2021 Masters Week
- Thread starter RedOctober3829
- Start date
I might need to flip a coin, I really like 4-5 guys this week: DJ (it's just so hard to repeat), JT, Xander, Morikawa, Finau.
I think Xander breaks through this week. I'll take him.
I think Xander breaks through this week. I'll take him.
Bubba, Phil, and Cameron Champ are all at the honorary starter ceremony and fucking Bubba is crying already.
First featured group is at 10:06.
Here's today's lineup:
10:06 Bubba, Brooks, Hovland
10:30 DJ, Westwood, Stafaci
1:48 Finau, Oosthuizen, JT
2:00 Spieth, Morikawa, Smith
Here's today's lineup:
10:06 Bubba, Brooks, Hovland
10:30 DJ, Westwood, Stafaci
1:48 Finau, Oosthuizen, JT
2:00 Spieth, Morikawa, Smith
The amen corner feed comes on when the first group gets there. There's the create your own featured group thing too but I never was able to figure that out in November. I'll probably fight with it some more today, the featured groups aren't all that inspiring.
My group is working. They are showing shots of golfers on the course, then as the players that you favorite comes on they'll load those shots.
On a side note, I completely understand that the actual broadcast of The Masters (on both CBS and ESPN) is 100% controlled by Augusta National. (They pay the networks for the time and produce the broadcast, which is how/why they can dictate the announcers and control how they talk about the course itself.) However, when ESPN covers the tournament as part of Sportscenter (as they did this morning) I would think that they have an obligation to actually report things objectively.
I say all of the above because I found the coverage of the honorary starters (with the deserved focus on Lee Elder) to be unsettling, in the sense that ESPN acted as a mouthpiece for Augusta National's propaganda. And while I'm deeply appreciative that AN is actively attempting to atone for their racial transgressions, that really shouldn't be presented without acknowledging that Cliff Roberts ran Augusta National as a shrine to white supremacy for decades, right down to his insistence that the membership be 100% white and the staff who provided service to the members (waitstaff and caddies) be 100% black.
I'll move off of this now, but this stood out for me in the coverage this morning precisely because ESPN presented it as part of Sportscenter and not as a partner of Augusta National.
I say all of the above because I found the coverage of the honorary starters (with the deserved focus on Lee Elder) to be unsettling, in the sense that ESPN acted as a mouthpiece for Augusta National's propaganda. And while I'm deeply appreciative that AN is actively attempting to atone for their racial transgressions, that really shouldn't be presented without acknowledging that Cliff Roberts ran Augusta National as a shrine to white supremacy for decades, right down to his insistence that the membership be 100% white and the staff who provided service to the members (waitstaff and caddies) be 100% black.
I'll move off of this now, but this stood out for me in the coverage this morning precisely because ESPN presented it as part of Sportscenter and not as a partner of Augusta National.
My only complaint is you can't separate out favorite players for the leaderboard and My Group. I favorite the guys on my team to keep track on the leaderboard but I don't need to watch every shot Robert Streb hits.
The Players wins on the streaming options front.
Once players from your favorites start to play, don't they weed out shots from other players?
Sorry, I was unclear. My issue is I set my favorites to include the players from my fantasy team so I can keep tabs of them on the leaderboard. I just don't need to see all of their shots. I'd prefer to be able to go to my groups and set a second unique set of favorites to watch, like Rory when he goes off.
If they did that, next year they would no longer be showing live highlights on SportsCenter nor would ESPN+ have streaming rights anymore.
I completely get it.
My objection was to the conflict-of-interest with ESPN wrapping the “broadcast” within the mantle of their sports reporting rather than event coverage.
I also know that bitching about ESPN’s conflicts is a stale complaint if ever there was one. Just hit me harder than usual this morning with Curtis Strange slobbering over Augusta National.
My objection was to the conflict-of-interest with ESPN wrapping the “broadcast” within the mantle of their sports reporting rather than event coverage.
I also know that bitching about ESPN’s conflicts is a stale complaint if ever there was one. Just hit me harder than usual this morning with Curtis Strange slobbering over Augusta National.
Man, DJ, Westwood, and Stafaci is quite an odd featured group. DJ is, of course, always worth watching. The other two. . . .not so much.
The other three groups are perfect and fantastic.
They always put the defending champ and the US Am champ together and toss them on a featured group. Roll of the dice on who the 3rd will be. Guess it came up Westwood. He's fun, though I'm more interested in watching the big guns like Rory.
By the way, imagine you're Stafaci and nobody has ever heard of you and then you're a featured group golfer in The Masters. That is awesome and also extremely intimidating. Of course, playing with cool, not outwardly intense dudes like DJ and Westwood probably helps.
My Group on the website is really firing on all cylinders now. I don't think I've gone 5 seconds without a new shot.
A few of the greens are looking a little browner than normal. They look to be running great though.
Featured groups are not showing the later guys at all. We saw the first hole but missed the entire 2nd hole. It's a lot of Hovland love. Maybe they are waiting for the earlier guys to finish. But watching DJ play with his golf bag is not the best use of time if other groups are playing.
To come to the defense of the old guy for a moment, although he missed a couple of cuts, in 2021 Westwood has two top five finishes a top 20 and he's 28th in FedEx Cup points. He is having a pretty good year thus far. Checking his card today, 40 through 9, he's got some work to do to stay in this one but I wouldn't be so fast to dismiss him as uninteresting.
What a weak move by ESPN.
Spieth standing over a par putt and right before he hits it Dottie said, "It's been over 100 holes since he's had a three putt." And the putt was immediately missed. Heh, I wonder if that was on tape delay?
Spieth standing over a par putt and right before he hits it Dottie said, "It's been over 100 holes since he's had a three putt." And the putt was immediately missed. Heh, I wonder if that was on tape delay?
I cannot remember seeing the Augusta National greens so brown and baked out. They look like US Open greens right now; I wonder if this is really how the club wanted them to look. (I love it, of course, but it's still jarring.)
Spieth could have gotten out of 9 with a bogey if he hit a 6 foot putt. Instead, he 3 putts and it's a triple.