The 2018 Masters Tournament

The official start of spring is worthy of a separate thread, no?

I mentioned it elsewhere, but if you're looking to really get in the mood for the Masters, you really can't do any better than to watch old tournament footage from the final round broadcast archive recently made public. I've watched all of the tournaments between 1986 and 1991 in particular many more times than I can count, but I'm discovering all sorts of footage I've never seen from other years, and even when you know the ultimate result, watching how they get there for the first time can be amazing. The 1979 broadcast was particularly incredible for me, not least for what was surely the best-played sudden death playoff in major championship history but also for how Nicklaus played the final four holes. On 15 he laid up, sucked his third shot back off the green into the water...and made par, in a way that surely could never happen with the hole playing the way it does today. Check it out:

 

johnmd20

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Masters week. Snowing really hard in NYC. Not the best way to get into the mood but this is one of the best weeks in sports.
 

BaseballJones

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I'm not a huge Tiger fan, but golf is definitely better and more interesting when he's good and competitive. Last six tournaments:

11/30-12/3 - Hero World Challenge: 9th (-8)
1/25-1/30 - Farmers Insurance Open: 23rd (-3)
2/15-2/18 - Genesis Open: Missed the cut
2/22-2/25 - Honda Classic: 12th (E)
3/8-3/11 - Valspar Championship: 2nd (-9)
3/15-3/18 - Arnold Palmer Invitational: 5th (-10)

So he's playing pretty well these days, which is good to see. Tiger, Day, McIlroy, Sergio, Mickelson, Spieth, Thomas, DJohnson, Rose, Matsuyama, Fowler, Bubba, Rahm, Koepka.... should be a fantastic tournament, and I'm pumped.
 

Light-Tower-Power

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As of right now, the weather looks good with the exception of Saturday. Could be some showers and thunderstorms during the day as a cold front passes through.
 

RedOctober3829

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As of right now, the weather looks good with the exception of Saturday. Could be some showers and thunderstorms during the day as a cold front passes through.
Wednesday night there also could be some rain which could possibly affect the start of Thursday. If anything, rain on Wednesday night would improve scoring conditions as it's been really hot there recently.
 

cshea

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This should be a heck of a week. It seems like all the elite players are in good form heading into the tournament. I can’t really think of anyone among the top 15-20 favorites that is currently playing poorly.

These will vary a bit depending on what site you go to, but some odds from this morning..

Tiger 10/1
Spieth 10/1
DJ 12/1
Rory 12/1
JT 12/1
Bubba 15/1
Rose 15/1
Phil 15/1
Day 20/1
Fowler 22/1
Rahm 28/1
Casey 28/1
Sergio 33/1
 

cshea

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Cool local story this week, Brockton fire fighter Matt Parziale earned a Masters invite as the US mid-am champion. Apparently he is lined up to play a practice round with Tiger.

 

TFP

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Parziale played the Mass mid-Am at my club (Marlborough CC) a few years ago (2015?) and won by 15 strokes. People there still talk about it.
 

cshea

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Sergio’s dinner menu for the Champions dinner:


Also, Tiger and Phil are playing a practice round together today. A new Tiger.
 

cshea

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Tee times for Thursday and Friday as well as and Thursday’s featured groups are out:

http://www.masters.com/en_US/players/pairings/index.html

Featured groups:

10:09: Hideki, Kizzire, Casey
10:42: Tiger, Leishman, Fleetwood
1:38: Scott, Rory, Rahm
2:00: Rose, DJ, RCB

Other notables:

Parziale off early with Mike Weir and Brendan Steele.

Sergio and JT are in the group after Tiger with US Am champ Doc Redman.

Phil grouped with Kuchar and Fowler at 1:27

Spieth/Noren/Oosty is good one at 1:49.

I suspect either the Spieth or Phil group will be one of the featured groups Friday morning.
 
A random musing as I start thinking about Thursday (and while watching the 1985 Masters on television): I'm not convinced that Tiger is ready to win a major by any means, but if he is in contention and even goes on to win, it'd be great to see him finally have his equivalent of Jack's 1975 or 1986 Masters. That's really the one thing his career is missing, a proper ding-dong battle in a major with several of the world's best players. Tiger has 14 career major wins, and in half of them, his margin of victory was 2 strokes or fewer. Here are the guys who finished second in those majors:

Sergio Garcia (as a 19-year-old)
Bob May
David Duval
Chris DiMarco
Chris DiMarco (again)
Woody Austin
Rocco Mediate

Not exactly a murderers row of elite-level talent. And just a reminder that in the six majors in which Tiger finished second, here's who won:

Rich Beem
Michael Campbell
Zach Johnson
Angel Cabrera
Trevor Immelman
Y.E. Yang
 

BaseballJones

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I'm as pumped for this tournament as I've ever been for a non Ryder Cup event. It would be so good for golf if Tiger (especially) and Phil played well.
 

cshea

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My dad and brother were at Augusta today. They said the crowds were Sunday-major like in terms of the crowd noise around the Tiger-Phil round.
They apparently put on a show. They partnered together against Freddy and Thomas Pieters. Phil said they were -7 on a 5 hole stretch which included Tiger eagles at 13 and 15. Tiger said Phil holed out some crazy flop shot from behind the green on 13.
 

RedOctober3829

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They apparently put on a show. They partnered together against Freddy and Thomas Pieters. Phil said they were -7 on a 5 hole stretch which included Tiger eagles at 13 and 15. Tiger said Phil holed out some crazy flop shot from behind the green on 13.
Yeah, I saw the highlights of the eagles on 13 and 15 on Golf Channel. If he's performing like that when it counts, this Masters figures to be epically good.
 

TFP

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Par 3 contest is live on Youtube, goes on ESPN/Masters app at 3pm.

 

The Needler

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Tony Finau just made a hole-in-one, ran down the "fairway" celebrating, and may have sprained his ankle.
 

Red(s)HawksFan

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Tom Watson in the lead of the Par 3 with a hole to play. Unreal.

Tony Finau with a hole in one, then turns his ankle running down the fairway in celebration.
 

TFP

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Jack just said it was his #1 favorite moment in golf, which is saying something. First ace of his life, he's only 15 years old too. That's super call.
 

cshea

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Finau did indeed dislocate his ankle and pop it back in. Getting an MRI in the morning, but will give it a go if that comes back clean and he gets the swelling under control.

 
As a friend of mine noted to me yesterday, this might be the best humblebrag in Twitter history:


@jacknicklaus With all due respect to @themasters, allow me to put my 6 Green Jackets in the closet for a moment and say that I don’t know if I have had a more special day on a golf course. To have your grandson make his first hole-in-one on this stage.... WOW! #Family #memoryofalifetime
 

Zomp

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Fuckin' A. I took tomorrow off but have meetings at 3 today. Hopefully I can watch Tiger for a little while on my computer.