A non event?

[backwoodsman]

Am I alone in having over-anticipated a good night's viewing? Brits in contention & Tiger far enough back to make it exciting. And sweet f.a. has happened, apart from people dropping shots. I did some painting this afternoon - I think I'll go and watch it dry.....

 

[TonyN]

Have to agree, big dissapointment for the last day,Highlight has been watchin tiger miss his putts. Gettin tired now, tryin to think of a good excuse not to let my self fall asleep but fast struggling!

 

[big_russ]

I think the big dream is over for Tiger(4 majors) although i said earlier in the year it wouldn't happen.
Best part of tonight and BBC golf in general is the commentry. What a fourball to play with Torrence, Brown and Allis. Always think Grady is a bit of an arse myself(probably the Aussie in him).

 

[birdieman]

know what you mean but still some golf to be played. Happy to see someone 5'8" and of medium build stuffing it to the big guys with straight driving and good course management.

 

[backwoodsman]

No disrespect intended to Immelman - he's played pretty good. Very good for the first three days and nice to see he's holding it together for the last day - even if not exciting. Tiger's been too wayward to merit winning - even if he has made some fantastic recoveries (yesterday at 18 fr'instance).

At least that's the last we should hear of "the Slam" - until this time next year

 

[birdieman]

What about our Euro lads....

Casey, Poulter, Rose hang your collective heads in shame...chokers one and all.

Dougherty, Harrington, Jimenez, Karlsson...decent effort boys.

Woosie, Lyle well done on making the cut past 50.

 

[clubchamp07]

do you guys not think its time Wossie Lyle and the likes hung up their clubs and let the younger guys have a go. This life time invite takes the Pi55

 

[Tommo21]

do you guys not think its time Wossie Lyle and the likes hung up their clubs and let the younger guys have a go. This life time invite takes the Pi55

Big money in the seniors tour and why jack in what you love doing.

 

[birdieman]

Not sure about the age thing, in the case of Gary Player yes get him out of there but for Lyle, Woosie etc they made the cut which shows they can still play. Steve Lowery won on the US tour at 47 this year, Fred Funk at 50 last year and VJ is late 40's now and still an excellent player so I don't think you can discriminate at 50 years old, 60 is too old though to warrant a place. Saying that if Tiger makes 60 he'll still beat a lot of the young guys.
Monty reckoned he should have had a place but
can you imagine Monty in that wind and on those greens - he would have been torn apart.

Anyway now that the dust has settled some Masters issues need to be discussed -
Will Immelman win more Majors now he has broken his major duck or should he be penalised for his slow play?
Did Snedeker blow his chances from the off by wearing a turquoise shirt? – it was never going to match a green jacket was it!
Will Tiger’s season be any good now that the Slam chance has gone?
Has the Masters lost it’s magic – it used to be a back 9 of drama and crowd roars as birdies and eagles were sunk everywhere, now it is like the US Open where par is God and it's extremely difficult. Immelman’s 75 was a good score, only 4 players out of 45 went under par on the day. What should the Masters committee do – they can’t shorten the course without looking stupid but maybe they could slow the greens up a little?

 

[RGuk]

What about our Euro lads....

Casey, Poulter, Rose hang your collective heads in shame...chokers one and all.

Dougherty, Harrington, Jimenez, Karlsson...decent effort boys.

Woosie, Lyle well done on making the cut past 50.

Agreed, almost. If the 3 at the top had played their rounds with the reverse scores (started with a shocker and got better) then I reckon we'd be saying they did OK.

Woosie and Lyle are local chaps and I think they did well to go and enjoy the experience and make the cut.
If it was up to me, I'd keep in all the old-timers (previous winners, those 16th or better last year etc.) but extend the field to include a few more players. The player list was small to start with and (as with THE open and world snooker) there could have been some qualifying scheme.

 

[RGuk]

they can’t shorten the course without looking stupid but maybe they could slow the greens up a little?

I think things are getting out of hand with the length; one possibility would be to utilise a forward, middle and back tee and rotate according to the conditions.

 

[benny]

Overall a really enjoyable tournament, though it was let down by the following for my taste:

- A winner with the personality of Mackerill Fillet
- SLOOOOOOOOOOOW play
- Brandt Snedeker's sexually aggressive erect nipples on atleast 3 of the 4 days
- Tiger Woods not making back to back birdies, never getting going and in general looking miserable
- Tiger Woods hitting the ball way too hard off the tee into trouble and killing too many birdie chances - Why doesn't he hit the 2 iron stinger at Augusta? He won the Open without hitting a driver but come Augusta he just looks like he's forcing it too much - VERY Frustrating
- the complete lack of balls from the British contingent. Casey, Poulter, Westwood - if you think this lot are ready for a Major victory you must be barmy - way short of it. One can't hold his nerve, one has the sh!nks and the other can't putt from 2 feet.
- No-one close enough to the leaders made a charge on Sunday
- Some of the greens were prohibitive for a Sunday comeback
But you can't beat that Augusta atmosphere for tension. Hopefully next year Sunday will be full of players at 11 under like Immelman was and we can have a real ding donger. Two years in a row now we've seen a US Open played at the Masters and its sad if its going to end up like this regularly.

 

[Tommo21]

The way I saw it………….Woods played bad and came second.

 

[haplesshacker]

I've not studied the figures, but aren't we being a bit harsh on Tiger?

From what I could tell, he didn't start off well, or play that well (for him), all weekend. However when all around were losing their heads with the presure, he came back through the field to finish 2nd. Noone else on the course would appear tho have that mental strength, so okay he missed putts etc, but he still finished 2nd. Compare that to 'our boys' who all seemed to fall by the wayside.

Golf ain't just about twating a ball down the fairway, it's also a huge pyscological game, and this is where Tiger really shows everyone else up, including Immelman (but congrats on winning).

Can't the UK, England or whatever get a Team GB staffing team together to manage our young players careers, progress etc. Much like the RYA do with the sailing squads. I think that it's the only way that we are going to produce consistant world quality players.

 

[benny]

Tigers the best mentally, and your right, to play average and still come second is what he does best. But he didnt putt well enough to deserve the win and I sometimes just wish that he would play safe and easy off the tee. I'd like to think he has another few Green Jackets in him yet but the more often Augusta is set up like this last couple of years its gonna be more a grind. Can't imagine another 63 to match Norman and Price in this state can you?!

 

[birdieman]

Gotta defend Immelman here, benny what's wrong with his personality? I thought he spoke well, didn't turn into a blubbering idiot upon winning which was refreshing, had recently had surgery and did show a bit of emotion...his relief on finding the fairway up 18 was brilliant. Willing th eball to roll back on 13 was fun as well. Seems like adecent bloke to me.
Hapless how did Tiger show up Immelman in terms of his psychological game? Woods wasn't in it until Immelman stuck one in the water at 16, Immelman's nerve held up better than Tiger's who missed short putts several times. Immelman played well under intense pressure for 4 days and played well yesterday on a brutal course in very windy conditions and in the end won fairly easily.
Give the guy a break at least he admitted his bad shots and showed great enthusiasm unlike Mr Woods who gave us the usual sports psychologist crapola he always gives. He's the one with no personality.

 

[benny]

Maybe its South Africans in general but they all tend to be a bit boring to listen to. Immelmans worthy enough but he's not exactly Lee Trevino is he? Dead eyes as well.
I'll be perfectly honest with you - when the Majors are on, and this is just how I feel, I always feel a bit dissapointed when a big name who's won lots of tour events first doesn't take a step up. Els, Mickelson, Furyk, Vijay Singh, Duval, Wier, Harrington - all these players were ready to make the step up and I was glad when they won a biggie. When a journeyman or a weekly also ran scoops one of the Majors, its nice for them, but I can't help feeling a little disapointed that Garcia or Westwood having acheived so much in the game don't have one to their credit and the likes of Immelman, Shawn Micheel and Todd Hamilton do. Well done to him for seeing it through, but I don't for a minute imagine this as the dawn of Immelmans dominance.

 

[birdieman]

Immelman's not an also ran, he's been a very good player for a few years. Surprise winner? - yes but a worthy one, every bit as good as Zach Johnson or Mike Weir.
Immelman is a far better player than Micheel or Hamilton. At 28 he is coming towards his best years so I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him win another major or 2 in the next few years.
Dead eyes? - strange comment

 

[benny]

No your absolutely right, he is worthy, certainly as much as Jehovah Johnson last year. I don't hate the man, he deserves everything he gets for going wire to wire, he must be mentally sound. But theres just a part of me that has like a little list of players I would like to see as Major winners and then I can relax and not mind who won what. Padraig was a big weight off the shoulders last year for instance and its only really Monty (fat chance now), Sergio and a couple others who I would like to see step up. The thing is, the Majors have reached such a state now that even if you win 20+ events in your career and no Majors then you are in danger of being forgotten or talked about unfairly in the generations to come. Whereas as one good week of your life, a crafty Major win and you can relax - atleast you did it once.
I think the biggest crime is people like Monty who came so close many times, Greg Norman and others - Ball strikers par excellence and yet all our kids are gonna look at is their Major CV and think 'they weren't up to much'.

Immelmans dead eyes are not necessirily a bad thing - you need a bit of that to close out a win....least he doesn't have to wear Deidre Barlow glasses like me when he plays.

 

[Dodger]

A truely worthy Champ.Played the 4 rounds better than the rest, end of,yeah he may have rode his luck on occsions but the guy played well and if it had not been for double on 16 would have walked it!
Woods didnt play well and for me it was his driving on days 1,2,and 4 that let him down and when you consider how wide the fairways are shows you how poor he hit it off tee,same as last year in all honesty.
As for the English assault....Alliss hit the nail on the head on Friday when he said all these fellas that were in position had to go and do it and nt crumble away,sadly they more than crumbled,71 would have seen Casey in play off but not to be,hopefully they can learn and come back stronger.
A final note on Paddy....when oh when is the guy going to play the 4 days at Augusta without visiting the water at 13 and 15 at least twice in the 4 days,I think if both last and this year had he managed this he may well have been in the position to win......let me on your bag next year Paddy and I'll keep you right!