3-PUTT LUNCH: DAY battles back--FINAU's first W--LYDIA KO--Hot takes--Lego Masters leaderboard
03/28/2016: 01:20 p.m. ET
By Ben Alberstadt (@BenAlberstadt; [email protected])
Good Monday afternoon! Those of you who subscribed to the Bernard Daily, welcome to something a little different. Namely, a bit catchier name (3-Putt Lunch), since nobody really seemed to enjoy the previous name: Bernard Daily, as an homage to Bernard Darwin (sorry, Mr. Darwin). Also, rather being a mid-morning offering, the newsletter will now arrive at, you guessed it, lunch. And regarding the name, it’s a play on three-martini lunch, as you surely guessed. Anyway, welcome back!
Justin Thomas ?(@JustinThomas34) tweeted: “Just 7 days until @TheMasters week.. But hey. Who's counting? #me”
JASON DAY overcomes back injury, Rory McIlroy, to take WGC-Dell Match Play...AP: “Just two weeks ago, he arrived at the Arnold Palmer Invitational without having won in six months and showing few signs that he was ready to crank up that fearsome combination of long ball and short game….Day now heads to the Masters as the man to beat.”
--“Coming off a one-shot victory at Bay Hill, the 28-year-old Australian overcame a back injury that nearly caused him to withdraw, went far enough in the Match Play to return to No. 1 in the world, outlasted Rory McIlroy in the semifinals and then capped off a remarkable week in Texas by going home with the trophy.”
--“The record book will show that Day defeated Louis Oosthuizen, 5 and 4, to win the tournament. That was never really in doubt. Day took the lead for good on the fourth hole and extended it because he was making putts at Austin Country Club and Oosthuizen was not.”
Day’s path to the Championship Match: G1 defeated Graeme McDowell (62), 3 and 2; G2 defeated Thongchai Jaidee (36), 5 and 3 G3 defeated Paul Casey (23), concession R4 defeated Brandt Snedeker (15), 3 and 2 QF defeated Brooks Koepka (18), 3 and 2 SF defeated Rory McIlroy (3), 1 up Final: defeated Louis Oosthuizen (16), 5 and 4
GOLF.COM with a nice slider of 2016 iron releases...
LEGO MASTERS LEADERBOARD...Joel Beall, Golf Digest: “Andy Duckett is doing something meaningful with his time: Building Augusta National landmarks out of Legos...Duckett is an architect and lover of golf memorabilia, so he combined the two passions to construct models of iconic Masters items. His latest project is the famous Masters leaderboard, and boy, is it something.”
Rickie Fowler’s Masters “Frankenstein” club...Golf Digest: “Cobra’s PGA Tour rep, Ben Schomin, created a test club for Fowler by welding “rails” to the bottom of Fowler’s existing Bio Cell+ 5-wood. Fowler tested the “Frankenstein” club (as it was deemed internally) and liked the result, leading Cobra to produce the Cobra King F6 Baffler 4/5 fairway wood. As with the original Baffler, the F6 Baffler incorporates rails on the sole to enhance turf interaction as well as place weight low. Two weights on the sole, a 3-gram weight and a 15-gram weight, can be placed with the heavier weight either back or front to alter trajectory. The club ($239) has an adjustable hosel allowing for eight settings from 16 to 19 degrees with three draw settings.”
Gary Planos, 62, Tournament of Champions organizer, has died...AP ITEM
Harig: McIlroy heads to Augusta lacking confidence-building victory (ESPN): “Ranked No. 3 in the world, he is hardly out of the conversation as the Masters approaches, but he is the only player among that esteemed group without a victory this year, a hole he hoped to fill at Austin Country Club...That goal was thwarted Sunday morning when he couldn't overcome Day in the semifinals, losing 1 up to the Australian when on three occasions he missed putts from inside of 8 feet that would have won a hole.”
Michael Bamberger examines the question of lengthening Augusta National’s par-five 13th hole...
Barney Adams advocates USGA roll back the ball for the U.S. Open in order to compete with the Masters for TV ratings, in a GolfWRX piece.
LYDIA KO wins Kia Classic despite double hit...BBC: World number one Lydia Ko survived a rare double hit on the 10th to shoot a five-under closing round of 67 and win the Kia Classic in California...The 18-year-old New Zealander was putting from off the green when the ball shot up and hit the shaft of the club, incurring a one-stroke penalty….But she made pars at the next five and finished with three straight birdies to beat Korean Inbee Park by four strokes.”
NANTZ on DECHAMBEAU...via Geoff Shackelford: Casey Reamer, the head pro at Cypress Point and a mentor to Bryson, asked if I would speak to him about the history of the Masters. It was an amazing two hours. He asked every question imaginable about every significant player in Masters history, with an emphasis on tales of amateurs such as Billy Joe Patton, Frank Stranahan, Ken Venturi and Charlie Coe. I have DVDs of all the recent Masters, and Bryson asked to borrow them, not for entertainment so much as to study hole locations, how putts break, where players were laying up on the par 5s. This young man is obsessed with winning the Masters as an amateur. His mind works in a unique, scientific way."
Tony Finau won the Puerto Rico Open on Sunday for his first PGA Tour title, beating Steve Marino with a birdie on the third hole of a playoff at windy Coco Beach...The 26-year-old Finau won with his third straight birdie in the playoff on the par-5 18th, blasting out of the back bunker to 3 feet....''I think I'm still a little bit overwhelmed,'' Finau said. ''It probably hasn't all sunk in.'' (AP Report)
QUOTABLE….
LOUIS: I knew he was going to be tough. I knew I had to play really well, and I didn't. I didn't play bad, but I just didn't make any putts for birdies, which never helps.
But, I mean, he's a great player. He hit some amazing iron shots, amazing up and downs. And he's definitely at the moment a few steps ahead of everyone.
You owe a little bit to your massage therapist for getting your back into shape. Talk about that a little bit.
JASON DAY: Yeah, unfortunately my trainer is in South Africa, so we're using Bubba Watson's therapist, Brian Smith. Our whole team, James Bradley, who is our doc on our team, he's from Pittsburgh, he's the Steeler's doc, and then Cornell Driessen, who is my trainer, they've all been in communication throughout the whole week, making sure we're taking the right steps towards getting me back and playing.
With regards to therapy, it's been nonstop, really. I mean I'm getting therapy before my rounds, after my rounds, in between my rounds, trying to make sure that I'm just relaxing everything that I can through my back to get that locking feeling kind of out of my system. As the week went on, it got better and better. I'm very pleased with how it went today.
TOP 10s
PUERTO RICO OPEN
1 Tony Finau -12 69 70 67 70 276 $ 540,000.00
2 Steve Marino -12 70 67 69 70 276 $ 324,000.00
3 Rodolfo Cazaubon -11 70 70 69 68 277 $ 174,000.00
Ian Poulter -11 71 66 68 72 277 $ 174,000.00
5 Andres Romero -10 70 73 68 67 278 $ 109,500.00
Nick Taylor -10 70 71 67 70 278 $ 109,500.00
Scott Brown -10 71 69 67 71 278 $ 109,500.00
8 Will MacKenzie -9 66 71 71 71 279 $ 87,000.00
Rafael Campos -9 64 71 72 72 279 $ 87,000.00
Aaron Baddeley -9 66 72 69 72 279 $ 87,000.00
WGC-DELL MATCH PLAY
1 Jason Day (2) $ 1,620,000.00
2 Louis Oosthuizen (16) $ 1,018,000.00
3 Rafa Cabrera Bello (52) $ 660,000.00
4 Rory McIlroy (3) $ 530,000.00
5 Dustin Johnson (8) $ 290,000.00
Brooks Koepka (18) $ 290,000.00
Chris Kirk (54) $ 290,000.00
Ryan Moore (45) $ 290,000.00 9
Patrick Reed (9) $ 152,000.00
Jordan Spieth (1) $ 152,000.00
Matt Kuchar (28) $ 152,000.00
Brandt Snedeker (15) $ 152,000.00
Bill Haas (30) $ 152,000.00
Zach Johnson (14) $ 152,000.00
Byeong-Hun An (27) $ 152,000.00
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