Sweet Sixteen

I watched it all yesterday, from Phil's Phlop to Patton's Kizzire Under the Elm.... Yeah, been waiting to use that and, reader alert, I've got more.

Let's lead with Shack's take on Group play:

Finding a perfect match play format for the WGC event appears to be an ongoing saga

with another tweak needed, but it's the imperfection of the event that in so many ways makes it such a joy.

For instance, I watched a good portion of the Bill Haas-Adam Scott match Friday either via PGA Tour Live or with my eyeballs from the 7th green on, and the battle was quite captivating. The body language, the strategic decisions, the constant lead changes, the talent of the combatants and the desire of both to win made for great viewing. And then after the match, we learned both wished the quality of play was sharper, yet as a fan I was never bored because of the passionate head-to-head battle. 

And mercifully Haas won, otherwise they would have waited at least 90 minutes to play-off the match due to a strange decision to make finished matches wait for their 19th hole instead of doing what they've done in previous WGC's: head right to the #1 tee no matter who was there.

I'd be extremely interested in knowing Geoff's thoughts on how to tweak the format, other than that bit in the last 'graph with which I heartily agree.  With all the talk of the players needing to adjust for this week's format (Smylie, we're talking about you), perhaps the announcers need a tutorial as well.

Admittedly they got off to a rocky start on Wednesday... Have you seen that series of graphics to explain the complex format?  You know, the one with 64 heads to explicate the number of players, because the number "64" isn't adequately demonstrative...So they go through that on Wednesday and in all their chatter it's not until the first match reaches the final match reaches the last hole that they manage to inform of a rather significant format change, to wit, that they will not play each match to a winner.

It's the only change from the prior year, yet they're too busy trying to explain match play or the profound strategy behind putt concessions to convey actual information.  As anyone with a two-digit IQ can intuit, the guy watching Wednesday coverage probably is familiar with the profound complexity of the format.  And then they really pissed me off when they removed the aforementioned graphic while I was still counting heads....

Yesterday's commentary suffered from a related affliction, the television equivalent of a speaker that feels the need to read every word off a background graphic.  The concept that a win is one point and a halve is....I'm sorry, what would that be?  The math is canine level, the far more difficult part of the process is to remember who's in each group and where the other match in the group stands... and there they had nothing to help us.  And yes, I remember that it's the points in the right-hand column that matter....

OK, but about the golf?  Jim McCabe captures the wackiness of the event:

You think it’s nuts that nine guys who went 2-1 have been eliminated, but two guys who went 1-0-2 are still alive? 

You find it curious that the world No. 1, Jordan Spieth, goes 3-0 and has to play the formidable Louis Oosthuizen, also 3-0, in Saturday’s Round of 16, while guys ranked 47th (Ryan Moore) and 65th (Patton Kizzire) have a game of similar stature? 

You shake your head at a guy, Brooks Koepka, who gets whipped, 4 and 3, by Danny Willett, but advances, while a guy who makes five birdies and plays 19 bogey-free holes against Rory McIlroy is sent packing? 

There’s probably more, and more, and more, but yet there is always this: It’s not only match-play golf, it’s round-robin, match-play golf, so forget the inequities and accept the WGC-Dell Match Play at Austin Country Club for what it has been for three days.

Jim, that's a feature, not a bug.... Look, maybe you're new to this golf thing, but eighteen holes between top-ranked players, even No. 1 vs. No. 64 in the old format, is a virtual crap-shoot.  In fact he's so busy looking for anomalies, that he's buried the lede, the amazing extent to which form held.  Obviously the Big Three all survived Group play, but half the top seeds did, which I'd guess is something of a high-water mark.

Sean Martin captures the disparity in the Big Three's experiences in group play:

Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Rory McIlroy will enter the single-elimination Round of

16 without a loss on their record. They may be undefeated, but they’ve also had very different experiences during the Match Play’s first three days. 

Spieth was dominant in his return to his college town. Day’s opening rounds were defined by physical maladies, and not just his own. McIlroy had to overcome a back-nine deficit in each of his three matches.

Rory and Jason are quite lucky to be alive, though for obviously different reasons.  Rory is still looking for his game, whereas Day is obviously fragile.  If I'm Jason's agent/caddie/mother, I think I'm hoping that he loses the Snedeker this morning.  There's just too much golf to be played in the next two days for those that advance... In fact, i can feel a twinge in my lower back just typing about how much golf they have to play.

In the "You Don't Need a Weatherman" mode, it's pretty obvious that Jordan, Patrick and Zach are the three guys most in control of their golf balls and making everything.  These are not the longest of hitters, but are guys that can think their way around a course and can hole some putts.  I'm gonna go with Zach at this point, mostly because of the draw.  Jordan and Patrick will play this afternoon if they both win, and Rory smells like he's ripe for a fall.

I also like Kooch from that bottom half of the draw, though your mileage may vary.

Alex Myers takes a crack at the format with this non-starter:

I think the Match Play is on the right track (love round-robin play and that the groups are determined during a live selection show), but it needs to go one step farther to get even better. Have two players advance from each group. That will lesson the amount of meaningless matches and also give each player a chance to find his rhythm before the knockout stage. It might make for a tougher sell to players by adding a potential extra match (maybe there's a way to give certain group winners a bye?), but it would improve the overall product.

Why don't we just have all 64 players advance?  Really, the one thing you can't fit in is another round of golf....The guys that make it to Sunday afternoon will play seven rounds...

Udder Stuff - Shack beat me to this obvious riposte:

I guess what is said at the Champions Dinner doesn’t always stay at the Champions Dinner.

 Only fair since the subject is his item at The Loop:

“As he said to me at Augusta, ‘I’m confused.’ He said to me, ‘I have sleep deprivation. I only sleep three hours a night.’ So these things have a lot to do with it. Nothing to do with his body.” 

Player evidently learned this after speaking to Woods during the 2015 Masters Champions Dinner. 

“If he never had a lesson after he’d won the U.S. Open by 15 shots, Player told Cowherd, “I believe he’d have won 22 majors. Twenty two!” 

Woods has said he will attend this year’s Champions Dinner. Here’s guessing he’ll be avoiding Gary Player!

Here's the video:

Tiger always appreciates unsolicited suggestions.....

Click Repellant - According to the authoritative wordhippo.com, there is no word that functions as the opposite of clickbait, though this header seems to qualify:

Masters: 6 Ways to Make the Masters Even Better in the Coming Years

I know, keep your damn hands off my Masters, but give it a read, as it's actually an amusing take on Masters traditions.  For instance, this upgrade:

"Pimento cheese sandwiches are everywhere in the South, so I like the notion of giving the Masters' version its own identity," Devillier says. "With the pimento cheese, you have creamy, fatty sharpness, like a sharp cheddar. My idea is to add a nice salty ham to balance out that flavor, and to finish it with chowchow [a pickled relish], another Southern tradition, to bring in that sweet-and-sour component. And of course, I'll keep it on white bread." 

The ham he recommends is a domestic version of aged Spanish serrano, made by Edwards Virginia Ham Shoppe, in Surrey, Va., but any good-quality salt-cured Southern ham will do. Devillier's chowchow is made with cabbage, green tomatoes, onions, mustard seeds, vinegar and sugar. "It's cooked down to a loose relish," he says. "It's not soppy, so it will stand up for a long time on the course and not bleed into the bread."

 You'd still have to waterboard me to get me to swallow, but this does at least look better:

As you're no doubt aware, your humble blogger was born with a dominant insufferable purist gene, which might lead you to conclude that I'd recoil in horror at changing anything about the Masters.  But you'd be wrong.....

I don't feel particularly strongly about it, but I'd do away with Butler Cabin in a heartbeat.  That awkward awards ceremony is painful, but doesn't mercifully affect what comes previously.

But the one place that the powers that be should be taken to the woodshed (Note to self: Possible repurposing of Butler Cabin), is their nineteenth century limitations on the broadcasts.  It's amazing how many people don't realize it, but while they limit commercials and otherwise provide for the viewer, they proscribe blimp coverage and on-course reporters.  

I typically use the Bubba miracle shot in the playoff a few years back as an example, where at the time he hit the shot the viewer had no information as to distance and line.  It was only in the aftermath that we got a sense of how far he drew that gap wedge.  Think a blimp shot might have looked cool?  

Think they'll allow the effective wind graphic that NBC has been using these last few weeks?  Might separate anemometers on the 11th green and 12th tee might be cool?  Don't go there, as if it didn't exist in Bobby Jones' day, it wouldn't be prudent....

So, I can live with the boxy green jacket and Queen Anne chairs in Butler Cabin, just give us a damn blimp!