Masters Sunday

Early in the week I received an e-mail from our good friend Glenn, who with his wife Jewelle are our traditional Masters Sunday guests.  It is truly A Tradition Unlike Any Other, with the azaleas and dogwood in bloom, the tournament beginning on the back nine and Jewelle asleep in our rocking chair (we kid because we love).

Glenn was despondent that with injuries (Tiger and perhaps Phil), bad form (Stenson and Phil again) and blown leads (Rory and Adam Scott), he might see a back nine battle between John Senden and Matt Jones (he actually didn't use names, just gave the tourneys they had recently won).  I'm quite confident that even if he doesn't enjoy the golf on display, that the Cuban pork roast will make his trip North well worth his while.

My response to Glenn was that none of that really mattered, because somehow this tournament and golf course almost never fail to deliver the goods.  Only time for a brief overview of the plot lines, before I'm off to tee it up myself.

Bubba - I've described Bubba as a golf savant, never more so than on the back nine on Friday.  My thought

then was that he had likely taken control of the tournament too early for someone as itchy scratchy as he is, and we all know how hard it is to back up a great round with another.  

But having survived a tough Saturday just might have the effect of settling him down some, though his outward appearance might not show that.  Shackelford agrees, calling it "Still Bubba's to lose."  Shack also ran a readers' poll on who would win, but hasn't furnished the results yet.

Kooch with father Peter in 1998.

Kooch - My pick has himself right in the mix, though the less charitable might point to his difficulties closing in recent weeks.  Stephen Hennessey tells us that he has a "secret weapon" this week, his grandfather, known within the family as Big Kooch, is with them this week.  The Big Kooch is most famous for sorta kinda predicting that Matt would play in the Masters before his 1997 U.S. Amateur win.

The Rookies - A major storyline leading up to the tournament, I expected good play from some of the newbies, but was skeptical about a win.  I still think it's far more likely that one of the grizzled vets will win, but you have to love the play of Jordan Spieth and especially Jonas Blixt.  And Blixt might benefit from being under the radar and not in the final group.  

I go back to my Friday blogging of the contrast between Spieth and Patrick Reed.  Spieth was watching and learning, whereas Reed was talking about his favorite subject, himself.  But I did like this from Spieth's presser:

Spieth, who calls pretty much everyone older than him Mister, says he'll do that Sunday. "Yup, Mr. Watson," he said during his post-round press conference, adding with good humor. "Just because it will mess with him."

Off The Scrapheap - Rickie Fowler seems to be making some progress, which Max Adler attributes to his work with Butch Harmon.  And Matthew Ruddy has some thoughts on the longevity of The Mechanic and Freddie:

"The guys that hold up year after year survive because they trust what they do," says Top 50 teacher Randy Smith. "They don't try to get more from their swing than what's inside them. Jimenez is really flexible from a physical standpoint, but he's a low-ball hitter, and that is never going to be ideal at Augusta. But he doesn't change it for that week. He does what he does, and gets it from point A to point B. And he has an absolutely magnificent short game."

Bill Fields uses Jimenez's low round of the day to remind us of Ben Hogan shooting 66 from nowhere:

Ben Hogan was 54 in the spring of 1967. His body had never been the same following the 1949 car-bus accident that almost cost him his life. To be able to play in his 25th -- and what would be final -- Masters, Hogan received nearly 20 cortisone shots in his painful left shoulder.

After mediocre opening rounds:

Hogan turned in even-par 36, but then got on a roll and temporarily turned back the clock. Birdies at Nos. 10, 11, 12 came off shots to seven, one and 15 feet. He followed those by two-putting the par-5 13th from 15 feet for birdie. After a par at the 14th, Hogan made another two-putt birdie on 15. He didn’t disappoint the throng at 18th either, sinking a 25-footer for birdie to come home in 30. Those who weren't cheering were crying, so improbable had been Hogan’s afternoon.

Just amazing...

And lastly, how about a shout-out to Jeff Knox, who shot a 2-under 70 yesterday.  Who is Jeff Knox?  He's an Augusta native and ANGC member who played as Rory's marker yesterday, the tenth time he's done so.  Per Rory:

"He played really well and he couldn't have been more helpful. He was really nice all the way around."  McIlroy pointed to Knox's knowledge of the greens as the main reason to be impressed by his unofficial 70. 

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone putt the greens as well as he does around here," said McIlroy, who played the massive layout in an impressive 3 hours, 5 minutes.  "I was thinking of maybe getting him to read a few of my putts out there." 

There's no truth to the rumor that Knox gave Rory two per side.