Fore please: The 2021 Masters thread

It looks as if all the "patrons" have masks, although some are wearing them as chin guards, so the club must have made that grounds for admission. I can't imagine any member of Augusta National has yet to be vaccinated. They probably got the shots before Biden did.

 

I cannot recall the Masters playing this difficult when it was a clear, only slightly breezy day. The greens are almost US Open like. The pitching and chipping is treacherous.

 

I would have thought that watching Eldrick torque and work and torque and work out some more – then the back procedures – would have given this generation the signal that no combination of workouts, diets and regimens will help if you insist on swinging like this.

Guess not.

In all fairness, some will consider the money, the trophies, the glory and the adoration of peers and fans worth it. Is it?

 

If your life's goal is to be the best golfer on the planet, you might think it is -- if you actually get there.

 

For a guy who is supposedly so frickin' smart, Bam Bam may never come to the realization that he can't bend Augusta to his will. Augusta puts a premium on distance control -- not just distance -- and hitting to targets on the fairway and the greens.

If he learns anything about that, then let's talk about a green jacket. Otherwise, he's going to hack his way to 74-75.

 

The new nike shirts appear to have been inspired by Justin Verlander and Kate Upton.
That said....Koepka's pink nike hat was the titties.
I'll be getting one of those.

 

Bam Bam may have trapped himself into thinking that because it worked at Winged Foot that it will work at Augusta.

Um, no. Larry Mize, Mike Weir, Zach Johnson and Jordan Spieth have won at Augusta – none of whom were long. Of course it helps – it helps at literally every place not named Harbour Town – but it's far from everything and knowing where to miss and not to miss big are keys at Augusta. A hole like No. 12 couldn't care less if you hit pitching wedge, but can you keep it out of Rae's Creek short and the woods long?

I don't blame DeChambeau for trying to overwhelm it, but his public proclamations that he's going to do so are setting himself up for even bigger failure.

 

When you're long and are missing targets, you're worse off than the guys who aren't as long when they miss. Once I played in a charity tourney where one of my team had been on the Long Drive tour. It was a scramble, and sometimes we had like sand wedges to the green because of him, and other times, his ball left the property. If he'd had to play his own ball (the rest of his game was quite good), he wouldn't have broken 80. You can be in trouble from the wrong spot on fairways at Augusta. Hitting it past the second cut into the pretty trees and shrubs is disaster, and DeChambeau has done it more than once today.

 

One or both titty?

 

So DeChambeau is playing with a 46 inch, four degree driver today? Maybe he'd have fewer accuracy problems if he hadn't decided to use Babe Ruth's bat.

 

It’s more the length of your irons that wins these things.

When Tiger pulls out a 220 yard seven iron and the poor bastard next to him is trying to career a five to get to the same green, that’s the difference. The spin the long hitters gets because they have a different club in their hand is the difference. I know a long drive gets that club in your hand, too, but 2/9ths of the tees are played without a driver.

 

Greens are so hard and fast today spin has little effect. Players have to hit very small targets to get close.