2024 Masters
- Thread starter cshea
- Start date
He'll chop around the course, limp a lot, make the cut by one stroke, and then withdraw. Which is basically what he's done in every golf tournament in the last two years. The odds of him even playing four rounds has to be like 10%.
He's played once this year, at the Genesis in Feburary. He withdrew 6 holes into the second round citing illness. Ambulances were involved, it was a scene.
Prior to that, in December, he said his ankle was fused and he felt good enough to play once a month. We're in April and he's played once and lasted 24 holes. Many thought he'd show up at the Players or API in March as a tuneup and fulfill the one-a-month proclimation. He didn't. So yeah, it's hard not to view him as a ceremonial golfer at this point and odds are he's not going to get through 72 holes let alone contend.
That said, Augusta is the 1 place where I'd leave a 0.01% chance of him competing. In 2022 he shot an opening round 71 and was in the top 10. I don't think it's out of the realm of possibility he does something like that again and gives us a good round. But I don't think we'll see 4 together.
Cool article about the tallest guy in the field: Christo Lamprecht at 6'8. Go Jackets!
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/39874588/golfer-christo-lamprecht-tallest-6-foot-8-masters-debut
https://www.espn.com/golf/story/_/id/39874588/golfer-christo-lamprecht-tallest-6-foot-8-masters-debut
Not only is Tiger playing this week but he's all in. He's given up sex for like, a week or two, in preparation:
https://www.golfwrx.com/736796/report-tiger-woods-has-eliminated-sex-in-preparation-for-the-2024-masters/
I'm assuming he'll be driving back to Florida after the Masters and stopping at every Waffle House on the way.
Yep. And a reminder that the Masters website might be the best online viewing experience for any sports event period.
Weather is at least looking great for the weekend:
https://www.pgatour.com/article/news/latest/2024/08/2024-masters-weather-forecast-shows-mix-of-sunny-rainy-skies-augusta-national
Might be wet Thursday. Maybe some wind/gusts so hopefully some chaos on the 12th.
Yup Augusta ain't a links course, so winds can play a lot of havoc with getting around trees etc. With these more difficult approaches that can turn 20 feet birdie putts into 40 foot putts quickly. We'll see if the scores stay higher accordingly Thursday and Friday. But no one can blame the conditions during the weekend for sure!
I think the only coure change from last year is a new tee on #2. They moved it left and back 10 yards.
A couple minor changes to greens: https://www.golfdigest.com/story/four-changes-masters-augusta-national-2024
The 2nd tee box will probably be the most notable if it brings the right side fairway bunker more into play and forces more right-to-left ball flight off the tee.
Interesting question posed on the NLUe preview pod:
Who is next up for the ceremonial tee shot? Gary Player is 88, Jack is 84 andTom Watson is 74.
Who is next up for the ceremonial tee shot? Gary Player is 88, Jack is 84 andTom Watson is 74.
Crenshaw is 72. Langer is 66 but still good (he won the Senior US Open last year LOL).
Seve would be aging into it if alive. Zoeller (72) might get the nod in a couple years if the better players thin out.
The next round of guys are really in that Langer bucket in their late 60s and probably feel too young today but ripe in a few years: Couples, Woosnam, Mize.
Seve would be aging into it if alive. Zoeller (72) might get the nod in a couple years if the better players thin out.
The next round of guys are really in that Langer bucket in their late 60s and probably feel too young today but ripe in a few years: Couples, Woosnam, Mize.
Right. Which I why I thought he'd last awhile as being capable of doing it once the time comes. Next up would be Tiger unless he literally becomes unable to swing a club.
Faldo is 66 and won 3 of them and doesn't play competitively anymore so he could be on the list.
Tee Times: https://www.masters.com/en_US/players/pairings/index.html
Bolded are my guesses for Thursday's featured groups.
9:36am: Phil, Sepp Straka, Finau
10:18am: Hideki, Zalatoris, JT
10:30am: Rahm, Fitzpatrick, Dunlap
10:42am: Scottie, Rory, Xander
10:54am: Wyndham, Viktor, Cam Smith
1:24pm: Tiger, Day, Max
1:36pm: Harman, Brooks, Tom Kim
1:48pm: Spieth, Ludvig, Sahith
2:00pm: DJ, Morikawa, Tommy
Bolded are my guesses for Thursday's featured groups.
9:36am: Phil, Sepp Straka, Finau
10:18am: Hideki, Zalatoris, JT
10:30am: Rahm, Fitzpatrick, Dunlap
10:42am: Scottie, Rory, Xander
10:54am: Wyndham, Viktor, Cam Smith
1:24pm: Tiger, Day, Max
1:36pm: Harman, Brooks, Tom Kim
1:48pm: Spieth, Ludvig, Sahith
2:00pm: DJ, Morikawa, Tommy
Yeah I missed that they announced the featured groups.
The Wyndham group in the morning is also the featured group, not Scottie/Rory which is a bummer.
The Wyndham group in the morning is also the featured group, not Scottie/Rory which is a bummer.
Do featured groups matter anymore? Doesn’t the masters.com have every shot?
Although I guess you can’t play it on your tv.
Although I guess you can’t play it on your tv.
Yeah, you can do the "My Groups" stream and just pick them. There's also the dedicated streams for 4,5,6, Amen Corner, 15,16. So they won't be blacked out. I'd just prefer that group to be a featured one so that it is 1 stream and there's accompanying commentary. I know some like the no-announcer thing but it comes in handy when players get into unique situations or there's a rules situation unfolding. Plus they usually have good announcers, I think Bacon and Knost were doing the featured groups last year.
Scottie, world #1, recent champion and most dominant player in the world plus the compelling story of Rory seemed like the most obvious choice in the world for a dedicated featured group, but alas. The defending champ always gets a featured group on Thursday so that was obvious for one of the two. They do like the international reach so I guess that's why they went Wyndham/Viktor/Cam.
Looking at the streaming page, there seems to be a "Featured Groups Plus" option that I don't recall from previous years. I guess we'll see tomorrow, I can't find anything about it through a quick search. Might just be a placeholder, I can't remember if the featured groups are in one stream together or split between the two.
Edit: The forecast might push them back into the TV window anyway. Weather.com shows TStorms through 11:00am.
Circling back to Tiger, if the weather today leads to having to play 27 or 36 tomorrow, hard not see him withdrawing. That much walking, on that course, will be murder on his damaged legs.
Tournament will begin at 10:30am.
Times for the featured groups:
1:00pm Rahm, Fitz, Dunlap
1:24pm Clark, Hovland, Cam Smith
3:54pm: Tiger, Day, Max
4:30pm: DJ, Morikawa, Tommy
Not sure if they'll adjust since the latter 2 are in the broadcast window anyway (3:00pm ESPN)
View: https://twitter.com/TheMasters/status/1778387050833518699
Times for the featured groups:
1:00pm Rahm, Fitz, Dunlap
1:24pm Clark, Hovland, Cam Smith
3:54pm: Tiger, Day, Max
4:30pm: DJ, Morikawa, Tommy
Not sure if they'll adjust since the latter 2 are in the broadcast window anyway (3:00pm ESPN)
View: https://twitter.com/TheMasters/status/1778387050833518699
It still blows my mind that the masters app is essentially used 4, maybe 5 days a year and it’s the smoothest and best app in sports.
The quick turnaround from late/early is an issue but he was having that anyway. Google tells me sunset is 7:56 at Augusta so assuming no further delays he'll probably be around 14/15/16 when the horn blows.
We'll see. He says the ankle is no longer a problem (fused) so the walking is better, but everything else hurts. He is going for the record of most consecutive made cuts at the Masters this week and he surely knows about it. Not sure if he has a bad round today he says fuck it I'll try next year but that doesn't sound like TW so I think he'll gut it out. FWIW, reports are he's striping it though the range and practice rounds are very different from tournament rounds. Particularly with conditions.
Yeah, the forecast definitely seems much less dire than it did last night. They're going to get way more golf in today than than it looked like they would. Agree, that should definitely help him get through tomorrow in better shape physically. I root hard for him, so hopefully his game is somehow good enough to him to the weekend.
Here's the odds 20 minutes before the start:
Scottie +400 (lowest non-Tiger odds for a favorite)
Rory +1000
Rahm +1100
Xander +1400
Brooks +1800
Hideki +2000
Spieth +2000
Ludvig +3000
Niemann +3000
Bryson +3500
Hovland +3500
Cantlay +3500
-
Tiger +15000
Scottie +400 (lowest non-Tiger odds for a favorite)
Rory +1000
Rahm +1100
Xander +1400
Brooks +1800
Hideki +2000
Spieth +2000
Ludvig +3000
Niemann +3000
Bryson +3500
Hovland +3500
Cantlay +3500
-
Tiger +15000
Fred Ridley gently telling Tom Watson to STFU and hit his ceremonial tee shot already was amusing.
Think Scottie wins unless the baby comes. Put a few bucks on Rory cuz I want to believe and Hideki because he's healthy, playing well and has won here. Let's do this.
I'm in a very large pool where you pick any 6 golfers, total prize money wins.
I took Scheffler, Koepka and Rahm (as did probably everyone else), but sprinkled in Hideki, Fitzpatrick, Hovland as my "change ups" so to speak.
I plan to accomplish virtually nothing the next four days. Masters.com is just too fucking good.
Things going for Rory...working with Butch which yielded his best week of the year at the Valero. Also has quit the boardroom.
Things working against Rory...he's trying approach #16 to Masters week. He didn't show up until Tuesday and barely did media. Seems to be presenting an "all attention on golf" front.
Thursday has been his problem. He shoots himself right out of the tournament early. Like he'll shoot 40 on the front 9 and be done with it. *If* he can survive today, traditionally he gets better every day and has been excellent on the weekend. Of course the caveat is in most of those he's got not shot of winning so it's presssure off and he backdoors a top 5.
That's a good group but Viktor would worry me. He's undergoing a swing change, did his press conference this week saying he's still searching for it and "oh by the way I haven't really practiced short game" which is traditionally his weakness to begin with.
I took tomorrow off so the delay today works well as I had a bunch of morning meetings.
Somehow, every year, I forget just how challenging hole 5 is. I feel like many other holes get talked about more, but guys who can find a way to birdie this one have to get such a huge advantage on the field.