It's Tuesday morning and still no enterprising journalist has disclosed the Champions' Dinner menu... C'mon guys, some of you actually get paid for this...
- Swag Update - Shackelford heads straight to the merchandise tent to see what's new in Masters memorabilia. There's apparently a new Ike Tree commemorative coin, which Patrick Reed purchased, but Shack is most enamored of the vintage Augusta signage suitable for a "Martha Stewart designed Nantucket mancave."
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The Masters is known for not gouging its spectators patrons, but the cut-out logo at the top is a "knee-buckling" $185. |
Dave Shedloski had the same idea, but followed some of the players on their shopping rounds:
While patrons crowd into the large merchandise building near the front entrance, players can do their shopping in the pro shop adjacent to the clubhouse. Seen browsing the aisles were Ian Poulter, Peter Hanson, John Senden and former U.S. Open champion Steve Jones. Jones is in attendance because all major championship winners receive honorary (non-playing) invitations to Augusta National.
- The Jones Boy - No, not THAT Jones, this is about Matt Jones, the last guy to grab an invite to this week's festivities. Per this Ryan Herrington piece:
Matt Jones told his caddy he was about to make a 42-yard chip-in on the first
playoff hole at the Houston Open. The Australian did just that on Sunday, earning his first PGA Tour win in spectacular fashion -- and changing his immediate travel plans in the process.
I hadn't heard that elsewhere, but good for him. Life has a way of working out, at least sometimes, because he had a prior near miss:
In September, Jones lipped out an 8-foot birdie putt on the last hole of the BMW Championship -- a putt that would have earned him a trip to next week's Masters by sending him to the Tour Championship.
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| The Stadlers break into an impromptu version of the Bee Gees' Stayin' Alive. |
Firsts at the Masters are few and far between, but Thursday when 1982 Masters Champion Craig Stadler and son Kevin Stadler tee off in the first round, it will be the first time in the 80-year history of the event that a father and son play in the same Masters.
Miceli doesn't mention it, but I believe this is Pap Walrus' last opportunity to play in the Masters, so good timing, Junior.
- Treeage - Shackelford posts that the reports of damage at ANGC were a tad exaggerated:
* The description of “shredded” by a few players regarding the damage the March storm to the course may have been appropriate a few weeks ago when certain trees had not begun to sprout leaves. In general, the place still is as beautiful as ever, just with a more airy feel on several holes and even a few vistas that accentuate the grand scale of the property again.
* The only obvious sign of the demise of the Eisenhower Tree on the 17th hole comes in the form of a faint sod line where turf has replaced the loblolly pine needles of yesteryear. The story from the tee is different…
He also provides this pic of the new view from the 17th tee:
Additionally, Shack reports that they've thinned the undergrowth behind the 12th green, where
a number of golf balls have been lost (Norman in 1999 most famously). And this bit of good news as well:
* The azaleas are blooming! It won’t be an all-time year, but the place should look pretty swell by the weekend. But for now, we’re hunkering down and hoping the storms don’t do much damage.
We'll anxiously await reports on the status of the dogwoods.
The Right Rev. William Porter Payne has made admirable efforts to spread the word of golf. The Augusta National chairman has started the Asia-Pacific Amateur and the Latin American Amateur. This Sunday, he is opening the course to a kids' competition. As Atlanta's point man for the 1996 Olympics and not yet an Augusta member, he talked to the club's chairman, Jack Stephens, about the National as a possible venue for an Olympic golf tournament, for men and women. Stephens liked the idea, even though it died at city hall in Atlanta.
Well, a U.S. Women's Open at Augusta National would be a spectacular grow-the-game opportunity. And hugely fun.
Not. Gonna. Happen. The club closes for the summer shortly after the Masters, and it's hard to see how you could schedule an Open in that time frame, when the ladies are typically playing overseas. Plus, two major events in a calendar year is more than can be expected from a private club. Better to let them focus on the recently-announced Latin America and Asia-Pacific Amateurs, as well as the Drive, Chip and Putt event
But I did like this story:
Augusta (the city) has a rich history of women's golf. From 1937 through '66, with a three-year interruption because of World War II, one of the most important tournaments in the women's game, the Titleholders, was held at Augusta Country Club. Mickey Wright teed it up annually in her prime and won twice. One year she was invited to play next door, at Augusta National.
"Back in 1958, Betsy Rawls and I had the pleasure of playing the course," Wright, a four-time Open champ, wrote in a recent email. "A day I shall never forget. Cliff Roberts drove Bobby Jones out to watch us play a couple of holes. Never been so nervous in my life. That day is one that if there were bucket lists back then, would have fulfilled a big part of mine."
- Mean To Me - David Owen has a fun post on the difficulty in building the 12th hole, what Lloyd Mangrum once called the "the meanest little par-3 in the world." As David tells it:
The 12th was the hardest hole on the course to build. When an engineer saw that the plans called for a bunker in front of the green, he thought that the drawing must be in error, because the slope was so steep. The green was created by covering an exposed rock ledge with 5,000 cubic yards of earth, which had been excavated on the opposite side of the creek. During that process, two tractors and eight mules became stuck in the mire and had to be pulled out with long ropes drawn by all the other tractors.
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| The 12th hole at the time of the second Masters in 1935. |
David shares another Ike story with us:
The creek in front of the 12th green was a factor in a match played by Roberts, Ed Dudley (the club's pro), Jerome Franklin (a local member) and Dwight Eisenhower shortly after Eisenhower had been elected president. Eisenhower's tee shot landed short of the green, and his ball ended up on a sand bar next to the water. "You can play that ball off the sand bar," Roberts said as they walked to the green. Eisenhower climbed down the bank to his ball and sank past his knees in what turned out to be quicksand. Two Secret Service agents jumped in after him and pulled him out by the arms. The match was delayed while the president went back to his cottage to change clothes. When he returned, he told Roberts that he would never again take his advice on any matter concerning golf.
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