Friday Thoughts

Well, that was interesting....  The weather forecast was spot-on, and the players adapted as well as possible.  Not the players on my own fine roster, of course, but some players....

That may have been one of the finest rounds of golf I've ever seen play in challenging conditions.  I speak, of course, of Will McGirt's 69...  Charlie?  To paraphrase the Founder, he plays a game with which I am unfamiliar....

We often lead with a link to Shack, just never on this subject:

Though we don’t talk to them and never see them work, the “Cup And Tee Marker Placement Committee” took the forecast and planned for it with a setup by shelving the traditional Wednesday evening effort to ratchet up the course to Masters speeds. 

Instead, they put holes in safe spots—if there is such a thing on these severely contoured greens—and let the wind do the ratcheting. The result produced a course that could be conquered. Just ask 65-shooter Charley Hoffman.

Larry Mize, who's seen a thing or two having grown up in Augusta, had this to say:

“I think the setup is really good, because, under these conditions, it’s just going to be hard,” he said. “They put the tee up on 4. I think they made the pins accessible. I think they did a really good job. It’s hard, don’t get me wrong, but I think they did a great job.” 

The golf course presented a brutal challenge, but it never tipped over the edge. Oh sure, epic scoring averages were posted at the par-4 first (4.548, first in difficulty) and par-5 15th (5.215, ninth in difficulty).

Given that ESPN didn't come on the air until an hour after the last tee time, we obviously saw no coverage of the difficult first hole.  Eleven was brutal as well, but that hole is supposed to be brutal.

And for today?

The official forecast warns of “a chilly start, then partly cloudy, breezy and cooler.” Count on a low of 43 degrees, a high of 65. Prepare for similar winds from the west turning to the northwest at 12-18 mph, with gusts from 25-28 mph. 

Another tough day lies ahead for the players and the preparers, but nothing as ominous as they faced Thursday. You’re only as good as your last success, the saying goes. But what a success Day 1 of the Masters turned out to be.

As Phil noted in his post-round comments, this wasn't as harsh as it might have been because of the heavy rains earlier in the week.  Today's winds should not be as fierce as yesterday's, but if the course dries out and firms up, it could be every bit as difficult.  Oh, and how many easy pin positions do you think they have on these greens?

Beth Ann Nichols' item is ostensibly about Charlie Hoffman's round, but I liked these bits:

“This place is always about picking the shots that you need to hit,” said Paul Casey.

“Today was just about picking the time.” 

The par-5 15th proved particularly tricky. Scott hit a 4-iron to lay up and said playing competitor Kevin Kisner, who was standing ahead in the fairway, watched Scott’s ball fly 15 yards backward at the peak of its flight. 

The third shot wasn’t any easier. 

“That wedge shot on 15, who knows what’s going to happen,” said Kisner, who carded a 74. “I had 97 (to the hole) or something like that. Hit a pitching wedge, which is a 135-yard club for me, so that kind of gives you an idea.”

Did you catch that ten minute span when the wind dropped, and all of a sudden head covers were coming off in the fifteenth fairway?  It was borderline insane to go for it, but that's how much they hate a wedge into that green...

 Sean Zak tries to live up to this header:

Was Charley Hoffman's 65 the best first round in Masters history?

I'm gonna go with "No", but it was damned good....  Here are the comparisons:

Greg Norman (1996) — 10.40 strokes better than field average

Jack Burke Jr. (1955) — 10.23

Darren Clarke (2003) — 10.20

Mike Donald (1990) — 10.02

Charley Hoffman (2017) — 9.97

Jordan Spieth (2015) — 9.42

John Huston (1997) — 9.11

Can you see why I'm uninterested in the question?  But Norman in '96 rings a bell....  How did that Masters turn out?

The road forward?  Like me, I'm sure most tend to look past Hoffman, McGirt and Westwood to that gaggle of players between 1- and +1:

T4: Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose, Jason Dufner, Sergio Garcia and four others (-1): Mickelson admitted after the round that a 71 was a great score for the day, and he seemed more than pleased with where he was heading into Friday. Garcia had one of the only bogey-free rounds of the day, while the rest of this group went up-and-down through their 18 at Augusta. Matthew Fitzpatrick, for example, had a much more stressful ride to his 71 than Garcia, carding four birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey on 18.

T12. Rory McIlroy, Ernie Els, Matt Kuchar, Thomas Pieters and three others (E): With a seven-stroke deficit, this group at even par has to be where we draw line in terms of needing to go low on Friday to have a shot to win. Hoffman will face harsh winds, but so will the rest of the field and this group will likely separate itself between the contenders and players that will be happy to make it to the weekend.

T19. Rickie Fowler, Fred Couples, Justin Thomas, Danny Willett and four others (+1): How about Couples dropping a 73 to finish in the top-20 here in 2017? On the other end of the experience ratings here at one-over is rising star Jon Rahm, and with both Thomas and Mark Leishman here, there’s a lot of potential for a player to jump up into the top-10 before the weekend.

You'd think out ultimate winner would come out of one of those three packs, but it's still early days....

The Tour Confidential panel is doing a daily thing, and they're asked to pick one player to make a move today:

Sean Zak: Rickie Fowler. The wind isn’t going away anytime soon, and if you had a chance to watch Fowler Thursday, you saw a man in fine control of his ball flight. I think a number of players lucked into 70s and 71s. I think Rickie bad-lucked into a 73, and I expect that controlled golf to get him under 70 Friday.

I agree, Sean, but isn't that sort of what Rickie does?  He looked much better than his card, but for him to win I think he needs to play well in the winds, and he let his best chance slip away.

Michael Rosenberg. Sure, an obvious choice. But he had two top 10s in the past month and showed great resolve with his opening 72 in the worst of the tough Thursday conditions. 

Alan Shipnuck: Give me Phil or give me...not death, just disappointment. Once again Lefty has thrown himself into the fray. His eagle on the second hole put a charge into this tournament, and surely it's kismet that he's 46 years old, a magical number around these parts. Lots of wind and increasingly crusty greens puts a premium on short-game and game-planning and nobody does it better at ANGC than this three-time champ. 

Michael Bamberger: Fred.  Studies show that when he plays a good first round at the Masters, his second is better.

OK, let's agree that we all love Freddy, and his 73 yesterday is nothing short of wonderful.  But, back to reality...

Yale's pool was in a state with the late WD of DJ, so he gave us all a mulligan on that Tier 1 pick.   I opted for Rory, somewhat impressed with his bounceback yesterday on the back side.  If he can hang on today, the weekend should set up nicely for him....  I know, that's a lot of "ifs", but I feel mostly the same about Phil.  The longer he hangs around the more dangerous he becomes....

Ready to have some fun....  This ought to meet your needs:

WHERE DOES DUSTIN JOHNSON'S STAIR SLIP RANK AMONG THE FREAKIEST GOLF INJURIES? LET'S TAKE A CLOSER LOOK

Here's the premise:

But how freak and unfortunate was it? Perhaps you need to compare it to other bizarre golf injuries in recent memory to put it in its proper place. So from teeth brushing to soft beds to celebrations gone awfully awry, let's take a look at other recent freak golf injuries to see where DJ, um, falls.

Oh, I see what you did there, Sam....  But, you know, I handle the humor around here.

I have no recollection of this one, though I am a fan of rigorous oral hygiene:

8. Jim Furyk pulls a muscle brushing his teeth

You hear stories like this and you wonder if you're really brushing hard enough. In reality, Furyk had just brushed his teeth and then threw back a pill, which caused a tweak in his neck that forced him to withdraw from the 2006 Buick Classic. He returned for the next week's U.S. Open, where he finished T-2.

Freak quotient: 6

Ummm Sam, you might be the only person in America that is buying this explanation:

6. Dustin Johnson injures back lifting a jet ski

As the story goes, Johnson had tweaked his back earlier in the 2012 season, but that makes his decision to lift a jet ski near his Florida home all the more confounding. The back injury caused Johnson to withdraw from that year's Masters, which could be considered a crushing blow, but not as bad as well, you know.

Freak quotient: 7

Coke bender, jet-ski, whatever...

This isn't a player of DJ's caliber, but wow!

2. Brandt Jobe slices fingers in sweeping injury We're certainly not making light of it, since the whole thing is pretty awful. In 2006, Jobe was sweeping in his garage when the handle of the broom shattered and sliced off the tips of two fingers. He had to pick the two tips off the floor and put them in ice, and had them reattached at the hospital. He didn't play a full season on the PGA Tour for five years.Freak quotient: 9

Kids, let that be a lesson to you on the dangers of cleaning up....

Shack links to and is complimentary of this ESPN item setting up the lost opportunity for Dustin, but I rather dislike it:

Really, the only surprising development here is that Johnson didn't slip on a banana peel discarded by his brother and caddie, Austin, another easy target on tour. The Johnsons

have long been cast in golf circles as the opposite of rocket scientists, whatever that is, and they've never seemed to take great offense to the labels.

But this is no laughing matter for the sport, for Augusta National or for anyone who cares about great athletes trying to do great things.

All golf fans are disappointed by DJ's withdrawal, and you're the one that went with the banana peel metaphor....  So, what exactly is our offense?  But it gets worse:

He wasn't just golf's reigning freak of nature anymore, half-LeBron and half-Gronk. He wasn't just the explosive, 6-foot-4 long baller with a condor's wingspan who happens to be engaged to the famously beautiful and beautifully famous Paulina Gretzky.

Johnson arrived at Augusta National as the world's top-ranked, and hottest, player. He had won three consecutive tournaments and, at 32, was very much in the sweet spot of his prime. With his brute power and ever-improving short game, he had a chance to do what Tiger Woods did here 20 years ago and, you know, pull a Secretariat on field.

Really?  ESPN is one of the few remaining news organizations with a full-time golf writer, but not this guy....  Perhaps he should return to horse-racing or lacrosse, because he seems to be unfamiliar with the rhythms of our game.

Maybe after playing Secretariat he could go negotiate peace in the Mideast and search for the Ark of The Covenant...  The freakish accident denied him an opportunity at the peak of his game, and we're all saddened that we won't have the opportunity to see how it would have turned out.  But get a hold of yourself, man, just because he won the last three times he pegged means little this week.   

OK, ready to have a little fun at my expense?  Silly question, I know...  So, I correctly predicted the challenges at the fifteenth hole yesterday.  But while you might have heard that Jordan got into a spot of bother there yesterday, my entire roster went along for the ride.  From top to bottom, here's how they played the hole:

1. Spieth -9
2. Reed - 5
3. Rafa - 5
4. Fleetwood - 7
5. Fisher - 8
6. Kjeldsen - 4

I know, what's Soren doing on my team?  That's a total of eight over with a double, triple and a quad.... as per my '62 Mets analogy, Can't anyone here play this game?