Masters Q & A

Given that Wednesday needs to be devoted exclusively to handicapping the field for the Par-3 tournament (just kidding - it's the second most painful day in televised golf), we're moving the Sports Illustrated/Golf Magazine Roundtable Q & A into prime time....err Tuesday afternoon.

1. Rory McIlroy tied the low score of the tournament at the Shell Houston Open with a 7-under 65 on Sunday and was already in Augusta before the tournament finished. Does this momentum make him your new Masters favorite, if he wasn't already?

The Pros - Not so great at actually listening to the question, as most offer up their own picks.  I'll protect the guilty by not mentioning the guy that actually picked Lee Westwood.

Best Line - From Mike Bamberger, "Picking a pre-tournament favorite has all the weight of a large cotton candy. Yes, Rory's got a good shot. I like Angel Cabrera, Patrick Reed and Charl Schwartzel better. I'm not even going to bring up Fred."

My Take - There really aren't any favorites in golf, except Bobby Jones in 1930 and Tiger in 2000-2001.  Rory may have the shortest odds (and that makes as much sense as anybody), but the odds are still long.

2. What are the odds that Houston Open winner Matt Jones gets back-to-back wins by claiming a green jacket at Augusta?

The Pros - Not a lot of love for Mr. Jones, but what did we expect?

Best Line - Bamberger again, "Not better than 1 in 100. He has a slightly better chance than Sandy Lyle but his odds are not as good as Bernhard Langer's. I'm not going to even bring up Fred.

My Take - If this is the best they can do for the second question, I'm awfully worried about the next four.  He has no worse of a chance than Steven Bowditch, but I thought the Sandy Lyle comment was needlessly harsh.

3. This was the second final-round disappointment for Matt Kuchar in as many weeks. Last Sunday, he shot a 75 at TPC San Antonio to finish fourth; this Sunday, he gave up a four-stroke lead after 54 holes and lost in a playoff. Does Kuchar have the fortitude to win a major or is he just a Top 10 machine?

The Pros - The guys are all over the place, though I'd guess a slight plurality think he'll get a major.  He's compared to both Jim Furyk (who knew Furykian was an adjective?) and Luke Donald, which will give you the sense of both sides of the argument.  And Mike Bamberger continues to not bring up Freddie.

Best Line - Mark Godich, "It wasn't just that he led by four at the start of the day in Houston. It's that he bogeyed two of the last three holes and rinsed one from the middle of the fairway at the last when he needed only a par to win. How is he going to handle the pressure if he gets in the hunt at a major if he can't close the deal at a pair of petroleum opens?"

My Take - This is a year when every top player comes in with huge question marks, relating either to injury (Phil, Jason Day), blown leads (Rory, Adam Scott and Kooch) and/or bad form (Stenson, Phil again and Justin Rose).  Since they're all damaged goods, the question is who do you think can rebound best?  There's a decent track record of guys coming back from blown leads to win (see McIlroy, Rory - 2011 U.S. Open; Scott, Adam - 2013 Masters; Watson, Bubba - 2014 at Riviera), such that I like Kuchar's chances better than if he'd hung on to win last week.

4. The last six PGA Tour tournaments have been won by golfers who earned their first Tour win in 2014. Many of them have come at the expense of some of golf's biggest stars -- Rory McIlroy, Adam Scott, Matt Kuchar. Does parity help or hurt the Tour?

The Pros - Overwhelmingly they think it hurts the game, which needs start power to attract attention.

Best Line - Via Eamon Lynch, "Sports thrive when there is parity among kings, not cobblers."

My Take - Lynch goes on to cite the tennis example of Federer, Nadal and Djokovich, but we all understand that the talent in tennis is far more concentrated at the top.  Upsets happen, but typically one of 3-4 guys is going to win a tennis major.  In golf, that number can approach three digits.  New stars need to emerge, but perhaps the real problem is the old war horses (Tiger, Phil, Ernie, Vijay, etc.) have not only failed to win, they've not even been on the stage on Sunday.  

5. What impressed you the most at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship -- Lexi Thompson's dominance or Michelle Wie's resilience?

The Pros - Lexi.  Next question.

A nice scene with the fans walking to the 18th green.

Best Line - Back to Bams, "Lexi, winning a big event by a big margin. Only the thoroughbreds do that. Jones, Wright, Nicklaus, Woods. Welcome to the club, Lexi."

My Take - A very silly way to pose the question, as the two can exist simultaneously.  Our lasting impression will be of a dominant performance by Thompson, and how could it be otherwise?  But this is the best we've seen Wie play in quite a while, and she handled herself with poise and grace.  Her putting remains the big issue for her (and for the record, I'm not completely convinced about Lexi's putting), and as I said yesterday she needs to push herself to putt more aggressively.

6. Augusta National hosted its inaugural "Drive, Pitch and Putt" contest on Sunday. Nine-year-old Kelly Xu was the first youngster to win her age division, making her the first female champ to be crowned at Augusta. There's a lot of talk about what the Tour and its administrators need to do to "grow the game," but how can golf's top clubs do their part?

The Pros - There's way too much in these answers to easily summarize, so if it's of interest I'd suggest you click through.  

Best Line - Bamberger, staying on a roll, "Follow the lead of National Golf Links and Seminole and Merion by hosting Walker Cups and other competitions. Promote caddying as an ideal job for young people trying to learn the game. Raise money by opening the clubs a couple times a year to paying outsiders and use that can money for golf initiatives like teaching the game in to phys-ed classes. Also, people who are lucky to belong to nice clubs should make sure they play public golf a few times a year, to be reminded of how the vast majority of golfers play the game.

My Take - It's hard to palm this off on the clubs because they're run for the benefit of their members.  And Augusta is quite the one-off because of the freakish development of the Masters into the premiere professional event.  The issue to me seems to be how do you get people (young ones especially) to try the sport and deal with the initial frustrations of the game.  I love Bamberger's thoughts on opening up the premiere private clubs to outsiders, but realistically those folks are already in the fold.  At the very least you'd like to see the Oakmonts, Pine Valleys and Winged Foots of the world reaching out to local high school teams and the like, if only to dispel the off-putting exclusiveness that plagues the game.