Masters Thursday - Go Time (Weather Permitting) Edition

In the most significant development in the golf world this week, The Wednesday Game™ resumed operations yesterday....  I know that because of how knackered I feel this morning.  Back nine fatigue most certainly affected my golf game, so we can only hope it doesn't similarly degrade my blogging.

I don't have a weather update, but we're within an hour of when the old guys were scheduled to kick things off.  It's a time for bold predictions, my first being that Jack will be in the middle of any photos of that honorary threesome.... I find it actually appropriate that in a game of gentlemen, we still can make room for Watson's antipathy for Gary Player.  It's human nature, even A Tradition Just Like Any Other....

The Chairman - Always of interest, this Masters tradition has assumed heightened importance in our turbulent times.  James Colgan sets the table:

There are a few laws of Augusta National.

The first is the simplest: Only the chairman speaks for the club, and the chairman only speaks once. That happens every Masters Wednesday, 11 a.m. local time, when the current chairman (Mr. Fred Ridley) walks into the hilariously ornate interview room at Augusta National and delivers remarks. The Chairman’s Press Conference is a tradition unto itself at the Masters, dating back to the days of club founder Clifford Roberts, and Ridley, dressed in a crisp green blazer, continued it Wednesday on a gray morning in Augusta.

If you weren’t listening closely, the press conference didn’t sound like much. In fact, you probably thought you’d witnessed Ridley employ the second law of Augusta National: do not, under any circumstances, reveal anything to the press. The chairman delivered his remarks in his typical staid drawl, kept his hair immaculately coiffed to its usual salt-and-pepper part, and politely avoided stepping on third rails with the practiced deftness of a skilled attorney (which, it turns out, he is).

True enough, although it's not quite right that they don't reveal anything.  Though they are cautious, which seems appropriate to their quasi-official status.  But see if you think Colgan is overly clever here:

For 40 minutes, the chairman dodged, filibustered, and sidestepped. On the topic of the ongoing negotiations between the PGA Tour and the Saudi PIF, he offered only that he hoped there would be a resolution with a “focus on the partners who pursue the values of golf.” On a potential LPGA event at Augusta National, he gently demurred that the club would “have to think long and hard to have another golf tournament.” Asked if the club would ever consider certain course changes, he quipped that “ever is a very long time.”

But if you were listening closely, you didn’t need Ridley to spell it out for you. You saw the dodges and the filibusters and the sidesteps and understood that they really meant something else. Which means you also understood the third law of Augusta National: The chairman’s answers tell us everything, even when they’re not answers at all.

I think he answered both cited questions reasonably.  In the case of the LPGA, it's a hard "No" and I also have no problem with how he dispensed with that other quite ill-formed query.

For instance, James, any quibbles here?

Take, for example, Ridley’s stance on the distance explosion in professional golf. For the first

time on Wednesday, Ridley announced that Augusta National will support the USGA and R&A’s decision to roll back the golf ball to shorten the length of drives by as much as five percent. The news is momentous — all but ensuring the rule change will survive challenges from golf’s equipment manufacturers and some of its players — but how the chairman announced it was equally important.

“Adding distance to the Augusta National golf course has become standard operation over the past two decades,” he said, delivering the setup for a bone-dry punchline. “I’ve said in the past that I hope we will not play the Masters … at 8,000 yards.”

Ridley would circle back to the 8,000-yard comment only once throughout the presser — saying that 8,000 yards is a “red line” for the club if it hopes to continue hosting the Masters in a manner that maintains the course’s historic challenge — but he would apply the same subtlety liberally across almost every question he faced.

My quibble would be with James' use of "For the first time", since last year Ridley expressed support for the then-pending proposal from the governing bodies.

Via Geoff, here's more from Fred on this subject, to me the most important topic he addressed:

On how the USGA and R&A change in testing procedures to curb distance might impact the Masters. “Assuming that these regulations are adopted by the PGA Tour and the other tours, and I certainly hope they will be, I think were they not adopted it would cause a great deal of stress in the game, which it doesn't need right now.”

On the distance decision and future course changes. “If you use 5 percent as an approximate number, a player hitting it 320 yards is going to lose 16 yards. So that's not insignificant. What we found, though, over the years is that we lengthen the golf course, everybody says it's really long, and then two or three years later it's not so really long. So my guess is that even when this change is implemented that maybe other aspects of technology that are within the rules and the physicality and ability, technical ability of the players will catch up.

On whether a “rollback” might mean adjustments. “I don't believe that we will start building new tees closer to the greens. It's a possibility, I suppose, but I doubt it. Particularly since this is not going to be implemented for quite some time.”

On adding more tees. “We have some more room, but we don't have a lot. So I'm holding to that 8,000-yard red line, and I just hope we never get there.”

Never is a long time, Fred.

The reason I place such importance here is because of the3 club's critical third vote in this debate.  Obviously the USGA and R&A will play their Opens under any new equipment regulations.  With the Masters conforming, it becomes inconceivable that the PGA of America wouldn't also conform, leaving us to wonder about the spoiled brats of the PGA Tour.  You'd think they'd have little choice but to go along, but then you look a who is actually calling the shots there these days.....  

I thought he handled the OWGR issue reasonably well, though how you heard it likely depends upon where you sit:

On giving exemptions for season-long play to the LIV league. “I think it will be difficult to establish any type of point system that had any connection to the rest of the world of golf because they're basically, not totally, but for the most part a closed shop…but I don't think that that prevents us from giving subjective consideration based on talent, based on performance to those players.”

Performance, Fred?  You sure you want to go there?

And this nagging but silly question:

On holding another event for the world’s best women. “We really have a limited period of time we could play any additional event. We close in the third week of May. Then you add the element of something that was brought up I think in the first question about sort of the mystique and the magic. And we need to make sure that we really respect the mystique and the magic of the Masters. So we would have to think long and hard to have another golf tournament.”

He's exactly right, but where is Talor Gooch when I need an asterisk.  I'd feel much better about his being correct if he hadn't unnecessarily destroyed the LPGA event that had the most similar mystique.

There's quite a bit more at both linked pieces, so have at it....

An Homage - We love our Masters traditions, of course with the exception of the pimento cheese sandwich, but did you ever wonder how it originated?

The Augusta Chronicle’s Doug Stutsman highlighted a nice and long overdue acknowledgement. During Tuesday’s practice round Canadians Corey Conners and Mike Weir invited countryman

Gary Cowan in to hit a “Skip It” shot. Cowan is believed to be the originator of the now traditional practice round habit of players to heed the calls of patrons to send a ball atop the 16th hole pond.

Ben Crenshaw and Cowan were playing a practice round 52 years ago when Cowan was playing as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. Upon reaching the 16th tee Cowan turned to Crenshaw and said, “watch this.” He skipped a 3-iron across the pond and onto dry land, before daring Crenshaw to do the same.

“Ben couldn’t believe what I was doing,” said Cowan in reflecting on 1972 to the Augusta Chronicle.

And on Tuesday, two-time U.S. Amateur winner Cowan returned to repeat a trick shot that now is a staple of the tournament and the subject of merchandise offerings.

Stutsman considered the various players who claim to be responsible for the tradition. But this one belongs to Cowan.

LIV Bits -  The defending champion has always been a mixed bag.  His reverence for the game and its history seems genuine, but where is that damn asterisk when I need it?  I suggest you disable your BS Detector for this rationalization:

In an interview published by the BBC on Monday, Rahm said he thought his signing could be a

"tipping point" with other big-name players signing with LIV. In the Augusta National interview room on Tuesday, he was asked if part of his motivation for leaving the PGA Tour also was to attempt to bring the game together, and whether or not he expected more movement on that front by now.

"I understood my position, yes," he said. "And I understood that it could be, what I hoped, a step towards some kind of agreement, yes. Or more of an agreement or expedited agreement.

"But, unfortunately, it's not up to me. But I would hope it would be something that would help expedite that process. But at the end of the day, I still did what I thought was best for myself."

So you just did it for the good of the game?  Because, yanno, there's a perception that you cashed a big honking check, but I'm glad it wasn't about the money.

At least dinner Tuesday seems to have come off well:

On what would’ve been the 67th birthday of Seve Ballesteros, the table of 33 champions welcomed its newest member — Jon Rahm — before flooding the room with memories of Augusta’s first European victor.

“It was a great night; an emotional night,” said Larry Mize, the 1987 winner. “Ben (Crenshaw) made sure that tonight was all about Jon, Seve and Jackie Burke.”

Rahm sat at the head of the table, side-by-side with Ben Crenshaw, marking the first time a LIV golfer played host to the dinner.

And even though the narrative of PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf remains heated to some, for one night, the sides united.

“We’re a fraternity,” said Crenshaw, who emcees the annual supper.

Added Charles Coody: “It couldn’t have been more congenial. Even Tom Watson at the very end of dinner, he stood from his chair and said how happy he was to see the camaraderie within our group. It was a wonderful night.”

Not exactly sure what Coody meant about "Even Tom Watson", but whatev....

Adam Schupak has a Sergio v. Fred cage match on this subject, though it's quite as incendiary as we might hope.  Fred has done himself no favors with some of his comments in recent times, Cam Young is still awaiting his invite to the Ryder Cup in Rome, for instance.  His comments here are more measured:

Couples, winner of the Masters in 1992, has been unafraid to voice his displeasure with LIV and

the players who left the Tour he’s called home for more than 40 years.

“I don’t think I’ll ever understand it. Maybe I’ll go to one and see what it’s really, really like. I know how great they are as players. I get it all, and I get the 54 holes and you drive a cart to your tee and shotgun. That’s easy to pick on. Sometimes I’ve picked on comments that people have made, and I’ve picked on comments that they talk about the Tour, which I’ve said I have now 44 years invested in, and I don’t want anyone picking on a tour that I think is very good,” he said. “Now, everything can get better, but let me tell you, if the LIV Tour is better for golf, I’m missing something there. But again, I’m not here to bash them anymore. I’m going to see them all tonight (at the Champions Dinner)…I love DJ. I love Brooks (who won’t be at the winners-only affair). I don’t know if they even comment on the LIV Tour. They just play golf. So please don’t tell me the LIV Tour is as good as the PGA Tour. I don’t want to hear it.”

Fair enough, although it's strange that the Tour's reaction to LIV never included criticisms of the field size and shotgun starts, which we now know ids because its elite players want similarly tiny fields.   

But it's Sergio that is most interesting here, and Schupak doesn't let him off the hook (saving me the trouble of doing so):

To Garcia, who defected to LIV Golf and gave up his PGA Tour and DP World Tour membership, the media is to blame for making a story about the fracture in the professional game and the bad blood that exists.

“I mean, you guys love these things. You keep building up these things, and there’s nothing. There’s nothing,” he said. “You guys love to kind of dig and just kind of try to make it sound like we get in the locker room and we’re fighting each other and stuff like that. It’s not like that. At the end of the day, it’s golf. We’re all trying to play the best way we can, and that’s it.”

He's always been a mature statesman of the game for sure.  Except, yanno, when he's not:

Garcia’s comments don’t pass the smell test. For starters, he and McIlroy had a very public fallout of their friendship, which has since been ironed out, and Garcia also was reported to have gone on an expletive-laden rant at the 2022 BMW International Open Germany when he was fined and suspended by the European circuit.

Robert MacIntyre, who reportedly witnessed the Garcia’s tantrum tweeted, “Amazing how fast you can lose respect for someone that you’ve looked up to all your life.”

Oh, Adam, that's the least of it, although I suspect you were under a word limit.... This is a man that spits in cups and damages greens...

But then he adds this, which is great if you think he really believes it:

But Garcia did make one point that showed he has at least an ounce of self-awareness: “People have to realize one thing, that the future of the game – we’re not the future of the game. Neither me or Rory, no, we’re not the future. We’re the present of the game, but the future of the game is those kids that are watching us play, that want to get into the game, that want to play, and then maybe become professionals. I think that’s what sometimes people forget.”

I have my issues with Rory these days, but those two names don't belong in the same sentence.

Who Ya Got? -  Don't have much for you here, as everyone has the same guy.  Here's a sampling from ESPN:

Matt Barrie

Winner -- Hideki Matsuyama: I get it. It's Scottie Scheffler vs. the field. But what fun would that be? Matsuyama knows how to win at Augusta (2021), and he's finally healthy again. He comes to the Masters in form. A winner at Genesis, followed by finishing T12, T6, T7.

Tory Barron

Winner -- Brooks Koepka: Eat, sleep, win majors. Koepka should have received a nice confidence boost (not that he needed one) after last year's second-place finish in Augusta. "Big-game Brooks," who has finished in the top 11 in each of his past four Masters starts in which he was healthy, is going to do what he does best and take home his sixth major title.

Elizabeth Baugh

Winner -- Rory McIlroy: Never mind that he missed the cut last year -- it's impossible to rule out the No. 2 golfer in the world. This year there's added pressure of this being his 10th attempt to complete the career Grand Slam. On top of that, he'll be playing with a competitive grouping of Scheffler and Xander Schauffele. The stage is set for him to lock in and finally get the elusive green jacket.

Michael Collins

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: I know this seems like a blasphemous thing to say, but Scheffler can win with his B game. We haven't seen odds this low or ball striking this good since Tiger Woods. I just don't know how you bet against him at the start of any tournament he plays in.

Jeff Darlington

Winner -- Ludvig Åberg: He's too good to call him a long shot -- and he's too inexperienced to consider him a favorite -- but Aberg seems like he was built for these big moments. Maybe it's a premature point to pick him, but I'd rather be on this bandwagon too early than too late.

Michael Eaves

Winner -- Brooks Koepka: I get the impression that Koepka is still mad that he didn't finish the job here last year, and a mad Brooks Koepka is a motivated Brooks Koepka. Oh yeah, by the way, he owns a career average score-to-par of minus-0.39 per major round, best in the Masters era among players with 100 major rounds. The majors are his thing, and wants this one even more now.

Peter Lawrence-Riddell

Winner -- Jon Rahm: The first repeat winner since Tiger Woods in 2002? It's a little harder to pick Rahm since he hasn't played a ton of competitive golf this year after moving to LIV Golf. But as Brooks Koepka, Phil Mickelson and Patrick Reed showed last year, there are going to be LIV players in the mix this week, and Rahm is the best of that bunch.

Andy North

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. How can you not pick him?

Laura Rutledge

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: I'm going to go out on a real limb here and pick Scottie Scheffler. He has been so dominant even when he hasn't played his best. He is as sure a bet as you'll find right now when it comes to major contenders, so I can't pick against him.

Mark Schlabach

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: I've already written that Scheffler would win by 4 strokes if he's even an average putter this week. I think his new mallet putter gets hot, and he wins a second green jacket by 5. It might not be a daring pick or very original, but you're supposed to pick the golfer who's going to win. Scheffler's stellar ball striking and magical hands around the greens will help him win his second major.

Curtis Strange

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: I always like to pick the less-obvious favorite, but I think I'm smart enough to pick Scheffler this year.

Paolo Uggetti

Winner -- Brooks Koepka: While Koepka doesn't arrive at this year's Masters with a recent LIV Golf victory under his belt, there is a sense of inevitability with him when it comes to major championships that remains -- just look at what happened at Oak Hill. Last year, Koepka had a real shot at securing a green jacket and let it slip away. This year, he won't.

Scott Van Pelt

Winner -- Scottie Scheffler: Scheffler because when he's on the first page Sunday and you didn't pick him, you're going to ask yourself, "Why didn't I pick him?"

Is this Scheffler guy good or something?

Which, according to this, is a problem:

Masters 2024: Golf has a Scottie Scheffler problem

Golf has a Scottie Scheffler problem. So what if he’s posting Tiger-like numbers, or one of the few stars who has shined in a year plagued by power outages. That his cool, unruffled nature is a welcome diversion from the sport’s melodrama. He is as unproblematic as it gets, and that’s a problem, because golf mistakenly thinks Scottie Scheffler is boring.

Which is ridiculous. Waiting, lag putts, laying up; there are a lot of boring things in golf, including, at times, golf. What Scheffler is doing is far from dull. Eighteen top-10s in his previous 24 starts, highlighted by two wins and a runner-up in his last three appearances. First in strokes gained overall, SG/tee-to-green and approach, and in scoring average. Back-to-back Player of the Year honors and looking like a good bet for three in a row. For the last decade, golf has wondered when, if ever, it would see another dominant performer, and now such a man is on stage and the game is unable to see him.

I think the only Scheffler problem will be if his wife goes into labor....

Maybe just some sleeper picks to ponder:

Sleeper pick: Grayson Murray, +40,000. Grayson has won this year, and drives it well. Looking at his most recent results, he closed out the Players with a Sunday 64, and considering his odds, I think this is a great little pick.

That's certainly out there....

Sleeper pick: Rickie Fowler, +8,000. He hasn’t played great this year, and you might be surprised to learn this is his first Masters in four years, but he’s always played well at Augusta (five top-12 finishes) and maybe, just maybe, someday he’s going to win the big one. Logic says it might be on a course he’s got more familiarity with than about three-fourths of the field. (Sleeper pick runner-up: Russell Henley.)

Rickie took himself out of contention yesterday.  Shoulda rinsed a couple on No. 9....  But do we allow runner-up sleeper picks?

Sleeper pick: Byeong Hun An, +15,000. Not only has he been playing some great golf this season, but his game is a great fit for Augusta. Absolutely bombs the ball off the tee and has the short game to work with the slopes around Augusta. If he has an above-average putting week, he will have a chance. Si Woo Kim (+10,000) is another intriguing option. He’s played well to start the year, posting elite approach and around the green numbers. He could improve his chances by snapping the putter and moving to the 3-wood earlier in the week this time.

Also taking two bites of the apple...

Sleeper pick: Nicolai Hojgaard, +15,000. A rising Ryder Cupper at 150-1? Sign me up. Nicolai’s got ball-striking prowess for days and, most importantly, the spunk to show up at Augusta National and genuinely believe he’ll leave with a green jacket. For six times the odds of fellow Masters rookie Ludvig Aberg, I like it. And if you’re looking for comatose sleepers? Look no further than Adrian Meronk.

Not just a sleeper, but a comatose version thereof..... A little redundant for my taste.

Sleeper pick: Erik van Rooyen, +15,000. He may be available at this price because he’s been so bad in major championships. But he’s a different player now! For bonus picks, gimme Stephan Jaeger and Si Woo Kim (both at 100-1), Ben An (150-1) plus Harris English (125-1) and let’s throw some darts.

I like this one, but only if he's regrown the porn 'stache.

Sleeper pick: Gary Woodland, +25,000. I know, Woodland’s still working his way back after having major surgery to remove a brain lesion last August, but isn’t Augusta where magic happens? There wouldn’t be a better story than to see the 39-year-old shock the golf world by earning his first-ever green jacket, so I’m here for it. Plus, he’s already a major champ — having won the 2019 U.S. Open — and he had his best-ever finish at the Masters last year (T14), so give me this and let’s all remember why we love the game of golf so much.

Nice guy, but hasn't shown any form since returning.

Sleeper pick: Nick Dunlap, +25,000. Remember all the noise amateur Sam Bennett made last year at Augusta? Well, while Dunlap isn’t an amateur any longer, he and Bennett are the most recent U.S. Am champions — and I like this prodigious newcomer to play his way into the final group, just like Bennett did last year. For many who’ve watched Dunlap’s meteoric rise from college sophomore to PGA Tour winner in the past few months, it’s not a question of if Dunlap wins a green jacket, but when.

He's an intriguing young talent, yet his green jacket still seems far short of inevitable to this observer.

Sleeper pick: Keegan Bradley, +17,500!!!!!!! These odds are just silly. Criminal. They’re worse than Tiger’s or Phil’s (125-1). As disrespectful as leaving him off the Ryder Cup team would have been. Oh, that happened? Keegs is going to be eager to prove himself as a major champ once again. He had a good January with a playoff loss at Sony and a T11 at Pebble. Though, these odds are probably a product of missing three out of his past four cuts. While he never has recorded a top-10 at the Masters, he’s also missed the cut only once in seven tries.

I could see Keegan winning another major, maybe.  It seems unlikely that it would be this one, though.

Sleeper pick: Si Woo Kim, +10,000. Heading into last week’s Texas Open, Kim was third in Strokes Gained: Tee to Green on the PGA Tour. I like that. Just needs a hot putter for four days.

There's about thirty guys in the field that could win with a hot putter for four days.  Thing is, all of those superior ball-strikers are sleepers because their putter don't heat up all that often...

I am going to leave you here.  They've announced a 9:30 start to play, so we should have a reasonably full day of play.  Enjoy.