Post - Masters Highs / Lows

rksquire

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Masters Musings


What's your thoughts in the aftermath of the past few days?


Having looked forward to the past weekend for what appears to have been months, I feel, probably unfairly, a little short changed as whilst there was moments of individual excellence, there was little drama that gripped in the round. A few thoughts:


The Course: Disappointed it didn't really bite back to much. Greens were softer, slower the surrounding banks were holding the ball when in previous years it would have rolled, gathered momentum and run into water or areas providing a much tougher test. I expect the course to play much, much harder next year.


Spieth: Brilliant, led from start to finish, yet there was little adversity and whilst he's posted a phenomenal score, I'm not sure he had to work so hard. He was weal with the driver, sliced into the woods, but recovery shots didn't necessarily call for brilliance. There was luck to, bounces back into the fairway, hitting flagsticks at space but no massive ricochets. The putter was hot though.


Crenshaw & Jackson: Lovely scenes at the end - if only Bubba had shown a bit more respect and taken his hands out of his pockets.


Mr. Crenshaw & Spieth: Lovely symmetry as a former champion plays his last whilst the pupil he mentored wins


Tiger: Enough good and bad for both camps to get their teeth into, he's likely to be a thorn in a few young pretenders sides for the next few years.


Tiger & Rory: How Nike would have loved them to be last pairing, but in this environment - Sunday at the Masters - Rory rose to the challenge


Rory: I thought the preparation was wrong, but he gave the field a 27 hole head start and still finished 4th. The putting was average at best, and when he reflects on this I think he'll easily see 6 shots that could have been gained.


Justin: Great effort, maybe ran out of steam and didn't capitalize in the slight chinks - eg when Spieth found the trees, Justin followed him in; the changes in score weren't severe enough, Spieth always salvaged something. He needed a Spieth bogey where he birdied, but still, great tournament and highest ranked European


Jack: Hole in one at the Par 3, and great commentary in the Sky box. He just seems a very decent bloke.


Coverage: For an event that's so highly anticipated, it's a pity we miss out on 5 or so hours of live footage from the off.

Overall, it was compelling but not gripping.
 
Highs - Spieth , McIlroy last round , Rose , Mickleson and Poulters weekend

Lows - Sky coverage and presentation , target golf set up
 
Highs Speiths play throughout the tournament ,Rose,Poulter,Casey,Rory, Mark O'Meara who shot two rounds of 68 at his age was very impressive.

Lows not seeing enough of O'Meara, course being set up to easy not enough punishment for poor shoots, for the top five to shoot the scores they did is not the kind of golf that a major should be about imo.
 
Pretty much all lows for me I'm afraid. I really look forward to all the drama and leaderboard changes on Sunday's back 9. From end of play on Friday it was pretty clear it wasn't going to happen this year. Well played Spieth, he took the field apart and comes across as a very level headed young man, I'm sure he is going to be around for a long time to come but he ruined my weekend :rant:
 
Well i enjoyed the weekend's action. I'm not obsessed with the tournament having a close finish and being full of drama though. Sport doesnt always work out that way. Rather we had the chance to enjoy a young player demonstrate the maturity and nerve of someone ten years his senior, the unpredictable play of Tiger who performed much better than most thought, Rory demonstrate yesterday his class even though he was too far back, Mickelson still mixing it with the best at 44, Justin Rose show that he's got the game to add another major title. There have been better finishes in recent years but hey ho.
 
Thought Spieth was superb for 4 days, 4th or 5th player in Masters history to win after leading all 4 days.
Attached is proof he did it with more than just his putting

image.jpg
 
High's:

* Paul Casey's return.
* Poulter's performance.
* A young US challenger to counter the talent of Rory.
* Woods snap hooking one off 13 and still making birdie.

Low's:

* Forgiving greens and runoff areas.
* Sky's coverage.
* Limited coverage and focus on very few of the final day groups.
 
Highs - Rose having a good run but up against an unstoppable force
Tiger getting back to some form especially around the green if not off the tee.
Spieth - came of age and a serious threat to McIlroy

Lows
The greens and run offs not being as ferocious as normal
McIlroy - giving the field too much of a start and then finding form

As for coverage, it is what it is and always has been the same. The Augusta committee won't change so no point whinging. They are happy with two hours on the first two days and until they change it that's what Sky get to show.
 
Highs for me were Tiger returning, Casey playing well and Spieth showing plenty of class in victory and respect for his opponents. Nice touch when he congratulated Rose on a great saving pitch in the last round

Lows were the course being set up too easy, felt more like a standard US tournament rather than the Masters. Also watched 10 minutes of the coverage on BBC which was like going back in time, and not in a good way
 
It just wasn't "Augusta".....
I know they've had lots of rain in the last few weeks but they have the ability to suck the moisture out - if they did it, they didn't do it enough.
Too much grass around the 11th and 15th greens....several balls should have sunk but didn't as they held on the banks - lower the cutters a bit!!
The course was too easy for the first 2 days. OK, only Jordan took real advantage but that may just be because everyone else expected lightning greens and run offs....then they couldnt toughen it up much as nobody would get any birdies and Spieth would have strolled it even more.
It wasn't a Classic for me, fair play to Spieth though - did what he needed to do and nobody else really pushed him hard enough.
 
For me the big disappointment is the course, it always looks beautiful but it's manicured to within an inch of its life.



The greens are perfect and the pin placings for each day are now so familiar that they've become boring.

The fairways are all cut in one direction to the exact same length with the exact same grass and not a weed in sight.

The first cut is all cut to the exact same length with not a weed in sight.

If someone told me that each and every grain of sand for the bunkers had been graded to ensure it was the correct shade and size I'd believe them.

The pine straw even looks as though it's been sieved to make sure that all the pine needles are the same length and that there are no big twigs that might upset the viewers or players. And again not a weed in sight.



For me a big part of the attraction in golf is the variation on the course and the lies we find ourselves in, at the Masters you know exactly what lie you're going to get long before you get anywhere near your ball.

I'd like the Masters a lot more if they stopped chasing perfection in presentation and allowed nature a look in, which would also test the players a little more, but even then it would remain my least favourite Major.
 
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Lows - the lack of real drama on the back 9 on Sunday

Highs - Tiger's birdie on 13; Rory's weekend; a couple of magic moments from Mickelson; Justin Rose; Tiger's short game; Jordan Spieth's putting; Tiger and Rory in the same pairing late in the day on Sunday of a Major, even if they were too far back to have any realistic chance of winning.

And finally Jordan Spieth himself. What an all-round decent guy he seems to be. His on course demeanour is great, too. Hope to see him and Rory go head to head over the next few years.
 
I think the best golf courses offer the punishment that if you play a bad shot you are then required to hit a very good shot to get yourself back in play, Augusta offers this possibly more so than any other course out there, the greens weren't rock solid.

That being said it was a more entertaining tournament than last year I thought, greens don't need to run at over 13 on the stimpmeter in order for them to be a challenge.

The main issue I think is that the course is too long now. You have to be poking it out there a fair distance in order to win, the likes of 07 when Zach Johnson plotted his way to victory won't be seen again I don't think
 
Speith was the high and low point for me. A high point for a peerless display but a low point because it killed the tournament as far as excitement was concerned for me. Take Speith out of the equation and you would have had a classic but the simple fact is that nobody put any pressure on him from day 1. It sums it up that I was watching on Saturday semi hoping that Speith would blow up to liven up the viewing on Sunday. Add to that the fact that the course seemed to have no teeth this year and the Masters excitement was just not there for me
 
Lows, rose not winning

Highs, speith winning when I had £20 on him at 12:1 😁

Although this rumour about an easier course may knock some of the highlight off it for the main boys
 
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