3-PUTT LUNCH: WALKER sets Par-3 Contest Record--Payne on lengthening 13--TW rehab progress
3-PUTT LUNCH: WALKER sets Par-3 Contest Record--Payne on lengthening 13--TW rehab progress--NICKLAUS: “Change the friggin ball”
04/07/2016: 12:28 p.m. ET
By Ben Alberstadt (@BenAlberstadt; [email protected])
Good Masters Thursday afternoon.
GEOFF SHACKELFORD: ” Augusta National took on 1/2 inch of rain overnight when a loud storm moved through the region. The forecast calls for a high of 74 with Southwest winds expected to blow 15-20 mph, shifting to west winds later on that may include guests of 25-30 according to forecasters.”
RECORD # OF PAR-3 CONTEST ACES, Record score (Jimmy Walker)...ESPN.com: “The Par-3 event is a fun tradition like no other -- at the Masters, at least. Once the actual tournament begins Thursday, the easy laughs, juvenile hijinks and friendly exchanges with fans often only a few feet away on the nine-hole short course will be replaced by the grind of competition.
--“Jimmy Walker won the competition with an 8-under 19, including a hole-in-one on No. 2. Walker's ace was one of a record-setting nine, easily eclipsing the previous record of five...Not to be outdone, 80-year-old Gary Player set another milestone at the Masters, recording his fourth ace in the Par-3 Contest to become the oldest player to accomplish the feat.”
ROSAFORTE: Tiger Woods spotted hitting full-speed drivers in Florida...Golf.com: “Woods was hitting full-swing drivers at Medalist GC, his home course in Florida. Woods and his camp have been coy about the 14-time major winner's return to competition, and there has been no timeline put in place. If he's not rushing back to play the Masters, no one really knows when we will see him next.”
CHAIRMAN PAYNE on developments at ANGC...Steve Keating, Reuters: “Payne took over from Hootie Johnson as club chairman in 2006 and has shepherded Augusta National into a new era, welcoming Condoleezza Rice and Darla Moore as the first women members and developing a social media and digital media presence while expanding the Masters global television coverage.”
--“In recent years, the club has displayed progressive vision and long-range planning as it focuses its considerable resources and efforts on growing the game around the world while widening the club's boundaries at home...Augusta National continues to buy up property as it expands its borders with ambitious plans that include at new state-of-the-art media centre that will connect journalists to the course via an underground tunnel.”
--“With increased property for the course, there are studies underway looking at lengthening holes, including the par-five 13th which concludes the famous three-hole stretch that is widely known as Amen Corner..."We build these buildings, we stay on top of all technologies, because we are going to be the best," declared Payne, who oversaw the running of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. "Nobody is going to be better than us in that respect..."So if we can keep that pace and at the same time maintain the friendliness and the welcoming culture that we are known for, then that's what's important to preserve, and I think we do it pretty well."
BUBBA WATSON’s ADD...Jamie Diaz, Golf Digest: “But anyone overly envious of Watson can take comfort in the lefthander’s struggle with internal chaos. Though he says he has never gone beyond self-diagnosis, Watson by his own account and that of anyone who knows him well, suffers from attention deficit disorder. If he indeed has the condition, there’s no doubt it would be an important source of his unpredictability and sometimes puzzling behavior...That Watson has never seen a specialist drives psychiatrist Dr. Edward Hallowell, one of the country’s leading authority on the condition – and who himself suffers from ADD – a little nuts.”
“I KNOW this man,” said Hallowell, the author of three bestselling books on ADD, in our latest phone call a few weeks ago. “I just want to talk to him. As good as he is, he can be so much better.”
“Hallowell contends that Watson is part of a long tradition of exceptional achievers. “The ADD gene has been the engine for inventors, innovators, entrepreneurs, pioneers, all kinds of achievers,” says Hallowell, who believes minds like Einstein, Edison, Shakespeare and Mozart had the condition.”
AP story noting that the “Big 3” have all worked with the same teachers since youth...
Rory McIlroy’s special Masters ball…Golf.com: Earlier this week McIlroy posted a picture of his custom Nike golf balls he'll play this week, in which the customary black lettering in swapped out for Masters green. There's also "RM5" under the Nike swoosh. The "5" stands for five major titles, which is how many McIlroy would have if he won this week and completed the career grand slam.
AUGUSTA NATIONAL and the art of minimal sponsorship...Rick Horrow, Reuters: “But at Augusta National Golf Club, the permanent home of the Masters, business is conducted quite differently – and almost all of it is shrouded in secrecy...For Masters chairman Billy Payne and Augusta National's leadership, less has always been more when it comes to attaching sponsors to one of one sport's prestige properties.”
--“At virtually every other golf tournament on the planet, an abundance of sponsors is considered a positive – there is always room for another logo somewhere on the course...At the Masters, which this week celebrates its 80th edition, sponsors are limited to five: global sponsors AT&T, IBM, and Mercedes-Benz, and international partners UPS and Rolex.”
--“All five are estimated to pay upwards of $6 million annually to have zero signage in view on property, share a combined four minutes of ads per broadcast hour, and follow extremely stringent, narrow rules about how their association with the world's most exclusive golf tournament can be promoted.”
ERNIE ELS in a good place ahead of Masters...Andrew Both, Reuters: “Ernie Els, his confidence flooding back after a return to health and a reunion with his old coach, sounds more enthusiastic than in years as he prepares for the 80th Masters starting on Thursday.”
--“And if four-times major winner Els on Sunday does not finally don the Green Jacket that so far has eluded him in an otherwise stellar career, he will not be surprised if one of his fellow South Africans accomplishes the feat.”
--“The 46-year-old has recovered from a hip injury and he says that the slick condition of the par-72 Augusta National layout this week looks like being right up his alley, after last year being softer than a fresh pudding…."The course is very fast and very firm this year which kind of suits me because I can get the ball out there a bit," Els told Reuters under the stately oak tree adjacent to the first tee.
Amateurs in the field not named Bryson DeChambeau…Ryan Herrington, Golf Digest: Derek Bard...Paul Chaplet...Cheng Jin...Romain Langasque...Sammy Schmitz
Does Rory McIlroy need to control his on-course aggression? “Thomas Levet thinks so...Andrew Both, Reuters: Rory McIlroy may need to dial back his aggression and play more "Nicklaus-like" to taste victory at Augusta National, according to former British Open runner-up Thomas Levet.”
--The Frenchman said McIlroy has more than enough ability to earn a Green Jacket, but questioned how his attacking style fit the Masters..."Rory has so much talent, but he has to recognize that talent alone is not enough, and recognize the dangers here," Levet told Reuters on the eve of the year's first major..."If he played more Nicklaus-like, he could save a shot here and there and could win a lot of majors."
PAYNE: NO DECISION on lengthening 13...Rex Hoggard, Golf Channel: Reports have been swirling in recent weeks that the club was negotiating with adjacent Augusta Country Club to purchase a parcel of land in order to move the tee back on the 13th hole.
--‘“That was right off the bat, wasn’t it?” Payne laughed when asked about the iconic par 5. “As we do every year, and historically forever, we are always looking at options for numerous of our holes ... As a consequence, 13 is one of those holes we are studying. We have made no decision whatsoever.”
--”Payne also addressed the possible expansion of the fourth and fifth holes, which had been landlocked by Berckmans Road to the west but this year’s rerouting of that road has given the club room to grow.”
BAD could change the game forever...Dan Wetzel, Yahoo Sports: "Why can't the clubs be the same length?" DeChambeau recalled here this week, where the now 22-year-old reigning US Amateur and NCAA champion is preparing to play in his first Masters. He'll tee off Thursday morning with no less than defending champion Jordan Spieth.”
--“Golf clubs, most notably irons, come in varying lengths. A 2-iron has a long shaft; a pitching wedge has a far shorter one. There are myriad reasons why but the most basic is that it allows players, especially non-professionals, to get greater distance...Other than a brief attempt in the 1980s that went almost nowhere, no major golf club maker has even tried to do anything different.”
NICKLAUS: Change the frigging ball…Joel Beall, Golf Digest: ”Driving distance on the PGA Tour is reaching historic levels in 2016. The impact is noticeable throughout the sport, including at Augusta National: The club recently announced it's lengthening the historic 13th hole...Although this discussion isn't new -- remember Tiger-proofing? -- golf's distance problem seems to be reaching heightened levels of unease. Count Jack Nicklaus among the concerned.”
--“And luckily, he has a solution..."Change the frigging golf ball," the six-time Masters winner said at Augusta National on Tuesday...Though his response was greeted with laughter, his explanation underlined the issues the game will face going forward..."The golf ball goes so far, Augusta National is about the only place, the only golf course in the world that financially can afford to make the changes that they have to make to keep up with the golf ball," Nicklaus said. "I don't think anybody else could ever do it.”
JORDAN SPIETH cracked his driver, gaming replacement...Yahoo: “Jordan Spieth will defend his Masters title with a new driver on Thursday….Spieth says his driver cracked on Wednesday...He showed up at the Golf Writers Association of America dinner still wearing his golf clothes because he had been practicing with a new driver until it was time to collect his player of the year award.”
LONG READ: RORY MCILROY DOESN’T KNOW WHAT HE WANTS...Kevin Van Valkenberg, ESPN.
USA Today’s Nancy Armour on the tradition of Masters brain picking: “Short of playing Augusta National every day for a year or two, something the Green Jackets would never allow, the best way to get to know the course is to get the Cliff Notes from someone who already does. Local caddies were a wealth of information back when players were required to use them. Now newcomers scramble to arrange practice rounds with the veterans, and tournament officials make sure to pair amateurs with former champions.”
“I was trying to help the guys I was playing with today,” two-time champion Tom Watson said after playing a practice round with Cheng Jin, the Asia-Pacific Amateurchampion, and Masters rookie Troy Merritt. “I did what Ken Venturi did for me and Byron (Nelson) did for me….“I went around with Kenny and Byron, and they said, `This is the type of shot you should play into this green. This is where you miss it. This is where you don't want to go. These are where the flag positions are.’”
--“When Jordan Spieth won last year, he got an assist from four-time champ Tiger Woods. See, earlier in the week, Spieth had played the back nine in a practice round with Woods and Ben Crenshaw, and he noticed Woods putting one ball after another to a spot on 16 near where Sunday’s pin would be.”
Some Masters prop bets, via Bookmaker.eu...
Will the winner cry on the 18th green?
YES +325
NO -400
What type of putter will the winner be using on the final green?
BLADE -500
MALLET +350
SPONSORED WINNER WILL BE (LOGO MUST APPEAR ON HAT)
TITLEIST +465
PING +705
CALLAWAY +1015
UNDER ARMOR +725
TAYLORMADE +205
NIKE +525
COBRA/PUMA +1015
OTHER +1415
WHO WILL THE WINNER HUG 1ST - (EXCL CADDY)?
CHILD +385
PARENT +1415
WIFE/GIRLFRIEND +145
WIFE HOLDING CHILD +185
NO HUG +825