
The thing is I think Augusta doesn't have it's teeth this year, so as long as you keep the ball in play, the par 5's are playing relatively easy with the greens being a bit soft.  There are a lot of birdies to be made, so he can afford to make some mistakes and as long as he makes some birdies, it's hard to catch him.  It's not like when Augusta's greens are like cement and it's incredibly hard to make any birdies so if you go backwards, it's hard to go forward again.  
 
I'll certainly be tuning in, but I think it's going to have to be an epic collapse for him to lose this tomorrow.  Which would be kind of sad to see on some level.  Would love to see a 3-4 person horse race coming down the stretch though. 
 

WayBackVazquez

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Deathofthebambino said:
 
The thing is I think Augusta doesn't have it's teeth this year, so as long as you keep the ball in play, the par 5's are playing relatively easy with the greens being a bit soft.  There are a lot of birdies to be made, so he can afford to make some mistakes and as long as he makes some birdies, it's hard to catch him.  It's not like when Augusta's greens are like cement and it's incredibly hard to make any birdies so if you go backwards, it's hard to go forward again.
You cannot extrapolate the way the course has played thus far to what it will play like tomorrow. The will be rolling every green, mowing around the greens/water, and placing the pins in dastardly positions. I guarantee it. They don't want tournament records.
 

Deathofthebambino

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WayBackVazquez said:
You cannot extrapolate the way the course has played thus far to what it will play like tomorrow. The will be rolling every green, mowing around the greens/water, and placing the pins in dastardly positions. I guarantee it. They don't want tournament records.
 
I don't disagree that Hootie and company do not want to see their precious course records eviscerated, but they can really only do so much with the pins because they are stuck at this point using the pin positions they haven't used yet.  I thought the pin placements were known long before now for each round, and some are hard, and some aren't on Sunday. They can roll and mow the greens, but the weather isn't cooperating much.  The humidity is keeping the greens softer, and there is almost no wind in the forecast at all.  
 
I certainly believe an easier course will help Spieth not get caught, but a harder set up doesn't necessarily go against him either.   It could just make it  harder for anyone to catch him, if he just pars his way around.  
 

WayBackVazquez

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It also rained last night, and I don't think there is any expected tonight or tomorrow.

And I thinking parring your way around Augusta when it's playing fast with the lead on Sunday is a whole lot easier said than done. It seems a lot of people think the idea of him shooting 74 or 75 is crazy. I don't think so.
 

Deathofthebambino

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I don't think it's crazy.  It's definitely possible.  I just haven't seen anything in Spieth's game for the past month to think it's in the cards though.  He's just playing too smart and consistent and his putter is amazing.  With Augusta playing like this, and the lack of wind really is a big factor, even if they make it harder tomorrow, you still have to figure the over/under on birdies for him tomorrow would be around 4/5, at worst.  If he does that, he would need to fuck up a bunch of holes (or fuck up a couple of holes, really, really, bad) to get to 74/75.  
 
Of course, anything can happen, and that's why we watch sports, but other than the whole "any given Sunday," thing, I don't think I can find a reason to bet against him at this point.  What's Vegas have him at to finish this out? 
 

McBride11

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Deathofthebambino said:
I don't think it's crazy.  It's definitely possible.  I just haven't seen anything in Spieth's game for the past month to think it's in the cards though.  He's just playing too smart and consistent and his putter is amazing.  With Augusta playing like this, and the lack of wind really is a big factor, even if they make it harder tomorrow, you still have to figure the over/under on birdies for him tomorrow would be around 4/5, at worst.  If he does that, he would need to fuck up a bunch of holes (or fuck up a couple of holes, really, really, bad) to get to 74/75.  
 
Of course, anything can happen, and that's why we watch sports, but other than the whole "any given Sunday," thing, I don't think I can find a reason to bet against him at this point.  What's Vegas have him at to finish this out? 
 
Keep saying that about him, it has helped so far....
 
Selfishly, I want the kid to stumble out of the gate. Let Phil and Rose get a little closer and create some drama going in.  It would also be awesome if Rory / Tiger come out on fire and make up ~4 shots going out.
 

Deathofthebambino

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I really hope that if he does lose, it's because someone else goes out there and takes it, and not because he blows up and shoots a 76 or something.  He's done everything right to this point, and to blow it all on Sunday would suck.  If he goes out and shoots 69, and Phil shoots 64 or whatever, that would be my ideal scenario for how the day would play out.  I just hope it's either a tightly contested battle in the end, or Spieth just lights it up and shatters all the records.  Anything else (like Spieth and everyone else posting 68-71 scores with no real charges or drama) would be a pretty boring way to finish this off. 
 

McBride11

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Dont get me wrong, i hope the kid wins. Just he could go out even or +1 and then go -2 or -3 down the stretch. If he goes -3 on the front, a lot of potential drama is gone.
 

McBride11

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Tee times and featured groups for Sunday. If CBS continues its coverage trends, we are going to miss the first several holes of Tiger / Rory and then the top 4.  The FG coverage didn't seem to kick in until the pairs hit the ~8-9th hole, meaning the main CBS feed at 3p will be on before then.  Personally I wish there was early coverage of Knox, just be interesting to see how he plays the course given his experience.
 
As cshea kindly pointed out, CBS starts at 2pm today, so we get the final six groups on TV for their full rounds.
 
10:00 a.m. -- Thongchai Jaidee (and Jeff Knox)
10:10 a.m. -- Darren Clarke, Vijay Singh
10:20 a.m. -- Jamie Donaldson, Graeme McDowell
10:30 a.m. -- Erik Compton, Anirban Lahiri
10:40 a.m. -- Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker
10:50 a.m. -- Mark O'Meara, Steve Stricker
11:00 a.m. -- Keegan Bradley, Danny Willett
11:10 a.m. -- Ryan Palmer, Matt Kuchar
11:20 a.m. -- Chris Kirk, Geoff Ogilviy
11:30 a.m. -- Morgan Hoffmann, John Senden
11:50 a.m. -- Patrick Reed, Sangmoon Bae
12:00 p.m. -- Webb Simpson, Seung-Yul Noh
12:10 p.m. -- Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka
12:20 p.m. -- Adam Scott, Lee Westwood
12:30 p.m. -- Bernd Wiesberger, Bubba Watson
12:40 p.m. -- Cameron Tringale, Rickie Fowler
12:50 p.m. -- Angel Cabrera, Ernie Els
1:00 p.m. -- Russell Henley, Charl Schwartzel
1:10 p.m. -- Sergio Garcia, Ryan Moore
1:30 p.m. -- Bill Haas, Hunter Mahan
1:40 p.m. -- Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen
1:50 p.m. -- Zach Johnson, Jonas Blixt
2:00 p.m. -- Paul Casey, Ian Poulter
2:10 p.m. -- Dustin Johnson, Hideki Matsuyama
2:20 p.m. -- Kevin Streelman, Kevin Na
2:30 p.m. -- Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy
2:40 p.m. -- Phil Mickelson, Charley Hoffman
2:50 p.m. -- Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose
 
FEATURED GROUP 1 -- SUNDAY TEE TIME COVERAGE BEGINS (APPROX.)
10:40 a.m.-12:45 p.m. Jason Dufner, Jimmy Walker
12:10 p.m.- 2:30 p.m. Henrik Stenson, Brooks Koepka
2:40 p.m.- 4:45 p.m. Phil Mickelson, Charlie Hoffman
 
FEATURED GROUP 2 -- SUNDAY TEE TIME COVERAGE BEGINS (APPROX.)
11:10 a.m. -1:15 p.m. Ryan Palmer, Matt Kuchar
12:20 p.m. -4:45 p.m. Adam Scott, Lee Westwood
2:50 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose
 
edit: formatting
 

canderson

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Why the hell do they not show earlier rounds on CBS Sports or some affiliated network (like the NCAA tournament)? It seems insane to me simply ignore probably half the tournament play with their coverage (or lack thereof).
 

dcmissle

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canderson said:
Why the hell do they not show earlier rounds on CBS Sports or some affiliated network (like the NCAA tournament)? It seems insane to me simply ignore probably half the tournament play with their coverage (or lack thereof).
Why did they reject a modest proposal to sell Masters gear out of a small shop to be established in Augusta. Because they can and because they are quirky. Keep them wanting more.

I cannot get upset about it though, because they do not try to squeeze the last nickel out of this, as everyone else does events of this sort. Far from it.
 

canderson

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dcmissle said:
Why did they reject a modest proposal to sell Masters gear out of a small shop to be established in Augusta. Because they can and because they are quirky. Keep them wanting more.
I cannot get upset about it though, because they do not try to squeeze the last nickel out of this, as everyone else does events of this sort. Far from it.
If it's an Augusta reason, that's fine and I get that. I assumed it was a TV network one.
 

cshea

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Yeah, the entire broadcast is produced and directed by Augusta National. They do whatever they want. It's why you get Nantz and the CBS crew working with ESPN on Friday/Saturday. Augusta booted Gary McCord for life, so we get Verne (which is awesome). They control the whole thing, this is what they want. One of the perks is the minimal commercial breaks (wiki says 4 minutes/hour).
 

dcmissle

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Remember one of those Martha Burke years when they pulled every single ad to protect the sponsors? Nobody rolls like Augusta.
 

WayBackVazquez

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dcmissle said:
Remember one of those Martha Burke years when they pulled every single ad to protect the sponsors? Nobody rolls like Augusta.
Yeah, it's a tradion unlike any other, after all. There are of course, some other country clubs that simply refuse to allow any PGA event to be held at its course, money be damned. Los Angeles Country Club is one.
 

johnmd20

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dcmissle said:
Remember one of those Martha Burke years when they pulled every single ad to protect the sponsors? Nobody rolls like Augusta.
 
They made up for that yesterday. There were so many breaks and commercials. In fact, the coverage in general was choppy and weird. They missed so many shots. They missed so many balls after they were hit. And I think it was pretty inexcusable they didn't show Tiger's 2nd shot on 13, after he put the ball I'm not sure where and getting back to the fairway. Making it worse, they didn't even MENTION what Tiger did and where is ball was.
 
Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. But yesterday's coverage was odd. Lingering on the golfer after the shot. Missing the results. Not really explaining much. 
 

canderson

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cshea said:
Yeah, the entire broadcast is produced and directed by Augusta National. They do whatever they want. It's why you get Nantz and the CBS crew working with ESPN on Friday/Saturday. Augusta booted Gary McCord for life, so we get Verne (which is awesome). They control the whole thing, this is what they want. One of the perks is the minimal commercial breaks (wiki says 4 minutes/hour).
Had no idea, but I like it. The exact opposite of the NFL, really. Thanks for the explanation.
 

Comfortably Lomb

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WayBackVazquez said:
Yeah, it's a tradion unlike any other, after all. There are of course, some other country clubs that simply refuse to allow any PGA event to be held at its course, money be damned. Los Angeles Country Club is one.
 
Cyprus Point is another. Quit being a co-host of the Pebble Beach tourney about 20 years ago rather than admit a black member.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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johnmd20 said:
 
They made up for that yesterday. There were so many breaks and commercials. In fact, the coverage in general was choppy and weird. They missed so many shots. They missed so many balls after they were hit. And I think it was pretty inexcusable they didn't show Tiger's 2nd shot on 13, after he put the ball I'm not sure where and getting back to the fairway. Making it worse, they didn't even MENTION what Tiger did and where is ball was.
 
Oh well. Beggars can't be choosers. But yesterday's coverage was odd. Lingering on the golfer after the shot. Missing the results. Not really explaining much. 
I got the sense yesterday they were just a bit overwhelmed by the action. There's only so much you can show in one broadcast window and with so many name players making moves and putting up good rounds and making great shots, they couldn't keep up. Yeah, it sucked not seeing some stuff and they glossed over things like Tigers punch out, but meanwhile someone on another hole was throwing a dart or draining bomb. May not agree with every choose but they have to make them at the moment.
 

mabrowndog

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Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
Keegan misses his 12 foot eagle putt on 13 but makes the birdie to get to -5/-3
 
Helluva day for him, hitting -6 since the opening bogey.
 

mabrowndog

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McBride11 said:
Goddamit, CBS starts with the same BS intro as yesterday showing Arnie, Player, and Jack. Show todayyyyyy.
What Augusta wants, Augusta gets.
 
And what they want now is to show us the tense action-packed excitement of the fucking driving range.
 

McBride11

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Bob Montgomery's Helmet Hat said:
Still haven't shown a shot live
 
 
mabrowndog said:
What Augusta wants, Augusta gets.
 
And what they want now is to show us the tense action-packed excitement of the fucking driving range.
 
2 shots and back to the range!! Look at Tiger talking to Spieth. OMG what could they be saying!
 
edit: apparently 2 old shots...